SOG took seven seats in total and rival student party Calimero gained five, but the independent student party, OSR, didn’t win any.

University staff had a choice of two parties. The old Personnel Party won nine seats, while the new Personnel Faction Science Party (PFSP) received enough votes for three seats. That is a problem, though, because the PFSP had only two candidates, which means one seat will be left vacant.

Alexandra officially finished fourth on the list, but she moved up, probably because so many international students voted for her.

‘International students tend to stick together’, she explained. ‘They like to have a voice on the Council.’

Nevertheless, she’s a bit disappointed that the total number of voters was under 30 percent, which is an all-time low. ‘I’d have expected at least half the student population to vote. People always complain, but the University is honestly interested in their opinion – yet they don’t even take the trouble to go on Progress to vote.’

In her home country, university elections like these don’t even exist. There are students on the council, but Alexandra never found out who they were or what they did. ‘It’s so much bigger and more important here!’

Hopefully next year there will be even more international students on the Council. ‘I hope a party like Calimero will be more open. One is not enough. More cooperation with international students is a good thing.’