Information on the Senate Elections
From January 16 to 18, 2024, it is once again time to elect representatives to the Senate for the student member group of Hochschule Geisenheim University (HGU).
The elections will take place via the POLYAS online voting system. The invitation to the election will be sent to the e-mail addresses registered in the electoral roll in due time.
During these three days, HGU students will have the opportunity to elect their representatives for the Senate.
The students also elect the Student Parliament (StuPa) at the same time. Elections are held in accordance with the Hessian Higher Education Act (HessHG) as well as the HGU election regulations (or the student council election regulations for the StuPa).
The Senate, as the central University Committee, advises on matters of research, teaching and studies that affect the entire University or are of fundamental importance.
It also supervises the Management of the Presidium. This is why the Senate constitutes an important body at HGU alongside the University Council and the Presidium.
According to § 42 of the Hessian Higher Education Act (HessHG), the Senate of Hochschule Geisenheim University (HGU) consists of 17 members:
According to § 5 of the election regulations of the HGU, every member of the university (cf. § 37, HessHG) is entitled to the active and passive right to vote for his or her group.
General information
Election regulations:
For the conduct of the HGU Senate elections in winter semester 2023/24 the HGU election regulations
of January 23, 2013, last amended on December 15, 2020 (Official Notice 07/2020), based on the Hessian Higher Education Act, apply.
Election Principles:
The representatives of the member groups in the Senate shall be elected in free, equal, secret and direct elections by the respective member group according to the principles of proportional representation (list election). The form of election shall be determined by whether one or more nominations are submitted per group of members.
Proportional representation:
If there are several approved nominations for election in a group, the election is conducted according to the rules of proportional representation. Each person entitled to vote has one vote. He or she can assign this vote to a list of nominations.
Direct election:
If only one nomination for election or one list of candidates has been accepted in a group, it will be elected according to the rules of direct election. Each eligible voter has as many votes as there are seats in the Senate to be filled by the respective group.
If, in addition to a nomination for election that has already been submitted to the election office, at least one further list proposal is submitted within the same group of members, the election shall be conducted according to the principles of proportional representation. In this case, the order of the candidates indicated is decisive.
The lists of candidates should contain a sufficient number of candidates to enable sufficient substitutes to be appointed to the expanded Senate. Each applicant may only be named on one suggestion list.
Substitutes: In the elections to the Senate (proportional representation), substitutes for the Senate members are also determined. Substitutes shall be the list members listed in the order of the list of candidates after the members of the Senate according to the number of mandates allocated to the list. If only one nomination is submitted for a group (direct election), the candidates who have not been allocated a seat on the basis of the election results and who have the next highest number of votes are substitutes. If a list of candidates contains fewer candidates than the maximum number of seats it would be entitled to, the remaining seats shall remain vacant.
Term of office:
The term of office begins on the first day of the semester following the election,
on April 1
The term of office of the representatives from the group of students is one year. The representatives from the other groups are each in office for two years
For the conduct of the elections, the Senate elected the election commitee in its session on July 11, 2023.
The election commitee has five members and five deputies. The following members belong to it:
from the group professors:
Prof. Dr. Kai Velten
Prof. Dr. Andreas Kurth
Prof. Dr. Linda Muskat (Deputy)
Prof. Dr. Andreas Holzapfel (Deputy)
from the group of scientific staff:
Mr. Alexander Peters
Dr. Bastian Leander Franzisky (Deputy)
from the group of administrative and technical staff:
Mrs. Tabea Dietrich
Mr. Peter Nensel (Deputy)
from the group of students:
Mr. Manuel Wendling
Mrs. Jana Woff (Deputy)
We would like to thank all candidates for their willingness to serve on the election committee for the HGU Senate elections.
The election committee remains in office until the new election committee is constituted. The election manager is Chancellor Mrs. Marion Waldeck. The meetings of the election committee are open to the public. The dates and locations of the meetings as well as the resolutions of the election committee are announced on the website of the University of Geisenheim and on a notice board.
Submission of candidate nominations
Nominations should be submitted to the Election Office, Administration Building, room 116, 1st floor, by
December 12, 2023, 12:00 noon using the form provided.
Only those nominations will be accepted that are submitted personally on the fully completed and signed form (see also HGU Election Regulations, §12). Therefore, nominations by email cannot be considered.
Nominations should contain the names of all eligible candidates, in the correct order. Ideally, there should be an appropriate female / male representation in proportion to the group.
The lists of candidates should contain a sufficient number of candidates to enable sufficient substitutes to be appointed to the expanded Senate. Each applicant may only be named on one suggestion list.
The accepted nominations (lists of candidates) shall immediately be made public by the Election Committee.