Guide disciplinary procedure
A disciplinary procedure is an internal sanctioning procedure in which it is investigated and decided whether a staff member or a student committed a serious misconduct. If the facts are proven, a disciplinary measure will be imposed. The sole purpose and outcome of a disciplinary procedure is therefore to impose a sanction on a staff member or student who committed a serious misconduct.
Via the FAQ below, we will guide you through the process of a disciplinary procedure at Ghent University. If you can' t find an answer to your question or if you want to discuss a particular case, please contact legal@UGent.be.
What are disciplinary offences?
Disciplinary offences are serious shortcomings in the official duty for staff or serious misconduct in the context of activities and actions as a student. Those who encourage others to commit disciplinary offences or cooperate in them may also be subject to a disciplinary procedure. Disciplinary offences are not listed restrictively. Some examples: transgressive behavior, discrimination, racism, violence, stalking, theft, vandalism, falsification, fraud, violation of the regulations of Ghent University, etc.
Serious offences committed in the context of private life can also be the subject of a disciplinary procedure if the following conditions are cumulatively fulfilled: a) the offence is criminally punishable act and b) what has happened has a negative impact on the functioning of the staff member or on the functioning of the service or have a serious negative impact on the well-being of or cooperation with other staff members or students (for example, the giving of lectures, the impact on an internship, life in a student hostel)
Only facts that are not older than five years can be subject to a disciplinary procedure, unless they are criminal offences that are not yet criminally time-barred.
What disciplinary measures can be imposed?
The following disciplinary measures can be imposed on staff members:
1° a written warning
2° suspension (max. 6 months) (potentially withholding of the salary/scholarship up to max. 1/5th)
3° a demotion
4° dismissal / termination of the scholarship agreement
5° expulsion (i.e. dismissal with loss of civil servant’s pension)
The following disciplinary measures can be imposed on students:
1° a written warning
2° the temporary prohibition from using certain services or educational and research support facilities (max. 2 academic years)
3° temporary prohibition from participating in certain educational and research activities (max. 2 academic years)
4° temporary prohibition from accessing certain shared spaces in the student hostel where the student concerned resides (for example, all or certain shared spaces) and/or the transfer to another room in a student hostel or to another student hostel
5° temporary suspension of the lease in the student hostel
6° normal disciplinary suspension (max. 2 academic years)
7° disciplinary suspension including suspension from the examinations (max. 2 academic years)
8° expulsion from Ghent University (max. 10 academic years)
In combination with one of the abovementioned disciplinary measures, the disciplinary body may impose an individual behavioral remedy measure (for example, taking a course, follow a therapy,…), the non-compliance of which may, where applicable, be linked to a more severe disciplinary measure than the one first imposed.
Who can file a complaint, and how to do so?
Students can file a complaint for acts committed by a staff member or a student.
Staff members can file a complaint for acts committed by a staff member or a student.
Persons outside Ghent University can also file a complaint for acts committed by a staff member or a student.
You can submit a complaint with the rector. There are no form requirements. You can send an e-mail to legal@UGent.be. You identify the staff member or student against whom you are submitting your complaint and describe the facts and alleged offences as concretely as possible, preferably already supported by documents (for example, e-mails, written testimonies, ...) that you add to your complaint.
What happens to my complaint?
You will receive a confirmation of receipt. The rector will conduct a preliminary investigation that will take a maximum of six months, depending on the information and documents that may still be missing and persons who need to be heard first. As part of the preliminary investigation, the rector may hear the staff member or student alleged to have committed the disciplinary offence, as well as the complainant and witnesses, but this is not an obligation.
The rector is assisted and legally advised during the preliminary investigation.
The rector decides whether or not to refer the matter to the Disciplinary Board (staff) or the Disciplinary Committee (students). If no referral is made, the disciplinary procedure ends. However, other measures (to ensure orderly conduct) or (remedial) actions can be decided or proposed. If a referral is made, the Disciplinary Board/Disciplinary Committee will examine the merits of the case and take a disciplinary decision, either finding the disciplinary offence to be proven or not and imposing a disciplinary measure.
You will be informed of every important step in the procedure by the case manager (see also the answer to the question, "Will I be informed of the disciplinary procedure and disciplinary decision?").
Can a disciplinary procedure be initiated without a complaint?
The rector can also initiate a disciplinary investigation on his own initiative, without a complaint being submitted, and decide to refer a case to the Disciplinary Board (staff) / Disciplinary Committee (students). This may be the case, for example, if certain serious facts against a staff member or student have been objectively established by central or faculty services of Ghent University and reported to the rector, or made public in the press. The procedure is completely similar, except that there will be no complainant in the procedure.
Please note: In case you report transgressive behavior to Trustpunt or the external prevention advisor for psychosocial aspects, professional secrecy applies. The report will only be passed on to the rector at your request and with your explicit permission. If you do not want this, the external prevention advisor on psychosocial aspects can, in consultation with Trustpunt, report the accused behavior to the rector if several similar independent reports about a person have been received. In order to guarantee the anonymity of the complainants, this is always done in a very general manner without a concrete description of the facts. On the basis of such a signal, it will generally not be possible for the rector to initiate a disciplinary procedure as it does not concern concretely described facts on which the person concerned can defend himself (other actions are possible, for example, an interview with the person concerned).
How does the disciplinary procedure for the Disciplinary Board/Disciplinary Committee proceed?
The Disciplinary Board (staff) / Disciplinary Committee (students) will compile a disciplinary file. One or more hearings will take place at which the person concerned, any complainant and witnesses will be heard.
You can therefore also be summoned as a complainant or witness to be heard. You are not obliged to respond to this (for example, suppose you have made a full written statement/testimony and do not want to be questioned orally). In principle, this hearing is done in a contradictory manner, which means that the person concerned is present. A complainant or witness who absolutely does not want this must inform the Disciplinary Board/Disciplinary Committee which will then consider what is possible. In any case, the staff member or student concerned will always have access to the reports of hearing that will be added to the disciplinary file.
At the final hearing (if several hearings are held), the case is taken into consideration and within a maximum period of four months, the Disciplinary Board/Disciplinary Committee will issue a motivated disciplinary decision. The disciplinary decision can be implemented once the appeal period has expired without appeal (see also the answer to the question "Can I appeal against the disciplinary decision?").
Can I remain anonymous in the disciplinary procedure?
Anonymity in disciplinary procedures is a complex matter. We will try to guide you and provide as much information as possible, but if you feel unsure about this, please contact legal@UGent.be.
As a complainant or witness, you must always identify yourself to the rector. You cannot submit an anonymous complaint or testimony. However, you can ask to remain anonymous towards the staff member or student concerned against whom you want to file a complaint or wish to testify. This request for anonymity will be respected (for example, the name will be removed/masked if the case is referred to the Disciplinary Board/Disciplinary Committee).
However, you cannot ask to be heard anonymously by a Disciplinary Board/Disciplinary Committee or ask that your written testimony is anonymized by the Disciplinary Board/Disciplinary Committee (whereby the Disciplinary Board/Disciplinary Committee thus knows your identity, but you ask not to disclose your identity to the staff member or student concerned). After all, the disciplinary decision taken by the Disciplinary Board/Disciplinary Committee is based on a disciplinary file which must be identical to the one to which the staff member or student concerned has access and can exercise its defense. However, the rector can be asked to provide documents, such as testimony, anonymously to the Disciplinary Board/Disciplinary Committee.
Anonymity can have an impact on the evidential value. Often, anonymous statements will only serve as additional evidence (if there are already other documents pointing to the alleged facts). You should also take into account that the staff member or student concerned always has access to the disciplinary file, including anonymous statements that may be added. Based on the description of the facts, anonymity may not be guaranteed (because the person concerned can deduce or suspect from these facts who made the statement). Take this into account if you want your complaint or testimony to be made anonymous before it goes to the Disciplinary Board/Disciplinary Committee.
If it is not possible to remain anonymous (not to be identified by the person concerned) by submitting the evidence/statement, while you wish to remain anonymous, the document cannot be included in the file.
Additional: If you report transgressive behavior to Trustpunt or the external prevention advisor for psychosocial aspects, professional secrecy applies. The report will only be passed on to the rector at your request and with your explicit permission. If you do not want this, the external prevention advisor on psychosocial aspects can, in consultation with Trustpunt, report the accused behavior to the rector if several similar independent reports about a person have been received. To guarantee the anonymity of the complainants, this is always done in a very general manner without a concrete description of the facts. This in itself will not be sufficient to serve as evidence in disciplinary procedures as it does not concern concretely described facts on which the person concerned can defend himself. However, it could be added to the disciplinary file as additional (more general) evidence in an (already existing) disciplinary proceedings (for example, after a non-anonymous disciplinary complaint).
Will I be informed of the disciplinary procedure and the disciplinary decision?
Both the complainant and the staff member or student concerned will be informed by the case manager of all procedural steps and the final disciplinary decision. Other persons can also be informed on a "need to know" basis, for example, immediate superior / head of department, promotor.
Witnesses are not informed by the case manager.
Only the staff member or student concerned has access to the disciplinary file. The complainant and witnesses do not.
If you have questions about the status of your complaint or a disciplinary procedure, contact legal@UGent.be. Formal notifications (for example, notice of hearing, notification of the disciplinary decision) are made from the Disciplinary Board (staff) / Disciplinary Committee (students).
Can I appeal against the disciplinary decision?
The staff member or the student concerned who has been imposed a disciplinary measure has the option to appeal with the Disciplinary Appeals Board (staff) / Disciplinary Appeals Committee (students). This can be done within 30 calendar days of receipt of the disciplinary decision. The appeal disciplinary body will re-examine the case and issue a decision replacing the first instance decision. It is also possible that a more severe disciplinary measure may be imposed than in first instance. This disciplinary decision on appeal is immediately enforceable.
What time limits apply to the disciplinary procedure?
Only offences not older than five years can be subject to a disciplinary procedure, unless it concerns criminal offenses that are not yet become criminally time-barred.
The preliminary investigation by the rector is conducted within a maximum period of six months.
Once the case has been referred, there is no time limit for going through the disciplinary proceedings. However, the reasonable time limit does apply. The timing will depend, among other things, on the number of cases pending before the Disciplinary Board (staff) / Disciplinary Committee (students) and, above all, the complexity of the case.
Disciplinary procedures may be suspended because of an ongoing criminal investigation. This does not always happen in the case of criminal offenses, and is not even allowed if the staff member or student concerned has confessed to the facts or there is obvious evidence (for example, falsification of a diploma), but it does happen if only through the criminal investigation it can be determined whether the facts have occurred and whether the person concerned is guilty.
Once the case is taken into consideration, the Disciplinary Board/Disciplinary Committee will make the disciplinary decision within a maximum period of four months.
How are the Disciplinary Board (staff) / Disciplinary Committee (students) composed?
The Disciplinary Board for staff is composed of three professorial staff members ("ZAP") (including one lawyer-chair) and two members who alternate according to the staff category of the staff member concerned being disciplined (ZAP, Other Academic Staff ("OAP") or Administrative and Technical Staff ("ATP")). The Disciplinary Appeals Boards for staff has a ZAP lawyer chair and is further composed of three members appointed by the trade unions and three members appointed by the university administration of which one is ZAP, one is OAP and one is ATP.
The Disciplinary Committee for students, both at first instance and on appeal, is composed of three ZAP members (including one lawyer-chair) and two members who alternate depending on the category of the person being disciplined, namely student or doctoral student.
The Board of Governors of Ghent University has decided that at least the majority of the members of the disciplinary bodies should be external. Currently, the regulations are being amended to this end. The decision-making process is ongoing.
The staff member or student concerned may appeal within a period of 30 calendar days. The disciplinary decision on appeal shall also be taken within a maximum period of four months after the case has been taken into consideration.
What are measures to ensure orderly conduct and preventive suspension in the interest of the service?
The rector can impose measures to ensure orderly conduct against a member of staff or a student if certain facts or the behavior of that member of staff or that student causes unrest, disrupts the proper functioning of the department or university community, or jeopardizes safety or the (psychosocial) well-being of staff or students or the person concerned. Measures to ensure orderly conduct can also be imposed without initiating a disciplinary procedure.
Measures to ensure orderly conduct are temporarily imposed for a maximum of three months, but may be extended by the rector for the same maximum period of time, with justification.
Examples: access prohibition to (parts of) the sites and buildings of Ghent University; contact prohibition with (certain) staff members or students; closure of the account.
With regard to staff members, the rector may also decide on a preventive suspension in the interest of the service. However, this is linked to a disciplinary procedure and can be decided in case of serious disciplinary offenses and if the interest of the service requires it. This preventive suspension is imposed for a maximum of six months and can be extended once for the same maximum duration with justification. In that case, the staff member can no longer perform any activity as a staff member of Ghent University, access to sites and buildings of Ghent University is denied, contact with staff members and students is restrained, and the closure of the account.
Where can I find the applicable regulations?
The regulations of Ghent University can be found in the Codex of Ghent University. Third parties do not have access to the Codex of Ghent University. They can request a copy of the applicable regulations at legal@UGent.be.
All staff members of Ghent University in the broadest sense, including doctoral students (except those who are pursuing a doctoral degree with their own resources) are subject to the disciplinary regulations for staff.
All students, including doctoral students, are subject to the disciplinary regulations for students.
Note: doctoral students, except those who are doing a doctorate with their own resources, have a dual capacity, which means that they are covered by the regulations and procedure for staff, but both disciplinary measures for staff (for example, end of fellowship agreement) and disciplinary measures for students (for example suspension of enrollment) can be imposed. On the other hand, doctoral students pursuing a doctoral degree by their own resources are only covered by the regulations and procedure for students.
More information about transgressive behaviour and discrimination:
More information about violations of research integrity.