Reports of misconduct
Table of contents
All members and associate members of TU Dresden cultivate conscientious and appreciative interpersonal relations. Adhering to legal, scientific and organizational regulations is a matter of course.
However, in cases of non-compliance, we rely on you to provide earnest reports of potential violations to detect misconduct and breaches of the rules at an early stage, to counteract these, and thus to prevent extensive consequences. We guarantee that the reporting process will remain confidential.
Reporting concerns
We encourage you to first try and find a resolution to any problem you have, for instance by setting up a face-to-face meeting. You can also include representatives from Student life and welfare, Anti-discrimination, Good scientific practice, Anti-corruption and other counseling institutions in your discussion, or you can turn to the conflict navigators. These individuals and organizations will be happy to provide confidential advice and support you.
Should cooperative problem-solving prove impossible or ineffective, please provide us with information in order to promote integrity, appreciation, transparency and equity, and to help us curtail misconduct and violations of regulations in force.
You should report to us if you notice serious violations of legal, research or university-specific rules and regulations, or if there is a probable impending threat thereof. These could be criminal offenses such as bribery, fraud or larceny, scientific misconduct, or significant personal limitations within the context of the General Act on Equal Treatment (AGG).
It is important that reports of misconduct or violations of regulations be formulated as specifically as possible to help us properly review and investigate them. It is particularly helpful for you to ask yourself the following questions when submitting a report:
- Who committed the violation?
- What happened?
- Where did it happen?
- When did it happen?
- What form of proof can be provided?
Please ensure that the descriptions in your report can be understood by people who do not work in your field or institution.
Only share information that you can assume to be true to the best of your knowledge. No one should be suspected of wrongdoing on the basis of false or misleading information. This is also an aspect of behavior in line with our regulatory compliance goals. Deliberately false accusations may be subject to prosecution in a court of civil or criminal law (Section 164 of the German Criminal Code, StGB).
If it becomes apparent within the scope of a later investigation that your information was incorrect, you do not need to fear any negative consequences insofar as your report was made in good faith that your information was indeed correct and you took due care verifying your information at the time that it was reported.
If you are uncertain, you can also request consultation regarding a potential violation.
All members and associate members of TU Dresden (in particular staff and students) as well as non-university members may submit reports of misconduct or violation, either individually or as a group.
- In general, members and associate members of TU Dresden can turn to their supervisors, to someone from the leadership level above or to the university management if necessary.
- You can also get in touch with the various contacts responsible for different areas of activity or issues with reports of misconduct or violations. For cases of corruption and property offenses, this would be the Anti-Corruption Officer, for scientific misconduct the Ombudsperson, the contact for cases of harassment, discrimination and violence for such incidents as these, and the Student and/or the Academic Program Coordinator for concerns in the realm of education.
Concerns of misconduct or violations can be reported
- In person
- By phone
- In writing (letter, fax, email)
- Using TU Dresden’s web-based BKMS® notification system.
We kindly request that you prioritize TU Dresden’s online BKMS® notification system for submitting anonymous reports. However, the other channels are still available for use.
If you would like to report concerns, you can submit documentation to the responsible contact or via the BKMS® notification system.
If you would like to submit an anonymous report, please take note of the following security information: Files can contain hidden personal data that could compromise your anonymity. Clean your files of this (meta) data before submitting them. You can find general information on removing hidden data from Microsoft Office or PDF files on the TU Dresden FAQ pages. If you are uncertain about removing or unable to remove this data, send a print copy of the document to the responsible contact.
Handling reports
All information from submitted reports is handled confidentially, unless otherwise agreed with the person reporting.
Reports of misconduct or violations are carefully reviewed by the responsible officers or contacts. Verifiable violations will be penalized accordingly in accordance with the following procedure:
Notification system
You can report violations of rules or laws via TU Dresden’s online BKMS® notification system and receive advice in circumstances where the facts may be unclear.
At present, reports can be submitted regarding the following issues:
- Corruption/bribery and property offenses
- Scientific misconduct
- Harassment, discrimination and violence
- Other substantial violations of legislation and other punishable behavior
Reports concerning compliance in education can be submitted via one of the two areas of activity as described (here for teaching and learning and here for examinations).
You can also use the notification system anonymously. In contrast to conventional methods of reporting, the BKMS® notification system enables anonymized dialogue between the person reporting and the person responsible for processing the case especially when reports are submitted anonymously. This aids in attaining clearer details for resolving the issue as well as reviewing its relevance and the possibility of a rule violation.
To use the anonymous dialogue function, you must set up a protected mailbox. The person submitting the report can then use this mailbox to receive replies, answers to questions and other information about the progress of the case’s processing. Files can also be uploaded via the notification system, which can aid in further corroborating the facts.
The system protects the anonymity of the person submitting the report in every step of the process. As the case is processed, however, this person will have the opportunity to reveal their identity retroactively at any time, for example after they have built up trust with the person processing the case.
You can access the TU Dresden’s independent BKMS® notification system via this link. It contains further information about the procedure for submitting a report.
In submitting and handling reports, the following data protection declaration applies for the processing of personal data.