UK | Being an Ombudsman in higher education

Rob Behrens, the chair of the European Network of Ombudsmen in Higher Education published a new study entitled "Being an Ombudsman in Higher Education". In this study of higher education ombudsmen, Rob Behrens reviews the lived experience of ombudsmen in 18 countries. Having had unique access to ENOHE archives and drawing on a network-wide survey, he has produced the comprehensive account of European practitioners.

Higher education ombudsmen operate from a wide variety of institutional contexts, from singleton operations within individual universities to national ombudsman schemes. They are bound by a strong adherence to the principles of independence, impartiality, confidentiality and informality, and by a broad consensus including giving advice to (mainly) students, disseminating information and being agents of change.

Where higher education ombudsmen disagree is over the interpretation of operational principles. Many use adjudication to resolve disputes, whereas many others reject adjudication and rely on the soft power of mediation to enable disputants to resolve their own conflicts. Additionally, there is strong disagreement about whether campus ombudsmen, operating from within universities can ever be properly independent from the universities they have oversight of.

Behrens analyses the ways in which ombudsmen assert their independence and discovers ombudsmen as robust, assertive and properly distant from university authorities or government structures. However, he reports on a small number of ombudsmen whose mandates have been insufficient to prevent interference and obstruction. He argues that higher educational ombudsmen need to develop the professional nature of their activity to ensure commonality of qualifications, competency, and continuing professional development.

ENOHE President, Dr Josef Leidenfrost, Austrian Student Ombudsman, commented: “This is a landmark study which highlights the strength and flexibility of higher education ombudsmen across the European Higher Education Area and beyond.”

Rob Behrens added: “It is important to understand the different ways in which Ombudsmen operate in different countries and university systems so that we can learn from each other and, ultimately, improve the services we provide. I hope my study will spark a constructive debate about these differences in operations."

 

Source: European network of Ombudsmen in Higher Education (ENOHE)

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