Ombudsman FS UP – student rights defender

Every student could make a nomination for ombudsman by midnight on 18 October 2024 by sending a scanned nomination sheet by e-mail to Mgr. Alžběta Andrýsková (alzbeta.andryskova01@upol.cz) or by handing in the nomination sheet to the mailbox of the faculty's Academic Senate on the ground floor of the Faculty of Science (next to the Student Affairs Office).

Students always nominate a pair of academic staff (a woman and a man). Candidates for ombudsman must be academics or emeritus professors who are from different fields (mathematics and computer science, chemistry, physics, biology and ecology, earth sciences). The nominee must not hold the position of dean, vice-dean or head of department at the Palacký University. He/she cannot also be a senator or a member of the Ethics and Disciplinary Committee.

Election process:

• Nomination of candidates (until 18 October 2024)
• Presentation of candidates (22 October 2024)
• Electronic poll (from 23 October 2024 at 10:00 to 29 October 2024 at 10:00)
• Announcement of the results of the electronic poll (30 October 2024)
• Candidates proposal to the Academic Senate FS UP (30 October 2024)
• Voting on the candidate for ombudsman at the Academic Senate FS UP (13 November 2024 at the regular senate meeting)

The students nominated the following pairs for the election:

• Mgr. Martina OULEHLOVÁ, Ph.D. (profile), and doc. Mgr. Pavel Štarha, Ph.D. (profile)
• Mgr. Jana Oklešťková, Ph.D. (profile), and doc. Mgr. Ondřej Vencálek, Ph.D. (profile)

After the nominations, the candidate profiles were posted. An electronic poll took place, in which students gave their vote to a pair of candidates.

A total of 527 students voted in the election, of which 339 votes went to Mgr. Martina Oulehlová, Ph.D., and doc. Mgr. Pavel Štarha, Ph.D., and 188 votes to Mgr. Jana Okleštková, Ph.D., and doc. Mgr. Ondřej Vencálek, Ph.D. The total voter turnout was 11.34%.

Based on the results of the election, the student senators proposed to the FS Academic Senate UP for approval for the position of ombudsman the pair Mgr. Martina Oulehlová, Ph.D., and doc. Mgr. Pavel Štarha, Ph.D. These candidates were elected on 13 November 2024 at the meeting of the FS UP Academic Senate for the term of office from 16 December 2024 to 16 December 2027.

The Ombudsman of the Faculty of Science UP is the defender of the rights of university students in the Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral programmes of this faculty. The Ombudsman’s (student rights defender) competence includes protecting students enrolled at the Faculty of Science UP from such actions by bodies of FS UP, academic staff working at FS UP, other employees associated with FS UP, as well as actions of students who violate the Act on universities or other generally binding legal regulations, internal regulations or other provisions of UP or FS UP, ethical principles embedded in the relevant UP code, mission of the University or principles embedded in the preamble of the UP Constitution, as well as before inaction of UP bodies.

Details are stated in the internal provision PrF-B-21/02 Student rights defender.

The Ombudsman is independent in his work, he acts impartially and with the utmost effort to make an objective assessment of the matter, which he/she received from the students:

• by personal complaint at the Ombudsman's workplace during consultation hours or by appointment,
• by sending a complaint to the e-mail address of one of the Ombudsmen to whom the student decides to address the complaint and who will deal with it and will be in contact with the submitter.

The submitters of the complaint should prove that they tried to solve their situation in a standard way (Course guarantor, Study programme guarantor, Head of the department, Vice-Dean for Study, Education and Social Matters). If the situation precludes this, the Ombudsman can be contacted directly.

The hearing on the complaint is not public. The Ombudsman is bound by professional secrecy with regard to the facts ascertained in the exercise of his powers, in particular where they could directly or indirectly contribute to the identification of the individuals concerned or those who have given evidence in the proceedings.

Students are advised to try to anticipate possible conflicts and draw attention to them before they escalate into a borderline conflict situation.

The Ombudsman has no decision-making power. The decision belongs to the competent bodies of the FS UP, or to a state power.

The Ombudsman acts as a mediator in resolving conflict situations between students and staff of the FS UP and should mediate an agreement between both parties.

The Ombudsman is entitled to draw the attention of the relevant bodies of the FS UP to the reasons for the difficulty of students' access to satisfy their rights and legitimate interests, and to issue opinions and proposals leading to the prevention of these situations.