The election will be held on 15 November from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., using a traditional ballot box. Some 33,000 members of the university community are called to vote. Information on these elections can be found at the Electronic Election Headquarters.

The ordinary procedure for electing the rector of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) is regulated by Article 69 of the UPC Statutes and by all other applicable regulations. Candidates for the post must be acting full university professors providing services to the UPC. The rector is elected directly by the university community through free and secret universal suffrage and is appointed by the Government of the Generalitat of Catalonia.

The vote for the election of rector is weighted by sectors of the university community. The weighting coefficients regulated in Article 69.4 of the UPC Statutes are the following: teaching staff with a doctorate and permanent ties to the University: 0.51; teaching and research staff, excluding those belonging to the previous group previous: 0.14; bachelor's and master's degree students: 0.24; and administrative and service staff: 0.11.

A candidate who receives the support of more than half of the validly issued weighted votes is proclaimed rector in the first round. If no candidate obtains more than half the votes, a second round is held between the two people who received most votes in the first round. In the second round, the candidate who obtains a simple majority of the validly issued weighted votes is proclaimed rector. 

In the case of a tie in the first round, if it is not possible to select one of the two candidates for the second round, Article 51.2.a of the Electoral Regulations of the UPC is applied. In the case of a tie in the second round, a new vote must be scheduled.

The candidates and their programmes

Enric Fossas: 'The UPC for all' 
Full professor of Systems Engineering and Automatic Control and doctor of Mathematics, Enric Fossas is presenting his candidature under the slogan 'The UPC for all'. He wishes to defend the UPC as a high-quality public university with academic, financial and management autonomy that is committed to society and people and is transparent, participatory and democratic.

• E-mail address: enric.fossas@upc.edu
• Website: http://enricfossas.cat
• Twitter: @fosasUPC2017
  

Francesc Torres: 'The university that listens'
Full professor with a degree in Telecommunications Engineering, Francesc Torres is presenting his candidature under the slogan 'The university that listens'. He wishes to promote excellence in research, technology transfer and teaching from a standpoint of diversity, and to endow the UPC with a more federal structure. He believes that teaching and research staff, administrative staff and students should all participate in establishing and sharing the objectives of the UPC.

• E-mail address:  francesc.torres@upc.edu
• Website: www.francesctorres.cat
• Twitter: @xicutorres2017