Rector Election 2026

The Rector is the academic and moral compass of VUB and serves as the university’s academic head. They represent VUB externally, set the strategic direction for education and research, and chair key academic bodies. In addition, the Rector safeguards academic freedom, quality, and the university’s values, helps prepare policy, and ensures its implementation. The Rector reports on this policy to the University Council.

The role and powers of the Rector are defined in the VUB Organic Statute, the university’s constitution.

The VUB Organic Statute stipulates that the Rector’s mandate lasts four years. This fixed cycle ensures both continuity and participation: at set moments, students and staff can help decide who will steer the university for the next four years.

The term of the current Rector, Jan Danckaert, expires at the end of this academic year. Therefore, VUB is organizing a rector election in the second semester of the academic year, as provided for in the Organic Statute. Students and staff who are part of the electoral college can vote from April 20, 2026, to May 4, 2026. On May 5, 2026, we will know whether Jan Danckaert, as the sole candidate, will again receive the mandate to lead VUB for four years, starting with the 2026–2027 academic year.

Any full professor who is employed full‑time and on a permanent contract with VUB at the time of nomination can stand as a candidate for the Rector mandate.

For the 2026 rector election, candidates meeting these criteria received an email on 20 January 2026 from the Secretariat of the Councils calling for nominations. The nomination period ran from 20 to 27 February 2026, closing at 12:00. After that, the Election Committee convened to assess the submitted nominations for eligibility.

For the 2026 rector election, there sole candidate is Rector Jan Danckaert.

The VUB Organic Statute and the Central Regulations on the Detailed Rules for the Election of the Rector define the course of a rector election: from nomination and assessment by the Election Committee to the election itself. For the 2026 rector election, the timeline is as follows:

* Call for candidates: 20 January 2026
* Publication of provisional voter lists: 20 February 2026
* Announcement of candidate(s): 27 February 2026
* Etterbeek debate: 30 March 2026
* Jette debate: 3 April 2026
* Voting period for staff and students: 20 April to 4 May 2026
* Announcement of first-round winner: 5 May 2026
* Possible second round: shortly thereafter, if no winner emerges in the first round
* Start of new rector mandate: academic year 2026–2027

Following the 2026 rector election, the next rector election is scheduled, in principle, for 2030.

The Rector is elected by all members of the university community: academic staff, administrative and technical staff, students, and the staff of UZ Brussels.

The election is conducted entirely electronically. Each member of the electoral college will receive an individual e-mail with a unique access code. With this code, you can log into the electronic voting system to cast your vote. 

It is not possible to vote by proxy.

Participation is not mandatory. However, it is important that as many members of the university community as possible cast their vote. 

Even if there is only one candidate, they must be explicitly elected by the VUB community. The election is valid if at least four of the five electoral groups reach the required participation quorum. If the candidate does not achieve an absolute majority or the quorum is not met, a new election will be organized later. In that case, the current rector will remain in office until a new rector is elected, unless the Board of Directors decides otherwise.

The email with the access code is generated personally. However, your vote is stored anonymously in the system. Only the category to which you belong and the vote you cast are stored. It is therefore not possible to identify by name who voted for which candidate. 

The electronic voting system has been thoroughly tested for robustness and security. To preserve the secrecy of the vote, the system is completely locked for unauthorized persons during the voting period. If someone does gain unauthorized access, this is immediately and automatically registered. The ICT Directorate monitors the elections day and night and will take immediate action in case of irregularities. 

The emails with the unique access code are sent to the VUB email address (or UZ Brussel email address). No emails are sent to other mailboxes such as @gmail.com, @outlook.com, etc. Please verify always that your ale looking at your VUB mailbox. Although all possible measures have been taken to ensure smooth delivery of the emails, it may happen that the email ends up in your spam folder. Please check that as well. 

During the voting period, reminders are sent to those who have not yet voted. The reminder emails are automatically generated by the voting system. If you lost the first email, you will find an access code in one of the reminder emails. Once you have voted, the access code becomes inactive and you cannot vote a second time. 

The electoral college is the collective name for all eligible voters. It is divided into five categories: 

* Members of the independent academic staff, including external board members; 
* Members of other academic staff, including postdoc fellows; 
* Students enrolled with a diploma contract; 
* Members of administrative and technical staff; 
* Members of hospital staff at UZ Brussel, i.e., medical staff without academic assignment and non-medical staff. 

If your name does not appear on any of the lists, it may mean that you do not belong to one of the categories mentioned above. For example, this may be the case for students with a credit contract. Staff members who joined the VUB after January 20, 2026, cannot participate in these elections. The electoral lists were finalized on January 20, 2026. 

Each eligible voter can only appear on one list. In case of a dual status, you are assigned to the first category you belong to: 

(1) independent academic staff 
(2) other academic staff 
(3) students 
(4) administrative and technical staff 
(5) hospital staff UZ Brussel 

For example, someone who is both a student and an employee will, according to this classification, be placed in the “student” category.  

The regulations for the rector election stipulate that a specific number of people in each category must participate in the vote. This is called the quorum. If the participation quorum is met in at least four of the five categories, the election is valid. 

For independent academic staff, the quorum is at least 50%. For other academic staff, at least 20%. For students, at least 10%. For administrative and technical staff, at least 20%. For UZ Brussel staff: at least 5%. 

The regulations stipulate that all valid votes per category are weighted according to a predetermined key. 

Votes from independent academic staff count for 60%, other academic staff 15%, students and administrative-technical staff 10% each, and UZ Brussel staff 5%. 

The weighting of the votes is supervised by an independent bailiff to ensure everything is correct. 

Voting ends on the 4th of May at noon. The results are then extracted, weighted, and sealed under the supervision of a bailiff and in the presence of the chair of the election committee. The election committee will officially acknowledge the results, determine if the quorum has been met, and verify if the weighting was correctly applied. On the morning of the 5th of May, the results are first communicated to the candidate(s) and then made public. 

A candidate-rector is elected when he/she has obtained an absolute majority of the total weighted votes across all categories. 

The election committee organizes and supervises the election for the rector’s mandate. The committee consists of representatives from the independent academic staff (6 members), other academic staff (1 member), administrative and technical staff (1 member), students (1 member), and UZ Brussel staff (1 member). 

Once fully constituted by the Board of Directors, the election committee operates completely autonomously. The committee’s work is administratively and logistically supported by the Secretariat of the Boards, which, in cooperation with various directorates, is responsible for the practical preparations for the elections.