Processing of complaints concerning education at the Faculty of Social Sciences

Check the list of students' rights and course syllabus

Before you proceed with a complaint, you should find out what rules apply in various situations. Students’ rights and obligations at Lund University are described in the List of students’ rights. For example, the list describes what applies to

• the study environment
• course syllabi and timetables
• exams and assessment
• degree projects
• and course evaluation.

Student rights and responsibilities - lu.se

Another important document that governs education is the relevant course syllabus. You can also get information by contacting the study advisor at your department.

Start by contacting the course or programme director

If you have a complaint concerning your education, start by getting in touch with the relevant lecturer/course director or to the programme director. In many cases the problem can be solved closest to where it arose.

Continued proceedings

If the matter can not be resolved by contacting the course/programme director, the complaint will be passed on in the organisation; primarily to the director of studies and thereafter to the head of department. If the matter can not be resolved at the department level, you can send a written documentation to the dean responsible for first- and second-cycle education. 

All student complaints that become cases are to be registered at Lund University (official document).

Exceptions

Please note that the procedure described above does not cover the following matters:

• cases dealing with discrimination or harassment.
  Where to turn for these issues - lu.se.
• cases that concern Chapter 12 of the Higher Education Ordinance: assessment of qualifications and admission, approved leave from studies, deferred entry, credit transfer of previous studies, requests for exemption from study components and applications for degree certificates. If the decision on such matters goes against the applicant, he or she can apply to the Higher Education Appeals Board. Information on how to do this is to be attached to the decisions.
• disciplinary matters, that are to be processed by the vice-chancellor/disciplinary board
• changes to grading decisions. A decision on a correction is to be made by the examiner.

Student representative and the student union

At Lund University there is a student representative to whom you can turn for support and help. The student representative is not part of the University administration, but an independent party whose role is to support and guide the students’ unions and the students in their case.

The student representative's website

You can also obtain support and advice from the Social Sciences Students’ Union.

The Social Sciences Student Union's website

Support from the student representative or the Social Sciences Student Union does not require membership in the student union.