Skip to main content
high contrast version
pl polski uk українська
menu
"

Web Content Display Web Content Display

Rector’s Ordinance

Breadcrumb Breadcrumb

Web Content Display Web Content Display

Ordinance no. 13 of the Rector of the Jagiellonian University of 8 February 2024

concerning reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs in education and scientific activity

Pursuant to Article 23(1) in conjunction with Article 11(1)(6)(b) and (c) of the Higher Education and Science Act of 20 July 2018 (Journal of Laws of 2023, item 742, as amended) and Article 4(2) of the Ordinance No. 20 of the Rector of the Jagiellonian University of 22 February 2023 on the principles of the implementation of the accessibility policy of the Jagiellonian University for the needs of persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs, and bearing in mind the provisions of the Convention of 13 December 2006 on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Journal of Laws of 2012, item 1169), I hereby order as follows: 

Article 1

Hereby defined are detailed conditions for granting and applying reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs in education and scientific activities.

Article 2

Whenever in this Ordinance reference is made to: 

  1. ‘persons with disabilities’ - it shall be understood as persons who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which may, in interaction with various barriers, hinder their full and effective participation in social life on an equal footing with others; 
  2. ‘persons with specific needs’ – it shall be understood as persons who, due to their external or internal characteristics or the circumstances in which they find themselves, need to take additional measures or apply additional means to overcome obstacles in order to participate in various spheres of life on an equal footing with others; 
  3. ‘reasonable accommodations’ - shall mean necessary and appropriate changes and adjustments, not imposing a disproportionate or undue burden, if needed in any individual situation, in order to ensure that persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs can participate in education and scientific activities on an equal footing with others. 

Article 3

  1. Reasonable accommodations may be applied for by under/graduate, doctoral and postgraduate students, (‘persons applying for reasonable accommodations’ or ‘applicants’), affected by at least one of the prerequisites indicated in Article 4(1). 
  2. The purpose of granting and applying reasonable accommodations is to ensure equal educational opportunities of persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs in their full access to education and academic activity at the Jagiellonian University. 
  3. Reasonable accommodations shall be applicable to all forms and programmes of first-degree studies, second-degree studies, uniform master’s studies, postgraduate studies and doctoral studies, as well as doctoral school education conducted at the Jagiellonian University. 
  4. Reasonable accommodations may concern, in particular, the format of examinations, the course of education, as well as the physical environment in which teaching takes place and research activities are conducted. A list with examples of reasonable accommodations is available on the website of the JU Accessibility Centre (‘JU AC’), at https://cd.uj.edu.pl/. 
  5. The granting and application of reasonable accommodations shall involve:
    1. the staff of the JU AC, including designated education accessibility specialists and assistive technology specialists;
    2. the persons making the decision on the granting of reasonable accommodations, referred to in Article 5(2);
    3. academic teachers or other persons conducting classes at the Jagiellonian University;
    4. deans/directors/managers of organisational units of the Jagiellonian University supporting the applicants’ course of study;
    5. employees of the Jagiellonian University who are not academic teachers;
    6. other persons whose participation in granting or applying reasonable accommodations is necessary.
  6. Each case of a person applying for (a) reasonable accommodation(s) shall be considered on case-by-case basis, in accordance with the overriding notion of ensuring equal educational opportunities.
  7. This Ordinance shall not apply to leaves of absence from classes, Individual Study Plans and Individual Study Programmes referred to in the Rules and Regulations for First Degree Studies, Second Degree Studies and Uniform Master’s Studies annexed to Resolution No. 25/IV/2019 of the Senate of the Jagiellonian University of 25 April 2019 (as amended).

Article 4

  1. Reasonable accommodations may be applied for by under/graduate students, doctoral students and participants of postgraduate studies for health-related or psychophysical reasons, in particular:
    1. persons with mental-health difficulties,
    2. persons in the autism spectrum,
    3. persons with dyslexia, dysgraphia and/or dysorthography,
    4. persons with ADHD/ADD,
    5. persons with chronic diseases,
    6. persons with mobility disabilities,
    7. persons who are blind and partially sighted,
    8. persons who are deaf and hard of hearing

    - on the basis of specialist documentation provided (including in particular: a valid disability certificate, a medical certificate, a document from a psychological-educational counselling centre), which shall be submitted in Polish or English. If necessary, the JU AC staff or persons issuing the decision on the granting of a reasonable accommodation may ask the applicant to submit a translation into Polish of the documentation submitted in English.

  2. Circumstances related to the living conditions of the applicant for a reasonable accommodation shall not constitute grounds for its granting. Entitlements related to a difficult living situation are regulated by separate provisions.
  3. Reasonable accommodations shall be granted to applicants for a single semester or academic year, depending on their situation and needs related to their education and academic activities.
  4. When granting reasonable accommodations, the following aspects shall be taken into account:
    1. the applicant’s needs for the adaptation of education and the conduct of academic activities determined by his/her health or psychophysical circumstances, excluding the needs related to his/her living conditions;
    2. the specifics of the university programme pursued and the conducted academic activities, in particular the learning outcomes envisaged for a given course.

Article 5

  1. Reasonable accommodations shall be granted at the request of the applicant.
  2. Decisions on the granting of reasonable accommodations shall be made by:
    1. for under/graduate students - the dean; 
    2. for doctoral students - the head of doctoral studies / director of the doctoral school, respectively; 
    3. for postgraduate students - the head of postgraduate studies; 
    4. for education in non-faculty and inter-faculty units - the director / head of the unit.
  3. The application and its attachments must be submitted using the electronic form available on the JU AC website, subject to Article 6(3), no later than one month before the planned date of using the reasonable accommodation. In particularly justified cases, it shall be allowed to submit the application after this deadline, if, due to the type of reasonable accommodation, it is possible to use it despite the deadline.
  4. The application shall be submitted in Polish or English.
  5. In special cases, particularly in emergencies, it shall be permissible to submit an application in writing, including with the JU organisational unit that manages the applicant’s university programme, which shall forward such an application to the JU AC without delay. The provisions of the first sentence of Article 6(3) shall not apply.
  6. The applicant shall be provided with the statutory personal data processing notification under Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR’), including special category personal data, in connection with the granting of reasonable accommodations.
  7. The applicant shall be obliged to attach to the application the current documentation referred to in Article 4(1). If the application is not accompanied by the documentation referred to therein, the education accessibility specialist shall call on the applicant to supplement the application within no less than seven days under pain of leaving the application unprocessed.
  8. The education accessibility specialist shall analyse the application received with the attached documentation referred to Article 4(1) and then prepare an opinion on the granting and application of a reasonable accommodation, and send it together with the application (without the documentation referred to in Article 4(1)) to the person referred to in para. 2.
  9. If the education accessibility specialist finds that the submitted documentation referred to in Article 4(1) is insufficient to consider the application or raises other reasonable doubts, the specialist may request the person applying for the reasonable accommodation to:
    1. supplement the documentation;
    2. submit original documents;
    3. undergo consultations at the JU AC within a time limit set by the JU AC.

      4. In such a case, the second sentence of para. 7 shall apply accordingly.

  10. The education accessibility specialist:
    1. shall, in consultation with the person applying for (a) reasonable accommodation(s), analyse his/her individual needs that may affect education and the conduct of academic activities; 
    2. shall collect documentation, including that referred to in Article 4(1), confirming the specific difficulties of the applicant for (a) reasonable accommodation(s); 
    3. shall have the right to consult with academic staff or other instructors in order to propose (a) reasonable accommodation(s) that take(s) into account the specific nature of the education and is also within the organisational capacity of the JU; 
    4. may seek information from the staff member handling the course of the person applying for a reasonable accommodation about the course of education to date; 
    5. shall notify the person referred to in para. 2 of any obstacles to the granting and application of the reasonable accommodation(s) concerning the applicant.
  11. The education accessibility specialist may give a negative opinion on an application when:
    1. the documentation presented referred to in Article 4(1) or the outcome of the consultation referred to in para. 9, point 3 fails to confirm the relationship between the applicant’s specific needs and the difficulties in fulfilling the obligations related to his/her education and scientific activity; 
    2. the granting and application of (a) reasonable accommodation(s) would be inefficient or economically unreasonable; 
    3. the granting and application of a reasonable accommodation would violate the provisions of universally applicable law. 
  12. Prior to making a decision on the granting of a reasonable accommodation, the person referred to in para. 2 may request the JU AC to provide access to the documentation referred to in Article 4(1), including medical documentation. It shall be submitted by an education accessibility specialist.
  13. The document including the decision on the granting of (a) reasonable accommodation(s) shall be marked Reasonable accommodation in education and scientific activity. The decision shall be issued within one month of the date of submission of the application, unless the circumstances referred to in para. 9 apply. By the decision in question the application for (a) reasonable accommodation(s) shall be approved in whole or in part, or refused. In the case of refusal to grant it (them) or granting it (them) in part, the decision shall contain a brief explanation of the reasons for the refusal, including a partial one.
  14. The document referred to in para. 13 shall be provided to:
    1. the applicant; 
    2. the JU AC; 
    3. the organisational unit of the JU that manages the applicant’s university programme. 
  15. The document referred to in para. 13 shall be forwarded to the entities indicated in para. 14 within a timeframe enabling the application of (a) reasonable accommodation(s), yet no later than within three working days from the date of the decision on its (their) granting. The transfer shall be made electronically, unless special considerations justify forwarding in writing.
  16. Upon receipt of the document referred to in para. 13, the JU AC shall send detailed recommendations on the application of (a) reasonable accommodation(s) to the JU organisational unit that manages the applicant's university programme.
  17. The organisational unit of the JU that manages the applicant’s university programme shall send the recommendations referred to in para. 16 to the directors of institutes, academic teachers or other persons conducting teaching or research activities, unless the recommendations are transmitted automatically in the JU ICT system referred to in Article 6(3).
  18. The JU AC shall, at the request of persons conducting teaching or research activities, provide additional information or necessary support if this is necessary for the proper application of (a) reasonable accommodation(s). The provision of additional information or necessary support shall not relieve the person conducting teaching or research activities from applying it (them).
  19. If a reasonable accommodation(s) is (are) denied or granted in part, the applicant shall have the right to lodge objections to the decision in its section denying the reasonable accommodation(s).
  20. Such objections shall submitted in writing to the JU Rector within 14 days after receiving the decision through the person referred to in para. 2. The provisions of the first sentence of Article 6(3) shall not apply.
  21. When considering objections to the decision, the JU Rector may consult the JU AC. The decision of the JU Rector shall be final.
  22. Should information referred to in para. 10, point 5 be obtained from the education accessibility specialist, the person referred to in para. 2 shall have the right to overrule the decision on the granting of (a) reasonable accommodation(s).
  23. In matters related to the granting and application of (a) reasonable accommodation(s), including the filing and consideration of objections to such decisions, the provisions of the Code of Administrative Procedure shall not apply, and there shall be no recourse to a complaint to the regional administrative court against such decisions.

Article 6

  1. All persons involved in the granting and application of (a) reasonable accommodation(s) shall obliged to maintain confidentiality and protect personal data, in particular special category personal data related to the disability, specific needs or health condition of the applicant for (a) reasonable accommodation(s) and not to disclose them to unauthorised persons, in accordance with the procedures in force at the Jagiellonian University. 
  2. The documentation, including that referred to in Article 4(1), submitted by the applicant for (a) reasonable accommodation(s) shall be stored at the JU AC and archived pursuant to separate regulations and taking into account the nature of the special category of personal data contained therein. 
  3. From the date on which the application integrated with the USOS and USOSweb systems for the handling of applications for the granting of reasonable accommodations is made available to students, the filing and delivery of correspondence in matters related to the granting and application of reasonable accommodations shall take place using this ICT system of the JU, unless for technical or organisational reasons other means of direct communication are used, including distance direct communication. A notice related to the launch of the application integrated with the USOS and USOSweb systems shall be posted on the JU AC website.

Article 7

The Ordinance no. 150 of the Jagiellonian University Rector of 22 December 2020 on the adjustment of the educational process to the needs of persons with disabilities and persons with specific health conditions shall be hereby repealed.

Article 8

This Ordinance shall come into force on the day of its signing.

Rector
Prof. Jacek Popiel, PhD