Defensor Universitario

The actions of the University Ombudsman shall be governed by the principles of independence and autonomy, shall not be subject to the imperative mandate of any university body and shall not be subject to instructions from any University body.

Requests and complaints may be addressed to the University Ombudsman by any member of the university community by means of a reasoned letter within a maximum period of one month from the time they become aware of the facts that are the object of the complaint.

The procedure is agile, free of charge, flexible and not at all formalistic.

Any person belonging to the university community may address requests and complaints to it.

Requests and complaints shall be formulated by the interested parties, in accordance with the requirements of Article 66 of Law 39/2015, of 1 October, on the Common Administrative Procedure for Public Administrations, by means of a reasoned letter and within a maximum period of one month from the date on which they become aware of the facts that are the subject of the same.

The University Ombudsman will register the complaints submitted to him/her, which he/she will process or reject by means of a reasoned letter.

Anonymous complaints, those in which there is evidence of bad faith, lack of grounds or non-existence of a claim, and those whose processing may harm the rights of third parties will be rejected.

The University Ombudsman shall not enter into the examination of those requests or complaints on which a judicial decision is pending, shall suspend its action if, once initiated, any action or appeal is filed by the interested party before the Courts and Tribunals and as long as the academic or administrative channels established for the resolution of the procedures have not been exhausted.

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At the beginning of each academic year, the University Ombudsman shall present an annual report to the University Senate on the activities carried out during the previous year.
 
The report shall contain information on the number and type of applications and complaints submitted, those rejected and their causes, those that were processed and their outcome, without providing personal data that would allow the identification of the interested parties.

The report shall be published annually, for the information of the university community.

• Access

These are requests for information and guidance. This is the simplest action to raise; it is carried out without any further formalities other than the actual request for information about whether the University Administration is acting correctly, or whether, on the contrary, they should file a complaint or go to other administrative or judicial bodies. On other occasions it is a question of specific information from the administrative units, in which case it is referred to the corresponding office in order to guarantee that the information received by the applicant is direct.

These are actions in which alleged violations of rights and freedoms are reported. A complaint is considered to be any claim made to the University Ombudsman that fulfils the legitimisation requirements set out in article 10 of the Regulations on Organisation and Operation and seeks his intervention to ensure respect for the rights and freedoms of teaching staff, students and administration and services staff in the actions of the different university bodies and services, all with the aim of contributing to the improvement of university quality in all areas.

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Complaints that have not been satisfactorily dealt with by the competent authorities or from which no infringement of rights can be deduced but which indicate insufficiencies that could affect university quality in all areas are usually resolved by the University Ombudsman's Office through Reports and Recommendations to the different bodies and services of the University.

Those applications that are not processed by the University Ombudsman's Office due to incompetence or any other legally established cause, will be forwarded to the competent body if such body exists, provided that the act or situation that is the object of the application is subject to appeal, in application of art. 14 of Law 40/2015, on the Legal Regime of the Public Sector. 

For the rest of the requests that are not admitted or not processed, the University Ombudsman's Office will reject them by means of a reasoned letter, in accordance with art. 10 of the Regulations on the Organisation and Functioning of the University Ombudsman, approved by the Governing Council in session on 7 May 2003.

• Estudiantes

• Personal Docente e Investigador

• Personal de Administración y Servicios

Mediation or conciliation is one of the essential functions in which the Ombudsman intervenes as a moderator, settling disputes in which two or more parties voluntarily decide to reach an agreement by themselves.

This is another of the essential functions of the University Ombudsman, which consists of making suggestions for improvement and the adoption of new measures to the academic and administrative and service authorities.

The recommendation is the resolution by means of which the University Ombudsman, after having concluded the investigations of the case, determines, in accordance with the analysis and evaluation of the facts, arguments and evidence in the file, that a certain regulation, interpretation, factual situation, etc., should be modified in order not to cause unfair or harmful situations to the members of the university community.

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The University Ombudsman collects verified and analysed information and facts through the reports. Information that, having been analysed, provides a series of relevant data to the university itself.

In this way, the aim of using this data is to reverse a certain situation or to communicate it.

The University Ombudsman may also issue warnings, reminders of their duties and other resolutions to the academic and administrative and service authorities, especially if strict compliance with a rule may lead to unfair or harmful situations for members of the university community, and may suggest to the competent body or service that the rule be modified.

Mornings: Monday to Friday: 9:00 to 14:30 hs.

Afternoons: Monday to Thursday, by appointment: 16:00 to 18:00 hs.

Email: defensor-universitario@uc3m.es

University Ombudsman, Emilio Olías Ruiz.

+34 916 24 9701 - Getafe (office 8.1.08) - Corporate 39701
+34 916 24 9906 - Leganés (office 1.2.B15)
+34 918 56 1334 - Colmenarejo (office 2.1.14)
+34 680 15 0366 - Non-corporate mobile phones

Deputy University Ombudsman. María del Mar Sánchez Pinilla.

+34 916 24 5887 - Corporate 35887 (office 8.1.09)

Administrative support. Cleo Navarro Gala

+34 916 24 5802 - Corporate 5802 (office 8.1.09)

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• Organic Law on Universities
• Statutes of the Carlos III University of Madrid
• Regulations for the Organisation and Functioning of the University 
• Code of Ethics

• Network of University Ombudsman Organizations
• State Conference of University Ombudsmen
• Iberoamerican Network of University Ombudspersons
• European Network for Ombudsmen in Higher Education
• Association of Canadian College and University Ombudspersons
• Spanish Ombudsman
• European Ombudsman
• Spanish Data Protection Agency
• Master Plan for Coexistence and Improvement of Security in Educational Centres. Agent Tutor

At the University Ombudsman's Office we want to evaluate the satisfaction of the university community with the attention and services provided. To this end, we have prepared a brief questionnaire on different aspects of our intervention.

The results will be absolutely confidential and will help us to know your assessment of our response to complaints or queries received, as well as any suggestions or opinions you may have, which will help us to improve in the future.

• Access to the questionnaire