ELECTION OF ONE POSTGRADUATE STUDENT TO THE UNIVERSITY COUNCIL
Curtin University Act 1966
CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
This is a call for nominations for the election of one postgraduate student to the Council of Curtin University.
Council is the University’s governing body, established under the Curtin University Act 1966 (“the Act”). Council is responsible for the overall governance and effective management of the University.
Section 9(1)(d)(ii) of the Act provides that the membership of Council includes “2 persons who are enrolled students – one of whom is a postgraduate student and who is elected by the postgraduate students in the manner prescribed by Statute”. Student Council members hold office for a period of one year.
The term of office of the current student elected to Council expires on 20 November 2023.
The term of office for the newly elected postgraduate student to Council will be from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024.
Postgraduate students considering nominating for election are encouraged to read the University’s Corporate Governance Statement before nominating. Other relevant governance documents can be found on the Secretariat webpage.
Elected Student Members are expected to bring a student perspective to the Council. All Council members are required to act in the best interests of the University at all times.
Students Eligible for Election:
All enrolled postgraduate students of the University are eligible for election to Council in this election.
Under section 9A(3) of the Act, an elected student “may be re-elected once, but only once, on the expiry of their term of office, if they continue to be qualified under section 9.”
Students Eligible to Nominate a Candidate:
An enrolled postgraduate student of the University may nominate themself, or nominate another enrolled postgraduate student to be a candidate for this election.
Nominations:
The nominations period commences at 9:00am on Tuesday, 29 August 2023. Nominations are to be made using the nomination form. The nomination form must be completed, signed and dated by both the nominee and nominator, and returned to the Secretariat by email (scan and send to: secretariat@curtin.edu.au).
All completed nomination forms must be returned to the Secretariat by
2:00pm on Wednesday, 13 September 2023
Nomination forms received after this time will not be accepted.
Supporting Candidate Statements and/or Photographs:
A candidate can provide a profile statement for circulation with the voting ballot. The profile statement, to be received before the close of nominations, must:
- be in the English language and not exceed 150 words in length;
- be confined to a description of the candidate and of the candidate’s qualifications, skills and experience relevant to the Council;
- not contain information that is false, misleading or defamatory;
- include the candidate’s full name (in the form in which they have asked for it to be included on the ballot form), contact details (for example, student email address) and student ID;
The candidate may also provide a recent passport-sized photograph of their head or head and shoulders.
Candidate statements and photographs must be returned to the Secretariat by the closing date for nominations, 2:00pm on Wednesday, 13 September 2023.
Candidate statements and photographs received after this time will not be accepted.
Election Process:
- If only one valid nomination is received, that candidate will be elected unopposed.
- If more than one valid nomination is received, an election will be conducted to fill the position.
- The election will be conducted by Curtin’s electronic voting system Simply Voting.
- The system of voting will be Optional Preferential.
- Voting is not compulsory.
Election Schedule:
- If an election is required, the Returning Officer will publish a Notice of Election on
Monday, 18 September 2023. - On the same day the Notice of Election is published, all postgraduate students will be emailed a link to a ballot webpage where candidate profiles, instructions relating to the voting process and information on the counting of votes will be available.
- A second email will be sent from Simply Voting on Wednesday, 27 September 2023 to those eligible to vote, containing information on how to vote on the Simply Voting website, including a link to vote and a username and password. This email will be sent to Curtin student email addresses.
- Those eligible to vote will be able to use this link to vote from receipt of the Simply Voting email on Wednesday, 27 September 2023 until the close of the voting period.
- The voting period will close at 00pm on Wednesday, 11 October 2023. After this time, it will no longer be possible to vote in this election.
Counting of votes and announcement of election result
Votes will be counted as soon as practicable after the voting period ends.
The candidate who receives the highest number of votes, following the distribution of preferences, will be declared elected to the Council.
The result of the election will be declared by the Returning Officer on Friday, 13 October 2023 and all candidates will be notified of the election result in writing.
Further Information
Further information on the election processes can be found on the Postgraduate Election webpage.
Jon Porter
Director, Secretariat and Council Secretary
Returning Officer
