UT Complaints Desk

Any student (prospective or former student/external candidate) can lodge a formal complaint, appeal or objection. The Complaints Desk is located at Student Services on the 2nd floor of building Vrijhof.

Maybe you have already discussed the matter without success with the concerning body or person before you submitted your complaint at the Complaints Desk. Or perhaps you might find this a difficult step to make your own. Or maybe you have questions about the procedure or want some help in drafting a complaint. In that case, it is well-advised to discuss the matter with a confidential advisor. Students can consult a student counsellor.

The Complaints Desk doesn’t handle the case itself but assesses the issue to decide on the follow-up. If necessary, the Complaints Desk will send the case to the proper authorities. Your case will only be handled after the intervention of the Complaints Desk.

Types of complaints

The Complaints Desk deals with education/student-related matters. It does therefore not include issues such as broken coffee machines or access cards, but for example:

How to lodge a complaint?

If you wish to lodge a complaint, objection or appeal, you must do so digitally. Please sign your letter and send it to studentservices@utwente.nl. The letter needs to contain your name, address, student number, phone number and email address. Please attach relevant documents as well. Eventually, it is possible to print the letter and hand it in at the Student Services Desk. The document needs to be provided as a PDF file. 

Please note

The deadline for filling an objection or appeal is six weeks after the dispatch of the concerning decision.

What next?

The Complaints Desk will send you a confirmation of receipt of the complaint within a few days. Subsequently, your letter will be looked at in more detail and you will be informed how your complaint, objection or appeal is to be dealt with. In most cases, this will mean being dealt with by the Board of Appeal for Examinations, the Arbitration Committee or the Complaints Committee.

Can I appeal against the decision?

Certain decisions on objections taken by the Executive Board offer students the option to appeal to the Raad van State (page in Dutch only). Where applicable, this option is indicated in the decision by the Executive Board. For more information, please visit the website of Gedragscode Hoger Onderwijs for the Code of Conduct International Student in Dutch Higher Education. Additionally, there are videos available with general information about the Code of Conduct and the complaint procedure.

Contact

The Complaints Desk is located at Student Services in the Contact Centre.

Complaints Desk
  • Visiting address: building Contact Centre, Boerderijweg 10. Building 42 on the campus map.
  • Opening hours: Mondays to Fridays from 10:00 - 12:00 & 13:00-16:00 hrs
  • Telephone: +31 (0)53 - 489 2124
  • E-mail: studentservices@utwente.nl
  • Postal address: Complaint Desk/Student Services, P.O. Box 217, Contact Centre, Boerderijweg 10, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands

More information on all kinds of UT regulations can be found in the University of Twente Students' Charter.