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This year’s Kyung Hee University Global Campus general election has concluded. Across a total of 46 constituencies, ranging from colleges to individual departments, competitions were held to select student representatives. However, in nearly 30% of the constituencies, elections were canceled due to the absence of registered candidates, revealing a low level of interest in student self-governance. This underscores the importance of greater interest and active participation in the student community. 

The election booth for the KHU general election

As of November 28, voting in all constituencies had officially ended. Within the 11 constituencies under the Central Election Management Committee, six candidates were elected. These constituencies included the College of Physical Education, College of Foreign Languages, College of Art & Design, College of Software Convergence, College of Life Sciences, College of Engineering, and the General Student Clubs Association. In each of these districts, the campaign headquarters—UNIT, us, Didim, Baekya, Chaeum, LOG, and Enter—ran uncontested and were elected respectively.

Constituencies under the College Election Management Committees also concluded voting according to the same schedule. Out of 35 constituencies, 26 campaign headquarters were elected. 

The most striking aspect of this year’s Global Campus election was that nearly one-third of all constituencies failed to hold elections. Among the constituencies under the Central Election Management Committee, elections were not conducted in the General Student Association (GSA), the College of Electronics & Information, the College of Applied Sciences, and the College of International Studies due to the lack of registered candidates. As a result, the cancellation rate in these constituencies reached 36.36%. 

Similar patterns were observed in constituencies under the College Election Management Committees, where nine constituencies recorded no candidates, resulting in a cancellation rate of 25%. 

What further drew attention was the low voter turnout. According to the Global Campus Election Rules, vote counting requires a voter turnout of at least 50%. Under the rules, each constituency is able to extend the voting period by two days in maximum. Although all constituencies with registered candidates eventually elected their representatives, some such as the College of Art & Design and the College of Engineering—were nearly unable to proceed to vote counting and had to postpone it until November 28. 

This suggests that student participation in self-governance activities was relatively low this year. 

According to the Global Campus GSA Bylaws, constituencies in which no candidates were elected will be placed under an Emergency Response Committee (ERC). Under the rule, this committee will carry out the duties of student representatives until March 2026, after which by-elections will be held to select new representatives. If the March by-elections also fail to select a representative, the ERC will continue to perform these duties until the end of the original student association term, as stipulated in the bylaw. 

Through the Global Campus general election, a total of 31 candidates were elected as new student representatives. However, elections were canceled in nearly one-third of all constituencies due to the absence of registered candidates, clearly revealing the low level of interest in student self-governance. As many constituencies are expected to be operated under an ERC system, this is a moment that calls for more active participation from the student community