Independent Ombudsperson
Who is the independent ombudsperson and how to reach them?
The Ombudsperson of the Open Universiteit is Jozef Reijnders. Henri van Montfort is Deputy Ombudsperson.
You can contact the Ombudsperson directly via the general e-mail address ombudsfunctionaris@ou.nl. In your message you can indicate your telephone number and the preferred time at which can be reached.
What issues can you bring to the ombudsperson?
The Open Universiteit Ombudsperson's Regulations states:
The Ombudsperson is an independent official appointed by the Executive Board of the Open Universiteit to whom staff and students can turn with reports about the policy that is undesirable or unfair, or about undesirable behavior or incorrect or unfair treatment by an official, student or body of the Open Universiteit.
The Ombudsperson does not handle (individual) reports that have already been dealt with and/or cases that have been explicitly invested with a specific committee.
In the first instance, students with a report can contact the following persons and committees:
- For an alleged violation of scientific integrity: the Scientific Integrity Trustee and the Scientific Integrity Complaints Committee;
- For unwanted behavior: the confidential counsellor and the Complaints Committee undesirable behavior;
- For general complaints: to the Complaints Committee, on the basis of the general complaints procedure in accordance with Article 9 of the General Administrative Law Act;
- For an objection to a decision of the Open Universiteit: to the Disputes Advisory Committee.
- For other reports or when you don’t know where to go, you can contact the ombudsperson.
What can the Ombudsperson do?
Following a report, the Ombudsperson advises or refers if there is a case that belongs to another party within the care support structure. The Ombudsperson identifies and advises on larger trends in the field of social security, keeping an eye on the individual case but does not handle (individual) reports that have already been dealt with and/or cases that have been explicitly invested in a specific committee. The Ombudsperson takes action when it comes to a pattern.
The Ombudsperson has the following powers:
- Signaling unwanted patterns (for example, a pattern of unwanted behavior or social insecurity);
- Providing solicited and unsolicited advice;
- Maintain contact with all staff and students of the university who are relevant to a report;
- To conduct independent and own-initiative investigations in response to a report;
- It may have a mediating role, but not as a mediator.
Confidential
The Ombudsperson is obliged to keep secret what has become known to him in the performance of his duties, insofar as this follows from the nature of the case. This obligation also applies to all persons working for him and to that person who are (or have been) involved in a specific case.