Elections to the Academic Senate of the TU Berlin

Every two years the members of the TU Berlin – including the whole student body – are invited to elect their representatives into the different boards of this university. The next elections take place from December 7th to December 9th 2021.

Why does this matter for my studies?

The very basic answer: Because it does.

Almost everything a university consists of gets decided within these “mysterious” boards – from the amount of tutors getting assigned to your faculty to the appointment of new professors. From compulsory elective subjects to the regulations governing general study and examination procedures. From learning spaces to opening hours of the libraries and IT-equipment.

What is the Academic Senate?

The Academic Senate (AS) is the highest board within the academic self-administration (Akademische Selbstverwaltung) of TU Berlin. Every single decision concerning the whole university is getting discussed there. Its tasks are especially:

• enactment of the Regulations Governing General Study and Examination Procedures (AllgStuPO) as well as confirmation and commenting of subject-specific regulations governing study and examination procedures (StuPO),
• establishment and cancellation of courses of study,
• establishment and cancellation of professorships as well as decisions regarding appointments of new professorships,
• decisions about the strategic development of TU Berlin,
• distribution of scientific personnel and tutor jobs across the faculties,
• decisions about research projects,
• decisions about construction projects,
• determination of the numbers of first semester students per course of study,
• enactment of miscellaneous central statutes and regulations,
• commenting of the budget of TU Berlin,
• decisions about cooperations and, if wanted, creation of university outposts (e. g. Campus EUREF and El Gouna), and
• nominating staff for the executive office (together with the board of trustees).

… and the Extended Academic Senate?

In comparison to the AS the Exteded Academic Senate (EAS) only has a few but no less important tasks. It elects the president and the three vice presidents. The president is answerable towards the EAS. In addition the EAS enacts the university's charter which is the constitution for the TU Berlin.

List 6: Eure Inis & Friends ❤️ Fak 1, 4, 6, 7

Sustainably improving study, work and leisure time at TU Berlin!

We are your students initiatives & friends and are campaigning for years for a better climate on the campus. We are organizing introductory weeks for first semester students, providing advice during your course of studies and are providing exam collections as well as Club Mate in the evening or at a campus party at the weekend. Our list consists of students of almost every faculty, six different students initiatives 🤝 and even more courses of studies 📜.

For self-determined and sustainable studies

• Preservation of free spaces and cafés for students on campus
• Improved teaching
• More free trials
• Reopen learning spaces with priority
• Sustainability in teaching
• More language courses which can be accredited as modules
• Reducing bureaucracy
• Recorded lectures
• Enough capacities for all courses of studies, especially masters degrees
• Data protection in online teaching
• International Exchange
• Promoting project-based and self-organized learning and teaching
• Against racism, sexism and discrimination

How to vote?

There are two ways for you to participate in the elections: Either by absentee ballot or by ballot box at the polling place. Due to the Corona pandemic, it is safer and probably more convenient to vote by absentee ballot this year. At TU Berlin, most elections are held in parallel, so in addition to the ballot for the Academic Senate, you will also receive the ballot for your Faculty Council (Fakultätsrat) or the Institute Council (Institutsrat) of your central institute, the ballot for the election to the Board of Trustees (Kuratorium), and if applicable the ballot for the election of the Council to the Women's Representative (Frauenbeiräte).

You can find out which people you can vote for on the service page of the ZWV (Central Election Board, Zentraler Wahlvorstand, Wahlamt) list of candidates (Wahlzeitung, Wahlvorschläge).

We are List 6: Eure Inis & Friends ❤️ Fak 1, 4, 6, 7. Starting at the middle of page 10 of the Wahlzeitung.

Election modes

The election for the Academic Senate is conducted as a list election (Listenwahl). You have exactly one vote. You can give this vote to one person. It then counts as a vote for the person and for the list on which the person stands.

On the ballot paper there are usually 3 persons per list and one line for the name of another person. So you can vote for one of the 3 persons or you can vote for none of these persons and write another person from the respective list on the ballot paper and check it. You can find all the students running on a list in the Wahlzeitung.

The 4 seats for the students in the Academic Senate are then distributed on the basis of the votes for the lists, i. e. the sum of all votes received by the persons on the list. The persons who received the most votes on the respective list then occupy the acquired seats. The order of the persons on the ballot paper or in the Wahlzeitung therefore has no influence. However, in a list election, the persons who have the time and motivation to deal with the tasks of the office in the next legislature are at the top. Therefore, it makes sense to vote for one of the 3 persons on the ballot paper. This ensures that these persons will actually fill the seats on the list.

For a list election at least 2 lists have to run, therefore sometimes there are Nicht-Wählen-Listen or Dummy-Listen whose purpose is only to achieve a list election because the voting mode and the representation rules for lists are easier to handle in practice.

This advice applies only to list elections. In some faculty or central institute councils, it can also be a personal election. There, you have as many votes as there are seats to be allocated for the respective group of members.

Finding your Wahlfakultät or polling station

To vote you have to know at which faculty you are eligible to vote (Wahlfakultät, Wahloption). You will need this to find the right polling station or to apply for the right absentee ballot (for absentee ballot the software should fill the form automagically – but better check the information again). The Wahlfakultät is usually the faculty where your course of study is offered. For students who are not assigned to a faculty, the corresponding central institute acts like a faculty. However, you can also find your Wahlfakultät in the Bescheinigung für die Gremienwahlen (report for comittee elections) in the tuPORT portal. You will need a 2nd factor authetication (2FA) for this. Go to the Bescheide und Bescheinigungen app and open the Bescheinigung für die Gremienwahlen. Since the PDF will open in a pop-up, your browser may give you a warning. Sometimes tuPORT does not find the PDF the first time, then you just have to click on the link again.

You can also find the Wahlfakultät in the old enrollment certification (Studienbescheinigung) under Eligible to vote for:. If you haven't changed your course of study in the meantime your Wahlfakultät should be the same.

Absentee Vote

You must apply for the absentee vote for the committee elections in due time. You should do this at the latest on November 30, 2021 (around 9 days before the last election date). Otherwise, your election documents may not reach the TU Berlin in time.

Request absentee ballot (Deadline for requests ended November 30)

There is an app in tuPORT to apply for the absentee ballot. You can see where to find it in the video below. Don't be surprised: As is typical for the TU Berlin, the app uses as many services as possible, so until the final application is displayed, a few different loading screens may appear and some error messages may pop up for a short time. Depending on how fast you type, the whole thing should not take more than 2 minutes.

Send the absentee ballot back

The absentee ballot should be filled out according to the note included in the absentee ballot material and then sent back to TU Berlin by regular mail (or in-house mail). All postal charges are covered by TU Berlin, at least if you mail from somewhere in Germany.

The ballot papers must be received by the Central Election Board by the end of the respective election. That means on the 30 November 2021 at 3 p. m. for the elections to the (extended) Academic Senate, the Board of Trustees, the Faculty Council or the Council to The Women's Representative.

Don't forget: The assurance (Versicherung) on the Wahlschein (not the ballot paper (Stimmzettel) itself) must be signed. Otherwise the vote cannot be counted.

The steps in detail:

1. mark the ballot paper (Stimmzettel) and put it into the coloured ballot paper envelope (Stimmzettelumschlag),
2. seal the ballot paper envelope,
3. Sign the Wahlschein, fold it with the writing facing outwards and place it around the ballot paper envelope,
4. place everything in the white reply envelope (Antwortumschlag) and seal it,
5. send the letter by mail or in-house mail.

Ballot election (Urnenwahl)
7 to 9 December 2021 from 10 a. m. to 3 p. m.

The ballot is possible from 7 to 9 December 2021 from 10 a. m. to 3 p. m. To vote, you only need your student ID and an official photo ID (e. g. identity card (Personalausweis), passport or driver's license). You can vote at the polling station of your faculty.