Menu
After several intensive weeks, today (11/05/2021) was the day, all voters went to the ballot box (digitally). The votes have been counted and we can announce that Prof. Sels has been re-elected as rector at the KU Leuven for 2021-2025, with 63,9% of the votes.
We would like to thank both candidates for the interesting debates and good cooperation.
Furthermore, we thank our Faculty consultative bodies, the campus councils ánd every student who has cast a vote at a Faculty Congress for their efforts.
As Student Council, we trust in a constructive cooperation with Rector Sels.
Every four years, Rectorial elections are held in the spring. Professors from various disciplines, faculties and groups then compete against each other. Not only your student advisor, professors or assistants have the right to vote. As students, we can help determine the outcome of this battle. But how did it all work? And what does the role that candidates aspire to actually entail? We told you all about it in the run-up to the elections. Every student has had the opportunity to make their voice heard through their Faculty Consultative Body.
The last Rectorial election (2016-2017) was a close race. Professor Sels won with 50.58% from incumbent Rector Professor Torfs. With a difference of less than two percentage points, the outcome of the battle was determined. This means that a small group can make a big difference! Especially as students, we can have a deciding vote if we organize properly. After all, we represent around 10% of the vote. For candidates, it is therefore important to have fans in each of the voting groups.
As with previous rectorial elections, Stura organises an internal ánd external debate in the weeks before the election. During these debates candidates can further explain their views and answer questions from the students. The internal debate, which took place on Friday April 30th, was organised for the members of the General Assembly. During this debate, the GA was able to ask all its questions.
The external debate, which took place on Monday April 26th, is intended for the wider public, which means all students of KU Leuven were invited. Rewatch the external debate with English interpretation below!
Every student at KU Leuven will have the opportunity to vote for the new Rector. But don’t worry, you will not have to go to the ballot box yourself. The General Assembly has chosen to work with electors, who are fairly distributed over the student numbers of the faculties. For example, the smaller faculty of Theology and Religious Studies gets 3 out of 332 electoral persons for their faculty student vote, while the faculty of Law gets 30 out of the total.
The voting will take place via a Faculty Congress, which will be organised by the student representatives of your Faculty. At this congress, a discussion will take place, after which you will be able to cast a well-considered vote. The Rector candidate who obtains the most votes at the Faculty Congress of your faculty will then receive all the student votes that your representatives may cast. Going back to the example above, this means that if you are a Criminology student and you cast a vote at your Faculty Congress, 30 of the 332 student votes will go to the rectorial candidate who gained the majority at the vote of your congress .
Do you study at more than one faculty? Then you may cast your vote at the Faculty Congress of the faculty where you take the most credits.
