Your guide to the 2025 university elections

There are elections at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) every autumn. But what exactly are we voting for? The University Post is here to guide you through it all.

Here is the FAQ for the 2025 university elections:

Sorry, but what exactly are we voting for?

This year’s university election includes votes for the academic councils, the university board, study boards, and PhD committees. We’ll get into what all of these are a bit later.

Can I vote?

Yes, you can! The university election involves all students and staff.

But you can’t vote for everything. Students vote for students, and staff vote for staff. You vote within your own department/faculty — so if you’re a history student, for example, you can vote for the UCPH history department (the Saxo Institute’s) study board and the Academic Council at the Faculty of Humanities, but you won’t have a say in who sits on the Academic Council over at the Faculty of Social Sciences. This year, only students can vote for student representatives on the university board.

So …

Are you a student? Then this year you can vote for the board, the academic councils, and the study boards.

Are you a PhD student? Then you can vote for representatives to the PhD committees.

Are you academic staff? Then you can vote for representatives to the PhD committees.

If you are technical-administrative staff, you will not be voting this year.

So what exactly do the boards, councils and committees do?

Here’s a quick overview, but you can click through each one to read more about their role and powers at the university.

The University Board is the highest authority at the university. The 11 members of the board can hire and fire the rector. They set the direction for how the university is organised. Five of the board members are democratically elected within the university, while the remaining six external members are appointed elsewhere. Read more about the university Board here. This year, only students will be voting.

The Academic Council is an advisory body located at each of UCPH’s six faculties. It advises the dean and influences faculty development, with a particular responsibility for research. The council sets up committees that decide who is appointed to professor and associate professor positions, and who is awarded PhDs and doctoral degrees. Read more about the Academic Council here.

The Study Boards are local bodies at the departments, representing all the subjects within a department. They plan and develop the individual study programmes — for instance, they review course evaluations, set up study regulations, and handle exemption requests. If you’re applying for a fourth exam attempt, the study board is the one you want to be on good terms with. Read more about the study boards here.

The PhD Committees: If you’re a PhD student, you can vote candidates into the PhD committee at the faculty where you study or are employed. Read more about the PhD committees here.

Which lists can I vote for?

There are many candidates and lists in this year’s university election, and it can look pretty overwhelming when scrolling through all the candidates for all the bodies in this hefty PDF on KUnet. We strongly recommend using Ctrl+F so you don’t get discouraged while reading it.

Luckily, some kind soul has indexed the candidates by faculty on KUnet, so you can click through and read about their key issues. This is sadly not in English.

Fagrådene have typically fielded one or more candidates for the respective study boards — and there are many of these local councils. Often, there are fredsvalg because it’s rare that more than one list competes for the same spot on a study board.

When students vote for the Academic Council, many of the faculty councils field candidates — that is, HUMrådet, SAMFrådet, SUNDrådet, and SCIENCErådet. At the Faculty of Law, Fælleslisten is running. Each faculty council is an umbrella organisation for the local student council chapters. The faculty councils run everywhere, while Frit Forum and Conservative Students (see below) field candidates in most faculties.

There are two politically affiliated student associations fielding candidates in most faculties: the Social Democrat-inspired Frit Forum and Conservative Students.

Frit Forum and Conservative Students are also fielding candidates for the Board seats, as is the Student Council

In 2025, new lists are also running for the board. Most are affiliated with the Student Council or Conservative Students, while Politrådet is independent.

In addition to Conservative Students, Frit Forum and Politrådet, this year there are several challengers for the student seat on the board: Frie Stillerum or Free Retreat Rooms, Students for Diversity, and Kødfronten or the Meat Front.

This year, the following lists have formed an electoral alliance in the hope of taking a Board seat from the Student Council: Conservative Students (+ supporting lists), Frit Forum, Kødfronten, and Students for Diversity.

So how do I vote?

You don’t need to queue up in the rain outside your local school/nursing home/library. You simply vote electronically on KUnet between 24 November at 10 am and 28 November at 3 pm.

Lists are either ranked or equal. On a ranked list, the top candidate is the lead candidate and receives all the list votes first. This means the lead candidate is most likely to get elected. On an equal list, the candidate with the most personal votes wins, regardless of their position on the list.

On ranked lists, candidates further down the list can leapfrog ahead if they get enough votes.

When do we see the results?

The University of Copenhagen doesn’t have a war room with exit polls like on national elections on TV. Instead the suspense is released all at once when election results are revealed during a public ceremony in the university Board’s elegant meeting room off the yard at Frue Plads (called Meeting Room 1). This is also where the election officers draw lots if two candidates on an equal list receive the exact same number of votes.

It all takes place on 3 December at 12.15 pm.

Have a good election!

This article was first written in Danish and published on 20 November 2025. It has been translated into English and post-edited by Mike Young.