On 31 August 2024, Herman Van Goethem’s mandate as rector of the University of Antwerp is expiring. This means rector elections will take place this academic year. We’ll take you through the procedure for these elections.
A rector, who’s that?
The rector is the academic leader of the university, representing UAntwerp in the academic sphere. They’re appointed for a four-year term by the Board of Governors.
Why are we electing a new rector in the first place?
A rector can serve a maximum of two terms. The appointment of our current rector, Herman Van Goethem, took effect on 1 October 2016. He was elected to a second term in 2020, so he can’t run for the rectorship again.
Who are the candidates?
We won’t know until 19 January 2024. All full-time full professors and professors at the University of Antwerp can make their candidacy known between 18 December 2023 and 19 January 2024. The only condition is they won’t reach pensionable age during their mandate.
Once the candidacy announcement period is over, you can find more information on the candidates via the Pintra staff portal.
Who can vote?
That’s simple: all UAntwerp staff (Senior Academic Staff, Academic Assistant Staff, Contract Research Staff, Administrative and Technical Staff, and integration framework) and all UAntwerp students on a degree contract or degree exam contract, with the exception of incoming exchange students.
That being said, some voting categories count more heavily towards the final result than others. The votes of professors (Senior Academic Staff) who have an appointment of at least 50 percent make up 67 per cent of the final result, while those of the other academic staff, all Administrative and Technical Staff, and all students each make up 11 per cent.
Every staff member and student with voting rights has one vote. It’s not possible to authorise someone else to vote on your behalf.
Is voting compulsory?
No. There’s no obligation to vote in the rector elections, although your vote is of course valued. If you want to influence and co-determine university policy, make sure to vote.
If you really have no idea whom to vote for, visit the Pintra rector elections subsite, where all candidates will introduce themselves following the candidacy announcement period. You can also attend the debates that will be organised.
When can you vote?
The first voting round will begin on Monday 4 March at 12 noon and last to Friday 8 March at 12 noon. You can vote once during this period.
The first round will only have a voting result if one of the candidates receives more than 50 per cent of the votes. This percentage also applies if there’s only one candidate.
If a second voting round is needed, it will take place one week later: from Monday 11 March at 12 noon to Friday 15 March at 12 noon. In this round, the candidate with the highest voting percentage will win the elections. If there’s a tie, extra voting rounds will take place until there’s a difference in the voting percentages.
Where can you vote?
The rector elections take place completely digitally in the Blackboard learning environment. On 16 February 2024, you’ll receive an invitation containing all the necessary information.
Staff and students who do not own a PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone can use the PCs that are freely available in the libraries on our campuses.
When will we know who the new rector is?
The election result will be announced after the voting round(s). The candidate with the highest number of votes will be nominated to the Board of Governors by the Central Electoral Committee.
The appointment by the Board of Governors will then be done by secret ballot the next time it convenes, which would normally be on 26 March 2024. The new rector’s mandate would then take effect on 1 September 2024.
Stay updated on the rector elections via the Pintra rector elections subsite.