Following the resignation of Dr Anna Cybulko from the position of ombudsman at the University of Warsaw, Prof. Alojzy Z. Nowak, the Rector of the University of Warsaw, entrusted Magdalena Miksa, the previous Deputy Ombudsman for Student Affairs, with fulfilling the duties. Dr Anna Cybulko was the first university ombudsman in Poland, serving in this capacity for 13 years.
“As of 31st August, my term as academic ombudsman for student and employee affairs came to an end. After 13 years as ombudsman of the University of Warsaw, I would like to thank you all for your fruitful cooperation, support and commitment. It has been a challenging time for me, but also extremely rewarding thanks to the opportunity to work together to build an environment free of discrimination and bullying and to strengthen equality and diversity in our academic community. At the same time, I would like to inform you that the ombudsman’s team for student and employee affairs is functioning unchanged and continues to provide assistance to all members of the University of Warsaw,” Dr Anna Cybulko, who has served as UW ombudsman since 2011, said.
UW is a pioneer among Polish universities in establishing this function. The academic ombudsman acts independently and confidentially and provides support to students, doctoral candidates and UW employees. They help whenever a difficulty arises in academic life. Actions that the ombudsman can take include, for example, mediation, clarification of the matter, intervention in the unit concerned, suggesting recommendations for the introduction of systemic changes and, in special cases, also more disciplinary steps such as referring the matter to other bodies, committees, reporting to superiors.
The first ombudsman
Dr Anna Cybulko is a mediator, facilitator, academic teacher and social skills trainer. She was appointed as UW’s ombudsman as the first among Polish universities.
During the 13 years of Dr Cybulko’s work, the UW ombudsman team has participated in numerous activities to counteract all manifestations of discrimination at the university. Successes include the development of the Anti-Discrimination Procedure, the introduction of an e-learning course (“Course in Equality”), and the launch of the “We are all equal” campaign. A Gender Equality Plan was also adopted in August 2020, which was developed as a result of analyses of the needs of the university community, expert consultations and good practices in foreign institutions. This is the first GEP (Gender Equality Plan) at a Polish university.
During her last term, Dr Cybulko focused primarily on mental health problems.
“Institutional support is very important. We have already developed solutions here, such as the help provided by the Office for Persons with Disabilities, the Psychological and Counselling Services Centre and the Academic Support Center for people on the autism spectrum and myself as an academic advocate. The second issue relates to academic employees who often do not know how to work with people with difficulties – how to provide support, where the boundaries of privacy are, what their responsibilities or options are when a student is experiencing psycho-emotional difficulties. There is a third area that is increasingly problematic – people who are perceived as threatening to those around them or threatening in terms of being disruptive to the group workflow in class, such as continually asking questions, focusing attention only on themselves or negating everything that happens in class,” Dr Cybulko said in an interview published in the university’s “UW” magazine (no. 4/97, 2020).
Acting ombudsman
On 11th September, following the resignation of Dr Anna Cybulko from continuing to act as ombudsman of the University of Warsaw, Prof. Alojzy Z. Nowak, the Rector of the University of Warsaw, entrusted Magdalena Miksa, the previous Deputy Academic Ombudsman for Student Affairs, with fulfilling the duties.
Magdalena Miksa is a lawyer, certified trainer, mediator, graduate of the UW’s Faculty of Law and Administration and Postgraduate Studies in Negotiation, Mediation and Other Alternative Dispute Resolution Methods at the UW’s Faculty of Law and Administration. She has many years of experience in hearing student and doctoral cases. As part of her work, she meets with people in need of help. She tries to understand the problem and support in finding solutions. She specialises in conflict resolution and anti-bullying issues. Since 2018, she has been serving at the University of Warsaw as the Deputy Academic Advocate for Student Affairs and Anti-Bullying Coordinator. She conducts student and employee mediations and trainings on anti-bullying and conflict resolution.