First university election since new law fails to attract voters

Just 0.7 per cent of students at the University of Dundee turned out to vote for the university council chair in March, despite legislation passed by the Scottish government to make university elections more democratic.

Minutes from an April meeting of the university court reveal that the governance and nominations committee “expressed disappointment” that turnout was low for the re-election of Ronnie Bowie as chair of court despite “considerable efforts to promote the election”.

In Scotland, the university court is the equivalent of the non-executive governing body responsible for oversight and an institution’s finances.