UAntwerp elects new rector after second-round vote

Van Goethem succeeds mathematician Alain Verschoren, who had served two terms, and will be rector at least until 2020.

During the first round last week, the two candidates went head to head: Meeusen got 49.40% of votes, Van Goethem 48.06%. As neither obtained 50%, a second round was necessary. In the second round, when abstentions didn’t count, Van Goethem secured 51.4% of the votes.

Van Goethem teaches courses including the political and institutional history of Belgium. He is also director-general of Kazerne Dossin Memorial, Museum and Documentation Centre on Holocaust and Human Rights in Mechelen, a position he will give up to focus on his role as rector.

He said it was time for UAntwerp  to take up a stronger position in the wider metropolitan region of Antwerp. “The university has the potential to become a lab and an engine for change in the modern 21st-century metropolis, both here and elsewhere in the world,” he said.

Photo courtesy of UAntwerp