Complaints Handling and Conflict Management at the University of Greifswald

A misleading remark, a difficult conversation, differences of opinion in teams, ... we often find ourselves in challenging situations in our everyday life at university. A range of contacts and advisory services are available to support all members of the university community. The University of Greifswald’s objective to strengthen the conflict culture and to further expand the complaints handling and conflict management, has led to the creation of two new offers for dealing with conflicts: conflict counselling and mediation service.

On this page you can find out who you can contact with your personal concerns.


Inauguration of the Complaints Handling and Conflict Management Office

The University's first conflict counsellors and mediators have successfully completed their training and are now available to advise you. The certificates were handed over in a ceremony on 17 April 2023 and the new premises of the Office for Complaints and Conflict Handling at Domstraße 58 A were inaugurated. There you can find the office of the coordinator Katharina Ruffer and the contact person for protection against discrimination as well as a room for confidential talks. More information on the development of the project "Expanded Complaint and Conflict Handling" can be found at the end of this page.

Presentation of the certificate in conflict handling, © Gina Heitmann, 2023
Presentation of the certificate in conflict handling, © Gina Heitmann, 2023
Conflict counselling symbol image, © Gina Heitmann, 2023
Conflict counselling symbol image, © Gina Heitmann, 2023

Contacts and Advisory Services

Are you in a challenging situation? At the University of Greifswald there are various contact and advice offices that you can turn to with your personal concerns. As a first orientation, you can access an overview of these offices by selecting your respective target group.

In addition, the offers of the Conflict Counselling and Mediation Service [de] are available to you. If you have general questions about these offers or about the selection of the relevant contact person, you are very welcome to contact the coordination office of the Complaints and Conflict Handling Office: katharina.rufferuni-greifswaldde

Unfortunately, our conflict counselling and mediation services are currently not available in English.

Another contact point is the Internal Reporting Office in accordance with the Whistleblower Protection Act (HinSchG)


Contact

The text of the video for further reading

Conflicts? May be an issue for others.

And what may be a conflict for me may be just a small disagreement for you. The decisive factor is not whether we find ourselves in challenging situations, but how we deal with them. And at this point we are all called on: because we are all contact persons.

The University of Greifswald has set itself the goal of strengthening the constructive conflict handling culture and further expanding complaint and conflict handling. This was also one of the results of the 1st Rectorate Forum Campus on the topic of "appreciation culture". In the course of this, internal staff have been and are being trained in the area of conflict counselling and mediation, so that they can now support you together with the other counselling and support services. 

On this page we inform you about this offer, the ongoing process and the accessibility of the individual services.

My name is Katharina Ruffer and I coordinate the project "Extended Complaint and Conflict Handling" here at the University. I am looking forward to accompanying this joint process. At the same time, I am also happy to be your contact person for protection against discrimination.

You are very welcome to come and see me or get in touch.

Katharina Ruffer
Complaint and Conflict Handling Coordinator
Domstraße 58a, room 2.01, 17489 Greifswald
Tel.: +49 3834 420 3380
katharina.rufferuni-greifswaldde
konfliktberatunguni-greifswaldde

Student assistants

Portrait of Paul Alschweig, © Foto Peters, Greifswald, 2023
Portrait of Paul Alschweig, © Foto Peters, Greifswald, 2023
Portrait of Sophie Breetzmann, © Foto Peters, Greifswald, 2023
Portrait of Sophie Breetzmann, © Foto Peters, Greifswald, 2023

The "Extended Complaint and Conflict Handling" Project

What has happened so far?

  • Internal staff members have completed training in conflict counselling and mediation. The official certificate handover took place on 17 April 2023.
  • On 1 September 2022, the position of Coordinator of Complaint and Conflict Handling was filled, who is in constant exchange with all teams.
  • On 15 November 2022, the official start of the project was announced by a launch and information event in the conference room of the University's main building.
  • On 21 February 2023, a follow-up meeting was held with all those involved in complaint and conflict handling in order to network more closely and further promote cooperation.
  • On 28 March 2023, the CCH team agreed in a model workshop to focus on the design of this page in order to be able to communicate its services to the university members.
  • Since May 2023, the coordination office has been supported by two student assistants.
  • On 23 June 2023, attention was drawn to the current status of the complaints handling and conflict management services for members of the student body during the 24-hour lecture organised by the Students’ Union (AStA)
  • The Complaints Handling and Conflict Management team took part in the Health Awareness Day (12 September 2023) and in the Freshers’ Fair (Markt der Möglichkeiten) (10 October 2023) to raise further awareness

We are looking forward to the ongoing process - feel free to visit us in the meantime!



This page is still under construction.