2023 POSTGRADUATE COUNCIL Elections

ELECTION NOTICE

Nominations OPEN on Monday 21 August 2023.

This notice should be read in conjunction with the Arc Constitution and Regulations. 

For further information regarding the PGC and its roles and responsibilities, refer to the PGC Charter.

Nominations CLOSE at 4:00pm on Friday 1 September 2023.

POSITIONS TO BE ELECTED

OFFICERS:

• President of the PGC;
• General Secretary;
• Vice President Research (only postgraduate research students may stand and vote for this position);
• Vice President Coursework (only postgraduate coursework students may stand and vote for this position);
• Vice President International (only postgraduate international students may stand and vote for this position);
• Vice President Equity; (only postgraduate students from an underrepresented group may stand for this position);
• Canberra Campus Officer; (only postgraduate students whose primary course/controlling faculty is based at Canberra Campus may stand and vote for this position);
• Paddington Campus Officer (only postgraduate students whose primary course/controlling school is based at Paddington Campus may stand and vote for this position);

COMMITTEE LIAISONS

• Research Committee Liaison (only postgraduate research students may stand and vote for this position);
• Coursework Committee Liaison (only postgraduate coursework students may stand and vote for this position);
• International Committee Liaison (only postgraduate international students may stand and vote for this position);
• Equity Committee Liaison (only postgraduate students from an underrepresented group may stand for this position).

Sharing of Positions - No PGC position can be shared.

The roles and responsibilities of each of the above positions can be found within the PGC Charter.

TERM OF OFFICE

Officers and Committee Liaisons hold office from 1 December in the year of election until 30 November of the following year.

Officers and Committee Liaisons may only hold any one office for a maximum of 2 years.

NOMINATIONS

Nomination forms will be available here. Forms must not be submitted until nominations are open.  

Nominations must be submitted prior to the close of nominations to be valid. They may be lodged electronically, using the above link. If a hard copy of the form is required due to accessibility issues, please email ceo.admin@arc.unsw.edu.au.

Candidates must attach an image of their Student ID card (front and back) with their nomination and may attach a recent photograph (JPEG format), and a statement of not more than 150 words containing information relating to the candidate that they wish to supply. The Returning Officer may edit such statements and crop photos if deemed necessary.

Only postgraduate students who are members of Arc @ UNSW as at the close of nominations are eligible to stand as a candidate.

Candidates can self-nominate. No nominators are required.

Candidates cannot contest the PGC elections in the same year they expect to complete their final assessable content for their postgraduate degree.

A student cannot be a candidate in both the SRC and PGC elections in the same year.

All UNSW PGC students (including Kensington, Paddington & Canberra campus) are eligible to nominate and vote.

A person can only be elected to 1 position on the PGC, but may nominate for multiple positions. If doing so, the candidate must indicate on the electronic nominations form the order of preference for the positions, if they were to be successful in more than 1 position. This preference may be taken into account pursuant to Regulation 10.23.

If less than or the exact number of candidates required for a position are received those candidates will be elected unopposed. Where less than the required number of nominations are received for any position, nominations will be re-opened for that position on Monday 11 September 2023 for a week.

ELECTORAL TICKETS (Groups)

A group of candidates may register as a ticket (see 10.18 of the Arc Regulations). Forms are available for download here.

Ticket registration forms must be emailed to the Returning Officer by the following working day after nominations close, to allow candidates time to communicate and form tickets i.e. by 4:00pm Monday 4th September. At this stage, tickets only require 2 members who have been accepted as candidates.

The final makeup of the ticket showing all candidates who belong to that ticket and their order of seniority for positions and their signatures, must be emailed to the Returning Officer by 1 day later, i.e. 4:00pm Tuesday 5th September.

CAMPAIGNING

Only UNSW students may campaign for the Arc Postgraduate Council election. All campaign material must bear the name and student number of a candidate or Ticket contact person who is authorising and taking responsibility of such material.

Candidates and ticket organisers should ensure they understand the full campaigning rules, as breaches can lead to the disqualification of individuals or tickets. Further information can be found in the Arc @ UNSW Constitution and Regulations. 

In accordance with 10.3(o) of the Arc Regulations, the Returning Officer has supplied Campaigning Guidelines to supplement 10.24.

All candidates, campaigners and students involved in the election in any way must abide by any campaigning and election guidelines provided by the Returning Officer.

VOTING

ONLINE VOTING WILL BE HELD IN WEEK 4 (commencing 5:00am Tuesday 3 October 2023 to 10:00pm Friday 6 October 2023).

All students will receive an email to their uni email address containing their voting link when voting opens.

MORE INFORMATION

Please direct all queries to Philip Binns (the Returning Officer) via email to returning.officer@ozemail.com.au or phone 0432 218 026.

IMPORTANT DATES

An online info session regarding the Elections will be held on Thursday 24 August, 12:00pm-12:30pm through ZOOM. 

All elected candidates will be required to attend the PGC Induction as well as subsequent workshops. Noting that the induction date is currently scheduled for Monday 6th November and workshops are scheduled for Tuesday 7th November (Gendered Violence Awareness & Response Training @ ~6PM).