FACULTY OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
	In Prague on 2. 6. 2022
	Ref.: 9/OD/910/2022

Pursuant to Art. 18 par. 4 of the Statute of the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague, I hereby issue the following Measure:

Based on the initiative of the Academic Senate of the Faculty of Civil Engineering CTU in Prague (hereinafter "AS FCE"), the Dean issues this Measure to establish the Student Ombudsman´s Office. The Student Ombudsman is the protector of students´ rights at the Faculty of Civil Engineering CTU in Prague (hereinafter "FCE"). It is an elected office, independent of the basic FCE structure, established for the purpose of enhancing the effectiveness and speeding up the resolution of the FCE students´ problems defined below. The aim is to strengthen the position of students in the current system, which, by nature, is largely unequal. It is another supporting body complementing the already existing structure at FCE. The Ombudsman can rely on the support from FCE AS in their office.

1. The Student Ombudsman´s Office (hereinafter the "Ombudsman") is being established at FCE.
2. The Ombudsman´s powers include protecting the students registered for study at FCE (hereinafter "students") from such acts of the bodies, academic staff members, other employees engaged at FCE and students which are in contradiction to the Act on Higher Education Institutions or other generally binding legal regulations, internal regulations or other CTU or FCE codes, the ethical principles incorporated in the Code of Ethics of CTU in Prague, and the University mission. The Ombudsman also protects students from the inactivity of the FCE bodies in solving their problems.
3. The Ombudsman is an intermediary, advisory and initiating office.
4. The Ombudsman´s advisory body in AS FCE.
5. The Ombudsman is at the service of students in the Bachelor´s, Master´s and Doctoral degree studies.
6. The Ombudsman´s duties include, in particular:
1. dealing with complaints from the students who are convinced that their rights have been curtailed by the unfair conduct of the academic staff members or other FCE employees,
2. settle conflict situations that could not be resolved through standard methods, both between students and academic staff members and other FCE employees, and between students,
3. in the event of discovering a situation where the Code of Ethics of CTU in Prague has been violated, refer the matter with all supporting documents to the CTU Ethics Committee for discussion in accordance with the above Code.
7. The Ombudsman works independently and acts impartially and with the utmost effort to objectively assess the matter in question solely on the basis of the facts established and in accordance with the provisions of the regulations, codes and principles referred to in paragraph 2 and their conscience. In particular, they are not bound by the decisions of the managers of the departments concerned.
8. The Ombudsman has no decision-making power, but contributes to the settlement and fast resolution of conflict situations through their actions. While exercising their power, they shall always act with the aim of reaching a state which best corresponds to the rules, codes and principles referred to in paragraph 2.
9. The Ombudsman may, on their own initiative, draw attention to misconduct, breaches of standards or illegal acts at FCE.
10. In individual cases of complainants, the Ombudsman is bound by confidentiality concerning specific sensitive facts of which they become aware during their activities. In general terms, however, they are obliged to keep AS FCE informed of their activities and findings on a regular basis, and to do so without providing information that could lead, directly or indirectly, to the identification of individuals involved in the respective cases.
11. The costs of the Ombudsman´s activities (expertise, travel expenses of the Ombudsman and persons summoned by the Ombudsman such as experts or witnesses, etc.) are covered by the budget of the FCE Dean´s Office. These costs can be drawn with the prior approval of the FCE Treasurer.

1. Only an academic staff member who will have been employed at FCE for at least 1 year with a minimum workload of 0.5 on the first day of the election can become the Ombudsman. A change in the workload after the election does not affect the duration of the Ombudsman´s mandate.
2. The Ombudsman´s office shall be held by two persons - the Ombudsman and the Deputy Ombudsman, one man and one woman. These persons must not be from the same FCE Department. The same rules for the performance of the Ombudsman´s office apply to the Deputy Ombudsman as to the Ombudsman, unless otherwise expressly provided.
3. The Ombudsman´s office is incompatible with the office of the CTU Rector, Vice-Rector and Bursar, the FCE Dean, Vice-Dean, Deputy Vice-Dean and the FCE Treasurer, the FCE Head or Deputy Head of Department, the FCE Study Programme Guarantor and a member of the FCE Disciplinary Commission.
4. The Ombudsman´s term of office is three years being identical to the term of office of AS FCE. The same person may be elected for a maximum of two consecutive terms of office.
5. The election of the Ombudsman is announced and detailed conditions of the election are set out by the FCE Academic Senate.
6. The election is managed by the Election Committee elected by AS FCE.
7. The Ombudsman is elected by students in a secret ballot from the candidates nominated by members of the FCE academic community.
8. At the end of the voting, the Election Committee ranks the candidates according to the number of valid votes. In the event of a tie vote, the order of the candidates shall be decided by a lot drawn by the Election Committee.
9. The candidate who received the highest number of votes is elected Ombudsman. The next, second-ranking candidate becomes the Deputy Ombudsman pursuant to paragraph 2. The other candidates ranking in the order of the number of votes become substitutes, if their votes amount to at least 30% of the number of votes for the elected candidate.
10. The Ombudsman´s mandate terminates by:
    1. expiry of the term of office,
    2. termination of membership in the FCE academic community,
    3. accepting a position incompatible with the Ombudsman´s office,
    4. resignation from the Ombudsman‘s office delivered to the AS FCE President in writing,
    5. removal from the office by AS FCE in the case of Ombudsman´s serious misconduct or inaction, by a supermajority vote of all members of AS FCE and, at the same time, by a supermajority vote of all members of the Student Chamber of AS FCE.
11. In the event of the termination of the Ombudsman´s mandate the before the end of the term of office, the Deputy Ombudsman shall become the Ombudsman for the remainder of the term of office. The highest-ranking substitute shall then become the Deputy Ombudsman pursuant to paragraph 2. In the event that there is no other substitute, AS FCE shall call a by-election at its next meeting. The substitutes elected in the by-election serve as Ombudsman or Deputy Ombudsman only for the remainder of the relevant term of office.
12. A by-election need not be held if the Ombudsman´s mandate expired in the last ten months of the term of office and if AS FCE so decides.
13. In the event of the termination of the Ombudsman´s and the Deputy Ombudsman´s mandate, their office in the period until the election of a new Ombudsman and Deputy Ombudsman is held by a pair of persons appointed by the AS FCE Board pursuant to paragraph 2.

1. This Measure was discussed by AS FCE on 1. 6. 2022.
2. This Dean´s Measure enters into effect on 2. 6. 2022.
3. The start of the Ombudsman´s first mandate will be specified by AS FCE.