The University of Pardubice has established the office of the Ombudsperson to further enhance social safety and offer new ways to deal with issues involving misconduct or inappropriate behaviour. The University Ombudswoman may be approached by employees and students who face situations that undermine their feeling of safety or interfere with their dignity such as discrimination, bullying, unequal treatment or gender-based violence in relation to their work or study.
The University Ombudswoman receives complaints from students and employees involving violations of social safety and has a duty to investigate such complaints. In addition, the Ombudswoman acts as a mediator in disputes and conflicts involving misconduct and offers counselling to those who approach her with such issues, and proposes remedial measures to remove any shortcomings or introduce systemic changes.
Within her powers, the Ombudswoman deals with complaints involving a variety of forms of misconduct jeopardizing social safety at the University. All the forms will be referred to misconduct (inappropriate behaviour). The most frequent forms of misconduct include bullying, discrimination, unequal treatment, sexual harassment or conflict of interests.
The Ombudswoman may also deal with other situations considered by the complainants to amount to interferences with their dignity or jeopardy or violation of their mental or physical integrity compromising their work or study conditions.
To learn what qualifies as misconduct and how to file a complaint if facing a case of misconduct, go to How to respond to inappropriate behaviour.
The office of the Ombudswoman is held by Mrs. Zuzana Labudová, Ph.D., MBA.
She has a degree in Language and Literary Culture from the Faculty of Education of the University of Hradec Králové and in Gender Studies from the Faculty of Humanities of Charles University in Prague, where she also earned her PhD in Applied Ethics. She has worked for NGOs focusing on equal opportunities training, she is also the leader of a team conducting equal opportunities audits and she has held the office of the Ombudswoman at the Crop Research Institute in Prague. She has been the Ombudswoman at the University of Pardubice and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Czech Technical University Prague since September 2024.
“Any student or employee at the University of Pardubice may get in touch if they feel they face unfair conditions compared to other students and employees or if feel they have fallen victims of any form of discrimination or inappropriate behaviour. I will deal with all complaints to make sure that, as far as possible, everybody feels safe and comfortable at the University.”
Contact:
- email: ombuds@upce.cz,
- in person on Thursdays from 10 to 12 a.m., on other days by individual arrangement.
Directives and Guidelines
| Files for download | Size |
|---|---|
| Directive No. 8/2024 - UPCE Ombudsperson - pdf | 71 kB |
