The Ombuds Blog: Stellenbosch University Names Next Ombuds

March 07, 2017

Stellenbosch University Names Next Ombuds

The public research university, the oldest in South Africa, has appointed Rina Meyer to serve as its next Ombud. Her role will be, "to attend to problems and complaints of students, parents or staff in cases where the University structures are inadequate or unable to provide satisfactory solutions." She succeeds Julian Sonn, who served for the past two years.

Meyer is an attorney admitted to the Cape Bar since 1994 and has specialized in mediation, facilitation, and family law. In her career, she has been a high school teacher, state prosecutor, advocate in the High Court, and law lecturer at the University of the Western Cape. She graduated from the University of Pretoria, earned her teaching diploma from Stellenbosch, earned a second BA from the University of Johannesburg, and LLB from Stellenbosch. (SUN Blog; LinkedIn.)

Related posts: Stellenbosch University Names New Ombuds; Second Newsletter from University of Cape Town Ombuds is Full of Updates; Stellenbosch University Appoints Ombuds.

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Organizational Ombuds

Organizational Ombuds serve as a confidential, independent, neutral and informal dispute resolution resource for a specific entity. They are accessible to a defined population and can advocate for fairness. These unique characteristics distinguish Organizational Ombuds from Classical Ombuds, mediators, arbitrators, and other alternative dispute resolution professionals. The term "Ombuds" is shorthand for "Ombudsman," "Ombudsperson" and "Ombuds Officer," which also are used widely.

Some other variants include:

Austria -- Ombudsstelle

Brazil -- Ouvidor

Croatia -- pravobranitelji

France -- médiateur/defénseur

Germany -- Ombudspersonen

Italy -- difensore

Netherlands -- ombudspersoon

Norway -- ombudet

Poland -- Rzecznik

Portugal -- provedor

Russia -- омбудсмен

Spain -- ombudsman organizacional

Sweden -- studentombud

Switzerland -- ombudsmann

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