The number of files processed by the Ombuds Office at the University of Valencia has slightly increased this academic year, according to the report presented before the Senate this past Wednesday by the ombuds officer, Carmen Carda. The implementation of the new curriculum partly explains the increase of complaints and enquiries.
According to the data provided by Carmen Carda, this academic year the total of files processed was 136 (87 complaints and 49 enquiries), in comparison with the 131 files from the previous year. The files from 2012/2013 have affected a total of 168 people (65 men and 103 women). For groups, 135 students, 29 PDI, nine PAS and two PIF have gone to the Ombuds Office. The Ombuds Office has solved 126 files. Of the remaining ones, four have desisted, one has not been accepted, and five are on hold until other cases are resolved. The resolution of the processed cases has been favourable in 46 files and unfavourable in 79. The period for resolution of the file is 22 days approximately.
The body has confirmed an increase of the number of cases, but “not necessarily” for a greater tension in the institution, but because of a “better access to the Ombuds Office. This must also be attributed to specific circumstances such as the implementation of the new curriculum, a change that has raised doubts among the members of the university community, who came to us to discuss the problems arising from the new situation”, can be read in the report.
Among students, most initiatives has been for information or consultative, resulting in part from the “ignorance of the functioning of certain bodies of the University or the rights they have”, and have been able to solve quickly with advice. According to the Ombuds Office, “they have a special interest in the problems arising from the implementation of the registration regulations and in the last years of planning process”.
The Ombuds Officer makes a recommendation: “In order to not damage our students’ rights, the importance of a correct execution of the established deadlines for exams, revisions and delivery and management of the examination results should be emphasised to teachers and PAS”.
A key aspect in the report is that of language. “The Ombuds Office believes that the right to study in any of the two official languages at the University must be guaranteed in every one of the offered degrees. All reports from the Ombuds Office have stressed the numerous cases that we get relating to the breach about teaching in Valencian. There are few the files because of shortage, but the complaints about the breach on the teaching language announced in the OCA are repetitive”.
During the time for participation, Laura Peris, from BEA, has criticised the excess of bureaucratic obstacles, which sometimes stop the processing of complaints, and regrets the ignorance about the institution by many students.
The whole report can be consulted in this address: http://links.uv.es/oYv3Ef
Last update: 18 de december de 2013 14:45.
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