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ASSESSMENT OF SERVICES

Spring 2004 Executive Summary

Assessment of Services

The Ombudsperson Committee established the following objectives prior to the implementation of the assessment of the Ombudsperson Office ('OO' or the 'Office') services to determine if:

• the services provided by the Office are considered to be useful by users

• the manner in which the service is provided to the users is considered to be respectful, confidential, impartial and timely

• the manner in which the service is provided to those who respond to complaints, (e.g. faculty and staff) is considered to be respectful, confidential, impartial and timely

The assessment process was also used to solicit feedback and suggestions from all respondents related to the ongoing development of the OO.

Feedback from the University community was solicited in two different ways. Firstly, users (e.g. students, applicants, alumni) were contacted by telephone and interviewed using a standard schedule of questions and secondly, faculty and staff received a 'paper and pencil' survey via internal mail. These responses were provided directly to an external data analyst.

Student Interview Feedback

The telephone numbers of 303 users of the Ombuds service were provided to a tele-researcher, who undertook to maintain all personal information received in confidence, in October of 2003. The 303 contacts were taken from the Ombuds files for the past twelve-month period for which there were valid phone numbers. The tele-researcher was able to arrange interviews with 164 students. The major reason for the tele-researcher not being able to connect with all 303 students was due to unusable telephone numbers. The respondents fell into the following categories: 64% undergraduate, 30% continuing education, 3% graduate students plus 2% applicants for admission and <1% alumni.

From the data summarized by the external analyst, it is clear that the second objective of the assessment of services project can most definitely be answered in the affirmative in that 100% of the respondents indicated the service was delivered in a respectful manner; 92% indicated that the service was delivered in an impartial manner and 96% indicated that the service was delivered in a timely manner.

The most frequently occurring themes for future consideration and ongoing development were:

• The need for increased visibility and awareness of the existence, role and function of the Office (35 comments out of 164 responses)

• The suggestion that there should be more of an advocacy type of approach taken by the OO on students' behalf, i.e., that the OO be more involved in policy change and more proactive in terms of interventions and overturning decisions (26 comments out of 164 responses). **Note: As an Ombuds should not advocate for individuals the suggestions contained in these responses will not be accommodated into any future planning for the Ombuds service. Future orientation and education initiatives will emphasize the impartiality of the Ombuds and the importance placed on promoting adherence to the principles of natural justice in all decision-making processes.

• The suggestion that there be increased follow-up by the OO on the outcome of students' issues (7 comments out of 164 responses). Users of the service will be encouraged to re-connect with the Office as time goes on if they encounter future difficulties.

Faculty and Staff Survey Feedback Paper surveys with business reply envelopes attached, were distributed by internal mail to 1178 individuals. 280 responses were sent directly to the external data analyst resulting in a response rate of 24%.

From the data summarized by the external analyst, it is clear that the third objective of the assessment of services project can most definitely be answered in the affirmative in that 91% of the respondents indicated the service was delivered in a respectful manner; 82% indicated that the service was delivered in an impartial manner and 88% indicated that the service was delivered in a timely manner.

The most frequently occurring themes for future consideration and ongoing development were:

• Ombudsperson services being extended to faculty and staff members (23 individuals' statements out of 74 written responses)

• The need for increased awareness of the existence, role and function of the Office of the Ombudsperson (22 individuals' statements out of 74 written responses)

The data analyst also observed that 47 staff and faculty respondents indicated that they found it useful to discuss concerns with the Ombudsperson in order to generate options for responding to difficult situations. The Ombudsperson will continue to offer that service to staff and faculty, when appropriate.

Keith Alnwick, Registrar
Vaughn Berkeley, CESAR
Jim Dianda, Faculty
Darcy Flynn, CESAR
Maxine Laine, Student Services
Andrew Noble, RyeSAC
Rebecca Rose, RyeSAC

For more information on the Assessment of Services please Contact Us .