Complaints Handling
University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest
What can be considered as complaint?
All verbal or written communications formulating negative value judgments or criticism, which are experienced by students at the University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest (hereinafter referred to as the University) with regards to any unit of the University due to their activities, omissions, shortcomings, or objectionable behavior, and which cannot be dealt with or remedied in other official university protocols or procedures provided.
Complaints reported by students at university mostly serve to make the University’s operation more efficient. Due to the feedback, the University’s services improve and develop, and quality improvement may occur.
The University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest considers the individual and collective psychological well-being of university citizens, as well as their experience lived within the walls of the institution to be an important value. Also recognizes that, in addition to specialized academic training and knowledge transfer, several factors – that are defined below – contribute to the overall impression formed about the institution and affect the student-institution relationship even after students’ studies have been completed.
Since veterinary education is a unique and challenging one, which requires serious intellectual energy, emotional and financial sacrifice from students’ part, the University wishes to take an active role in shaping this experience with its available resources. The university is continuously working on to make support services available flexible and sensitive to students’ needs.
For the sake of this, the university counts on the students’ open and constructive cooperation, development proposals, and active involvement necessary for the implementation of these improvements.
Incoming complaints can be put into 5 categories as follows:
- Complaints related to academic regulations
- Complaints related to lack of welfare
- Complaints in the field of mental health
- Complaints around information, representation, and transparency
- Complaints around infrastructure and equipment
Where and how to raise a complaint?
The university provides multiple channels where students can raise their concerns:
- verbal complaint to the respective student representative at the Student Secretariat
- by phone on 06 1 478 4100 during business hours,
- in writing by post to our central address: 1078 Budapest, István str. 2.,
- via electronic message (email) addressed to the respective Student Secretariat representative
- Student Secretariat mailbox at [Click to see email]
- directly raise it with the respective class representative who is going to escalate it to the Student Secretariat
- send an email to the Student Wellbeing Coordinator at [Click to see email]
- ISC – International Student Committee
- request a personal meeting scheduled with Vice Rector for International Relations, Prof. Tibor Bartha and/or Harassment officer, Prof. Míra Mándoki
- Questionnaire that is sent via Feedback Committee each semester
- Scheduling a meeting with Mr. Levente Somogyi, Health counsellor of the university.
In the Foreign language progamme (English or German), all complaints that cannot be solved on student secretariat level will be raised with the with Vice Rector for International Relations, who will escalate the concerns with the respective departments’ head or with the applicable staff member.
It is important that when raising an issue, the student must include the following details: time and place, respective persons, or subjects and all other relevant information available about the case. Vague complaints will not be taken into consideration and sustained.
Complaints can be raised anonymously when using communication channels through the class representatives.
Registration and documentation of student complaints are created and maintained by the University in a way that is suitable for compiling complaint statistics and reports, their purpose is to measure the effectiveness of complaints management, abiding all GDPR principles.
If a student raises an issue via phone, the University ensures that calls are received and handled within a reasonable waiting time. The University does not record these telephone conversations.
The representative of student secretariat who deals with the call/meeting examines the verbal complaint immediately and resolves it as necessary.
If the student does not agree with the handling of the complaint, or if an immediate investigation of the complaint is not possible, the University will – at the request of the complainant – take a record of the complaint and the student’s position on it, and sign a written copy of it, then hand it over to the student, and forward a copy to the respective Vice Rector. When recording the complaint, special attention must always be paid to ensure that the date, the name of the complainant, and all possible information are legibly included in the notes.
The university will send its answer – if the complaint does not stand or recommendation for solution regarding the written complaint to the student within thirty days of the complaint being communicated.In case of urgent issues, immediate action is required and will be taken. Written inquiries and complaints must be answered in writing in all cases, unless the sender specifically does not require this, or the university has already answered it several times (at least twice) and does not wish to change it. The answer must include a proposed solution and an action plan. If the student does not accept the first response, the complaint will be returned to the appropriate staff member after a new report has been taken. In case of negative acceptance following the second answer, it is necessary to find a solution to the complaint with the help of a personal meeting. After that, there is no way to request another resolution.The University follows up the measures taken after the outcome proposals and if necessary, urges it. The implemented measure is documented, and the student is notified about the actions taken.