The chancellors of the University of California’s 10 campuses and other senior administrators will be limited to serving on the boards of no more than three for-profit entities for which their service is compensated, under a temporary policy adopted today at a meeting of the system’s Board of Regents.

Under the policy, senior officials have until the end of the year to comply with the limit, but they can seek exceptions with the approval of the university president and the chairman of the regents’ compensation committee, which approved the new rule. A university panel had recommended the limit as a way to help preclude conflicts of commitment by senior executives.

The new policy will be discussed in the coming months, the regents said, so that permanent rules can be adopted.

During the meeting, opponents of the new practice voiced concerns that it could hurt the university’s efforts to recruit senior administrators and to raise money from companies whose boards include university officials.

Among those who would be affected by the new policy is Marye Anne Fox, chancellor of the university’s San Diego campus. She sits on seven paid boards, more than any other senior manager at the university, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. The article said Ms. Fox’s outside boards had paid her at least $410,000 in cash and stock over the past fiscal year, more than the $373,500 salary she received from the university this year. She has argued that her board commitments help raise the profile of her campus.