University elections

University elections

During the university elections, representatives are elected to the Senate, the five Faculty Councils, the Appointments Council for the School of Theology and the Student Council at FAU. They form the basis for the administration of academic affairs at the University. While the student representatives are elected each year, representatives of the full-time university lecturers, academic staff and doctoral candidates as well as non-academic staff are elected once every two years.

Expected schedule for the 2026 university elections:

Further details are available below and on the Student Representatives’ website. The doctoral candidates’ representatives are elected in parallel to the university elections, on an annual basis. Further information is available on the Doctoral Candidates’ Council website.

Information

The Senate comprises six representatives of full-time university lecturers, one representative for members of academic staff, employees and doctoral candidates, one representative of non-academic staff as well as two students and the Officer for equal opportunities for women in science and the arts. The chairperson of the Doctoral Candidates’ Council is included in an advisory capacity. The tasks of the Senate include passing resolutions on University regulations (in particular degree program and examination regulations) and issuing statements on proposals for the appointment of professors. In addition, the elected members of the Senate belong to the University Council, which elects the members of the Executive Board and decides on changes to the FAU Constitution and on establishing new degree programs.

The Student Council (Studentischer Konvent) is made up of students from all faculties and has a total of 30 members. The Student Committees (Fachschaftsvertretungen) at each of the faculties appoint three members each (a total of 15), another 15 members are elected directly by students in the university election. The members of the Student Council work to promote the subject-related, economic and social interests of their fellow students at FAU. In addition, the Student Council elects student representatives to the Senate and the members of the General Student Committee (Sprat), which gives students a voice and a greater influence in external affairs.

The Faculty Councils (Fakultätsrat) consist of ex oficio members (dean, vice dean, dean of studies and the faculty women’s representatives) and group representatives elected directly during the university elections. These are twelve representatives of full-time university lecturers, four representatives of academic staff and doctoral candidates, two representatives of non-academic staff and four students. The Faculty Councils take decisions in all matters relating to the individual faculties. They are involved, for example, in establishing degree programs, approving examination regulations and appointing professors. Furthermore, the Faculty Council elects the members of the faculty board (deans, vice deans, deans of studies).

The Student Committees (Fachschaftsvertretung) represent students’ interests at a faculty level. They consist of the students with the most votes from the election for the Faculty Council, in other words the four representatives from the Faculty Council and the runners up. The number of members depends on the number of students at the faculties. The Student Committees support their fellow students in organizing their studies and provide students with study-related advice.

The Appointments Council for the School of Theology assumes the tasks of a Protestant faculty of theology pursuant to Section 30 (5) and (6) AVBayHIG in appointment procedures for professors of Protestant theology, Protestant religious education and teaching Protestant religious education at schools. Its members are elected in accordance with the provisions applicable to electing Faculty Councils.

Further information on electing student representatives is available on the Students’ Representatives’ website.

Information on the election for the doctoral candidates’ representatives is available under “Election for the doctoral candidates’ representatives”.

Every member of FAU who is entered in the electoral register at the time it closes is eligible to vote and be voted. For part-time employees, this is only the case if their regular working time is at least ten hours a week (Section 19 (1)(6) BayHIG). Students whose regular working hours at FAU at the time the electoral register closes are at least ten hours a week (unless they are employed as a student assistant) are therefore no longer entitled to vote in the student group.

For election to Faculty Councils, Section 3(3) of the Electoral regulations stipulates that members are only entitled to vote in the faculty they belong to at the time the electoral register closes. This is the faculty in which the member is predominantly active or which is responsible for conducting the degree program for which the student is enrolled (Section 37 (2) BayHIG).

The electoral register shall be available for inspection from 9 am to 4 pm on May 13, 2026, from 9 am to 12 pm on May 15, 2026 and from 9 am to 4 pm on May 18, 2026 in Erlangen at the University Administration’s Elections Office, Freyeslebenstraße 1, room 03.5234 on the third floor.

The electoral register will be closed at 9 am on May 19, 2026. If you have not been entered in the electoral register or your entry is incorrect, you may submit a notification in writing to the Elections Office. However, these notifications may only be submitted if you are eligible to vote and are entered or should be entered in the electoral register. A notification such as this must be submitted to the Elections Office or the Returning Officer at the latest by the first working day after the electoral register has been closed, i.e. by 4 pm on May 20, 2026. The Recording Officer takes the decision regarding the notification and corrects the electoral register if applicable.

In addition to the Returning Officer (Chancellor of FAU, Section 5 (2)(1) Electoral Regulations), an Elections Committee must be established each year for the university election (Section 5 (1) and (3) Electoral Regulations). The Elections Committee consists of 15 members from all four groups involved in the university elections and is appointed by the Senate for the applicable elections. The Committee has a managerial and steering role, carrying out the following tasks in particular:

  • Checking and approving the nominations (Section 9 (1) Electoral Regulations)
  • Drafting the ballot papers in consultation with the Returning Officer (section 10 (4) Electoral Regulations)
  • Checking the validity of votes in cases of doubt (Section 17 (3) Electoral Regulations)
  • Making decisions about any important reasons for rejecting the election by the person(s) elected (Section 20 (1)(3) Electoral Regulations)
  • Making decisions about any challenges to the results of the election (Section 22 (4)(1) Electoral Regulations).
  • Election Committee Members

Nominations for the university election can be submitted from April 23, 2026 until 4 pm on May 6, 2026 to the Elections Office, Freyeslebenstraße 1, 91058 Erlangen, room 03.5234 on the third floor. Please observe the information on the Guidelines for Nominations. Information about submitted nominations will be available on this website at the end of May as well as on the Student Representatives’ website.

Votes will be cast in the university elections as an electronic election from 11 am on June 16, 2026 until 11 am on June 23, 2026, in the electronic polling station stated in the polling card.

The votes will be counted on June 23, 2026 in the Senatssaal.

Those who are eligible to vote and have an activated IdM account can access their polling card as an electronic document via the FAU election portal online-wahlen.fau.de. Those who are eligible to vote but do not have a fully activated IdM account will receive their polling card in writing and will be instructed to apply for and fully activate an IdM account in order to be able to vote electronically. Anyone who is eligible to vote but who has not fully activated their IdM account will receive personalized log-in credentials (PIN and TAN) in the week before the election period in order to be able to authenticate their identity using the PIN/TAN procedure. If the electoral register is corrected, those eligible to vote who are affected by the changes will receive a corrected polling card.

Access to the electronic polling station is possible using any Internet-enabled end device (e.g. PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone). In addition, those who are eligible to vote can also cast their votes on an election terminal in the Elections Office in Erlangen, Freyeslebenstraße 1, 91058 Erlangen, room 03.5234 on the third floor. The election terminal is available for use during the election period from Monday to Thursday from 9 am to 4 pm and on Friday from 9 am to 12 pm.

In order to ensure that the electronic election remains secure and confidential, it is essential that you vote using a secure end device.

You should use an operating system the manufacturer has approved for accessing the internet that is updated regularly. System settings should follow the recommendations of the manufacturer and RRZE. Wherever possible, you should use antivirus and protected networks (e.g. VPN). You must always keep the operating system, browser and antivirus software up to date.

Further security guidelines: https://www.anleitungen.rrze.fau.de/betriebssysteme/.

If devices are shared, we recommend using the incognito mode; devices should be used without administration rights.
Mobile devices may not be altered using jailbreaking, rooting or the like; software may only be installed from secure sources.

Your IdM account must be protected with a secure password. If you suspect your password has been abused, you must change it immediately and inform IT security at FAU (https://www.rrze.fau.de/person/abuse/).

You must keep your log-in credentials for the electronic election safe and not save them in the browser. You must not refresh the page while you are voting. Once you have finished, we recommend signing off the election portal and closing the browser.

Voting is carried out over encrypted websites. To check the trustworthiness of the server, you can compare the electronic fingerprints with the following information:

Fingerprints for sso.uni-erlangen.de

  • SHA-256: 32:70:7F:A1:12:33:3C:B1:EF:0C:8A:BB:15:2C:DE:AE:BB:76:B4:14:AD:44:A5:48:C6:19:58:08:F3:BC:70:1C
  • SHA-1: 97:A9:56:E5:82:5A:FB:7D:47:1B:73:BB:C2:81:85:5C:29:0B:DC:AE

Fingerprints for online-wahlen.fau.de

  • SHA-256: EF:D0:C9:BE:72:30:BC:97:F2:72:7A:25:F2:54:6E:86:CA:08:C8:C0:41:F1:76:48:14:E9:D9:B4:D2:81:5D:11
  • SHA-1: 41:66:C3:75:B0:93:15:0A:BD:34:F2:A0:FD:3B:9A:CB:E8:96:AA:7A

Fingerprints for election.polyas.com

  • SHA-256: CB:07:A7:9D:42:10:D5:25:AD:7C:6A:BC:F8:24:E3:6F:F3:E5:5C:19:E6:2A:27:B0:0B:42:D4:91:FC:2D:0A:11
  • SHA-1: DA:24:4F:2B:88:02:CF:D1:2E:81:3A:BA:CE:B5:40:6D:6E:5F:B9:2A

The doctoral candidates’ representatives represent the interests of doctoral candidates. They have an advisory function within FAU’s committees and offer individual support for doctoral degree candidates. Two doctoral candidates are elected at each faculty. The persons from each faculty who are elected in this manner form the Doctoral Candidates’ Council. More information on the Doctoral Candidates’ Council is available on the Doctoral Candidates’ Council blog.

The Doctoral Candidates’ Council is elected annually at the same time as the general university election, with this election being conducted as an electronic election. Doctoral candidates registered in docDaten as eligible to vote can access their polling card as an electronic document via the FAU election portal. Access to the electronic polling station is provided via the FAU election portal during the election period. Access to the electronic polling station is possible using any Internet-enabled end device (e.g. PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone). Those who are eligible to vote can also cast their votes on an election terminal in the Elections Office in Erlangen, Freyeslebenstraße 1, 91058 Erlangen, room 03.5234 on the third floor. The election terminal is available for use during the election period from Monday to Thursday from 9 am to 4 pm and on Friday from 9 am to 12 pm.

Election nominations can be submitted from April 23, 2026 until 4 pm on May 6, 2026 to the Elections Office, Freyeslebenstraße 1, 91058 Erlangen, room 03.5234 on the third floor. Please observe the information on the form for submitting election nominations. Information about submitted nominations will be available on this website from mid May as well as on the Doctoral Candidates’ Council blog.

You can cast your vote for the Doctoral Candidates’ Council from 11 am on June 16, 2026 until 11 am on June 23, 2026 (election period for university election).

Further information

Confirmation from Elections Office of membership in committees

The Elections Office can issue you with confirmation that you have served in an FAU committee.

To request confirmation, please send an email to hochschulwahlen@fau.de with the period of service and which offices you worked in as well as the address to which the confirmation should be sent.

That apart, all students who get involved in the Senate, the Student Council, the General Student Committee, the Faculty Council, Student Committees and central committees receive official confirmation of their term of office for each membership.

Contact

FAU Elections Office: hochschulwahlen@fau.de