For students
Know the procedure you need it.
Clear information on complaints, appeals and protection from retaliation — and honest limits on what we can do.
Start here
If you need help now
In an emergency
If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 112, the European emergency number, available free of charge across the EU.
Please do not send us your case
StudentSafe Europe does not receive complaints, evidence or confidential case details through this website or by email, and cannot assess or act on individual cases. This protects you: we do not yet have a secure, properly governed way to handle sensitive information. Use the sources of help below instead.
Checklist
Eight questions to ask about any procedure.
They work for a complaint, an appeal or a report, in any country. The answers are usually in your institution’s statute, regulations or code of ethics.
See what we found for your countryWho decides?
Find the rule that names the body or person who handles your complaint or appeal. If no rule names one, that is worth knowing too.
Are they independent of the people involved?
Check whether the decision-maker works in the same department, reports to, or is the person the concern is about.
What happens if someone has a conflict of interest?
Look for a recusal rule: who must step aside, and how you can ask for that.
What are the deadlines — for you, and for them?
Appeals often have short time limits for students. Check whether the institution also has a deadline to respond.
Will you get a written decision with reasons?
A reasoned decision is what lets you, or anyone advising you, decide whether to challenge it.
Can the decision be reviewed?
Find the next step: an appeal body, a senate committee, an ombudsperson, an external authority or a court.
Is retaliation prohibited — and what follows if it happens?
Look for an explicit protection for people who complain or report, and for interim measures such as a change of examiner or supervisor.
Who will see what you submit?
Ask how your complaint, and any personal or health information in it, will be stored, shared and for how long.
Good practice
Keep a clear record.
Whatever route you choose, a factual record helps anyone who later advises you or reviews a decision:
- dates, times and what happened, written down soon after;
- copies of emails, decisions, grades and the rules you relied on;
- the name of the procedure you used and when you submitted;
- every deadline you were given, and every reply you received.
Keep your own copies somewhere secure. Before sharing personal or health information with anyone, ask how it will be protected.
Where to find help
Qualified, independent support.
Which bodies exist, and what they may do, depends on your country and institution. These are the kinds of help to look for.
- Inside your institution
- A student ombudsperson (where one exists), student counselling and psychological services, a student adviser, or the office named in your institution’s complaints rules. Your institution’s website or student handbook should list them.
- Student representatives
- Your student union or student council can often explain local procedures, accompany you, or point you to legal aid. Many are independent of the university administration.
- Independent public bodies
- Depending on your country and issue: the national ombudsperson, an equality body (for discrimination and harassment), the data-protection authority (for personal-data problems) or an education inspectorate. Equality bodies across Europe cooperate in Equinet.
- Legal advice
- A qualified lawyer, a legal-aid service or a university law clinic can tell you what your rights are in your specific situation. We cannot.
- Health and wellbeing
- If the situation is affecting your health, a doctor or a licensed psychologist or psychotherapist can help, as can your institution’s counselling service.
Directories of independent networks: European Network of Ombuds in Higher Education (ENOHE) · Equinet, the European Network of Equality Bodies. We list them for orientation; we are not affiliated with them and do not refer cases.
Questions
What students ask us.
Can StudentSafe Europe take up my case?
Not at present. We research rules and procedures; we do not investigate individual situations, represent students or decide whether an allegation is true. Our Statute allows future support programmes, but only through qualified professionals and only once the legal, privacy and security conditions are in place. None is operating today.
Is my university rated or ranked?
No. We do not rank universities or countries and publish no overall score. Where we have researched an institution, we show what its published rules contain for each safeguard, with the source. A finding about rules is not a statement about how the institution behaves in practice.
Your page says my country is “not researched”. Does that mean there is no protection?
No. It means only that we have not yet examined the rules there. Not researched is never the same as not found, and not found in the sources we reviewed is never proof that a safeguard does not exist.
Can I help with the research?
Yes, with public documents only — a statute, regulation or code we have not yet reviewed. Never include personal details or allegations. How to contribute research.
Is this legal advice?
No. Everything on this website is general information. Your rights depend on national law and your institution’s rules; for advice on your situation, speak to a qualified lawyer or legal-aid service.