Regulations Governing Elections of
Undergraduate and Postgraduate Student Members to the Senate

A. Definition

1. “ballot” shall mean the casting of votes in secret;

2. “candidate” shall mean an undergraduate student, or a postgraduate student as the case may be, who, having been nominated for membership, has not withdrawn his/her consent to be nominated;

3. “election” shall mean the whole of the process by which a member is elected;

4. “elector” shall mean an undergraduate student, or a postgraduate student as the case may be, who is registered in a Faculty/School and has the right to vote in accordance with the provisions of these regulations;

5. “member” shall mean a person elected under the provisions of these regulations;

6. “nominee” shall mean: (1) an undergraduate student of good academic standing (with a cumulative GPA of not less than 2.0) and not under disciplinary probation or approved leave of absence or suspension of studies at the time of nomination; or (2) a postgraduate student of good academic standing (with a cumulative GPA of not less than 2.5, except for Year 1 taught postgraduates (TPGs) who are in their first semester studies) and not under disciplinary probation or approved leave of absence or suspension of studies at the time of nomination, who has been properly proposed and seconded for election;

7. “postgraduate student” shall mean a person who is registered in a full-time or part-time postgraduate taught/research programme based in Hong Kong, successful completion of which will lead to the award of a Postgraduate Diploma, Master’s or Doctoral degree by the University.

8. “undergraduate student” shall mean a person who is registered in a full-time or part-time programme based in Hong Kong, successful completion of which will lead to the award of a Bachelor’s degree by the University.

9. “vote” shall mean the formal expression of choice of a candidate, made in accordance with the provisions of these regulations.

B. Responsibilities of Office of Student Affairs

The Office of Student Affairs shall be responsible for the conduct of the Elections including:

1. the setting of the dates for the Election Period;
2. the receiving of nominations;
3. the scrutiny of nomination papers;
4. the organisation and publicity of the Elections;
5. the receiving and handling of complaints with regard to the election process;
6. the announcement of the results of the Election;
7. the reporting of the results of the Election to the Academic Registrar.

C. Nomination

1. Nominations for an election shall be opened on the date to be decided by the Office of Student Affairs. The Office of Student Affairs shall announce the Election schedule and details at least fourteen calendar days prior to the beginning of the Nomination Period. The expected period of service would be clearly indicated.

2. Nomination Period shall last for fourteen calendar days.

3. Nominations for election shall only be made on forms provided by the Office of Student Affairs for the purpose.

4. Each nomination shall be signed by the nominee giving consent to be nominated. In addition,
a. for the election of undergraduate member representing all undergraduate students, each nomination shall be signed by one proposer from undergraduates and ten seconders from at least four different Faculties /Schools. 

b. for the election of undergraduate members representing a Faculty/School, each nomination shall be signed by one proposer and ten seconders, who are undergraduate students from the respective Faculty /School. 

c. for the election of postgraduate member representing all postgraduate students, each nomination shall be signed by one proposer from postgraduates and at least two seconders, who are research or taught postgraduate students.

d. for the election of postgraduate member representing research postgraduate student, each nomination shall be signed by one proposer and two seconders who are research postgraduate students.

e. for the election of postgraduate member representing taught postgraduate student, each nomination shall be signed by one proposer and two seconders who are taught postgraduate students.

5. Each Nomination Form shall be submitted to the Office of Student Affairs before the Nomination Period closes. The Office of Student Affairs shall verify the nominee’s academic and disciplinary records to confirm his/her eligibility within two calendar days after the Nomination Period closes.

6. Any candidate may withdraw his/her consent to nomination in writing addressed to the Office of Student Affairs within two calendar days after the closing of nomination.

7. The Office of Student Affairs shall announce the name(s) of the candidate(s) properly nominated, two calendar days after the Nomination Period closes.

D. Promotion of Candidates

1. Candidates can only start the promotion after the Office of Student Affairs announces the name(s) of properly-nominated candidates.

2. Promotion may be held at times and venues as requested by the candidates and approved by the Office of Student Affairs.

3. The Office of Student Affairs may delineate additional Guidelines to regulate the promotion of candidates.

E. Election Period and Polling

1. Voting shall be cast online during the Election Period.

2. A reminder of polling will be delivered by the Office of Student Affairs through email, webpage and other appropriate means to the respective electors.

3. The period of the polling shall be in the length of three to five calendar days. The number of hours available for polling should not be less than seventy-two.

4. The Election Period shall begin at least ten teaching days after the names of the candidates are announced. Except for by-elections, the Election Period shall close on or before the last day of class for the second semester of the academic year.

F. Voting Procedures

1. Each elector shall vote once in a designated category in the ballot via the Designated Computer Voting Programme (hereinafter referred to as the Programme) as managed by the Office of Student Affairs.

2. Each elector shall prove his/her identity and eligibility by submitting his/her Student ID number and the required log-in information to the Programme, which shall automatically check the elector’s eligibility against the database of the University.

3. The information collected is for programming purposes only, and shall be kept strictly confidential.

G. Counting of Votes

1. Counting of vote shall be completed within one calendar day after the closing of the Election Period.

2. The Programme will be set with an automated ability to count votes and generate statistical reports.

3. An audit report of the Programme will be produced to verify the reliability of the result on request.

H. Complaints

1. Any complaints concerning the conduct of the ballot, the count or any other contravention of the Regulations shall be lodged with the Office of Student Affairs within three calendar days after the closing of the Election Period.

2. If complaint is so lodged, the Office of Student Affairs in consultation with the Secretary of the Senate, shall investigate the circumstances, and decide if recounting the votes, re-election or any other appropriate measures would be necessary. The Office’s decision shall be final.

I. Determination of Results of Elections

1. When there is only one candidate for a vacancy, the candidate shall be declared elected subject to having secured at least 50% of the votes. 

2. When there are two or more candidates nominated for a vacancy, the candidate who has secured the largest number of votes for that vacancy shall be declared elected.

3. For a legitimate election, the threshold be set at 10% of the total number of voters in a specified category of senator. 

4. In the event that a candidate fails to meet the designated election threshold, the Chairman of the Senate may invite the candidates with the highest number of votes to attend Senate meetings, thereby ensuring that student voices from different categories can be heard. However, these students-in-attendance do not possess the right to vote during Senate meetings.

J. Announcement of Results

1. If no complaint is received within three calendar days after the closing of the Election Period, official announcement of the results shall be made within the next calendar day.

2. The Office of Student Affairs shall announce the results of the Election, which shall include: (1) the number of supporting votes cast for each candidate; (2) the number of votes cast against each candidate; (3) the number of votes cast in the election; (4) the number of blank votes in the election; (5) the name of the elected candidate.

3. If complaints are received, no official announcement of the results shall be made until all complaints have been resolved.

4. Upon the confirmation of the election results, the Office of Student Affairs shall report as soon as practical to the Academic Registrar (as Secretary to the Senate) the names of the elected candidates for official appointment by the Chairman of the Senate.

K. Resignation and Revocation

1. An elected student member of the Senate shall resign from his/her membership by written notice addressing to the Academic Registrar as Secretary to the Senate and the Office of Student Affairs if he/she is unable to discharge his/her duties during the period of appointment owing to the following:
a. The student ceases to be registered as an undergraduate student, or a postgraduate student;
b. The student is under suspension of studies;  
c. The student is taking a leave of absence for more than one semester; or
d. The student will be consecutively away from Hong Kong for a period of three months or more, and/or unable to attend the meeting of the Senate for a period of the same length.

2. When the reasons above are communicated or made known to the Academic Registry or the Office of Student Affairs, the Academic Registrar or the Director of Student Affairs may recommend to the Senate the revocation of the student senator's membership if the student in question is unable to submit a resignation.

3. In addition to the reasons stipulated in Clause K.1, the Student Affairs Committee may recommend that the Senate revoke a student senator's membership if the student is subject to disciplinary sanction No. 7, which specifies disqualification from holding office in student organizations and/or serving on University committees for a designated period

L. Replacement Mechanism for Postgraduate Representative

1. In the event that an elected postgraduate student is unable to attain a cumulative GPA of not less than 2.5 in the first semester, the student’s appointment as a student representative at the Senate would cease. The vacancy shall be filled by a candidate who has met the above GPA requirement and participated in the same election category and election exercise.

2. The candidate who received the second highest votes in the same election category and election exercise should be the first one to fill the position; if the student is unable or unwilling to serve, the candidate who received the third highest votes would be the next one, and so on.

3. If the vacancy could not be filled by the above mechanism, a by-election would be held to fill the vacancy.

M. By-election

1. A by-election shall be ordered owing to the following:
a. An elected student member resigns from the Senate membership and the resignation takes effect at least six months preceding the end of the student’s term of office;
b. All candidate(s) in the same election category withdraw(s) from the election before confirmation of the election results; or
c. No nomination is received during the Nomination Period.
d. The position of a postgraduate member is left vacant as the student is unable to fulfill the requirement in cumulative GPA in the first semester, and no replacement could be filled via the “Replacement Mechanism for Postgraduate Representative”.

2. For each election category, a maximum of one by-election will be organized for each academic year. The by-election shall be open to students from the respective election category.

N. Interpretation

1. The interpretation of these regulations shall rest with the Senate.

O. Amendment

1. These regulations may be amended from time to time by the Senate.

Approved by HKBU Senate on 28 June 2024.