Professor Albury appointed as Chief University Ombudsman

February 05, 2008

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alan Pettigrew, has announced the appointment of Professor W. R. Albury as UNE's Chief University Ombudsman.

Professor Pettigrew said that Professor Albury would bring "a wealth of experience and independence" to the role of Chief University Ombudsman, which was "to ensure that members of the University community are treated fairly by individuals, offices, committees, boards, or any other group within the University".

Professor Albury served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts, and then as UNE's Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic), before retiring at the end of 2004.

Since retirement, he has continued his association with the University as an Adjunct Professor and has been actively pursuing his research as a historian. "This has kept me in touch with UNE affairs," he said, "without involving me directly in day-to-day business. Since I won't be an employee of UNE in my new capacity, the arm's-length relationship will continue. This arrangement is designed to highlight the independence of the Chief University Ombudsman's role, and also to free it from the time constraints imposed by full-time employment responsibilities."

The Chief University Ombudsman is authorised to investigate and report on complaints from UNE students and staff only when all other channels of appeal or redress have been exhausted. But often the University Ombudsman office is approached before that point, and in those cases the Chief University Ombudsman provides advice on how the complaint can be pursued.

Professor Albury said that the work of the ombudsman was sometimes regarded as "a necessary evil", but that, in fact, it made a positive contribution to the improvement of University services. "Helping individuals resolve their problems is only one part of the job," he explained, "and the other part is recommending changes to University procedures that will reduce the likelihood of those problems occurring again."

"The University Ombudsman tradition is well established at UNE," he said. "This is a credit to all those who have worked in the area, and especially to my predecessors in what was then called the 'Senior UNE Ombudsman' role: Professor Eilis Magner and Associate Professor Cathryn McConaghy. I'm very grateful for the briefings that they gave me, and also for the advice and ongoing support of Dr Josie Fisher, who is continuing as a University Ombudsman."

More information about the University Ombudsman office can be found at http://www.une.edu.au/ombudsmen/.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at February 5, 2008 04:10 PM