Disciplinary regulations of the Blanquerna-URL School of Health Sciences

Article 1. Ranking of misconduct, liability and penalties

1. The imposition of the penalties provided for herein will be proportionate to the seriousness of the misconduct committed. For the purposes of assessing the facts constituting misconduct and the corresponding penalties, the following circumstances will be taken into consideration:

• The degree of participation in the events.
• The intentionality.
• The nature of the damage caused.
• The degree of disturbance to the academic order.
• The reparation of the damage caused or the reduction of its effects.
• The voluntary acknowledgement of the events, prior to the start of the proceedings, and the expression of regret and the apology.
• Repeat offenders.
• Personal, family and social circumstances of the student that may warrant or mitigate their liability.

2. Students who, without being the perpetrators of the events, cooperate in carrying them out with previous or simultaneous acts will be penalized:

• With the penalty corresponding to serious misconduct, when their intervention has contributed to committing very serious misconduct.
• With the penalty corresponding to a minor offense, when their intervention has contributed to committing serious misconduct.

3. Misconduct may be minor, serious or very serious

Article 2. Very serious misconduct

The following constitute very serious misconduct:

• Acts of indiscipline, insults and serious offenses against academic authorities and/or professors and administration and service staff.
• Serious offenses against the dignity, prestige and moral authority of the university institution, its ideology and its founding purposes.
• Serious offense and aggression, either by word or deed, to any member of the university community (fellow students, teaching and non-teaching staff) and personnel of subcontracted companies or collaborating personnel providing services in the School, as well as to persons invited to the School, particularly those with gender, sexual, racial or xenophobic implications.
• Impersonation in academic records and falsification, subtraction or destruction of academic documents or the use of false documents at the University.
• Acts constituting criminal offenses or misdemeanors related to the academic field to be carried out on university premises or affecting the property of the School or members of the university community.
• The repeated commission of serious misconduct (at least three) during the student's time at the School.

Article 3. Serious misconduct

The following constitute serious misconduct:

• Acts of indiscipline, insults and non-serious offenses against academic authorities and/or professors and administration and service staff.
• Non-serious offenses against the dignity, prestige and moral authority of the university institution, its ideology and its founding purposes.
• Acts that seriously alter the ordinary development of university activities, inside and outside the classrooms.
• Causing serious damage by fault or negligence to the School's premises, materials or documents, or to the objects or belongings of other members of the university community.
• Actions that seek to falsify or defraud the academic assessment systems, particularly any irregularity in the student's obligation to identify themselves before the start of each official exam or when taking the exam.
• Drunkenness, drug use on the School's premises or being under the influence of narcotics and, in general, the incitement or performance of acts contrary to the health of the members of the university community.
• The repeated commission of minor misconduct (at least three) during the student's time at the School.

Article 4. Minor misconduct

The following constitute minor misconduct:

• Any unjustified act that disturbs in a non-serious manner the regular development of university activities, inside and outside the classroom and in general any other act not included in the above sections that may disturb the order and academic discipline.
• Causing non-serious damage by fault or negligence to the School's premises, materials or documents, or to the objects or belongings of other members of the university community.
• Systematically and repeatedly (more than three times) entering the classroom once the class has begun, having private conversations in class or hindering in any way the work of the students and the explanation of the professor.
• Entering classes, seminars and the library and any other place of work of the center with any kind of food or drink.
• Smoking in the School's premises.
• Systematic lack of punctuality or unjustified absence.
• Using electronic devices in the classroom that are not strictly for academic purposes.

Article 5. Penalties for very serious misconduct

Temporary or permanent expulsion from the School, with the consequent loss, where applicable, of the right to take examinations and the corresponding loss of enrollment rights for the duration of the expulsion.

Article 6. Penalties for serious misconduct

• Prohibition from taking exams in any or all of the academic year, of all or part of the courses in which the student has enrolled, with the consequent loss of enrollment rights.
• Suspension of the right to attend certain classes for a term that may not be less than six days or more than fifteen school days, without this entailing the loss of the student's right to assessment with the obligation, where applicable, to perform certain home studies or compensatory academic work.
• Penalties for serious misconduct may be substituted by performing services or activities for the benefit of the university community.

Article 7. Penalties for minor misconduct

• Change of group.
• Public reprimand.
• Suspension of the right to attend certain classes for a term that may not be more than five school days, without this entailing the loss of the student's right to assessment with the obligation, where applicable, to perform certain home studies or compensatory academic work.

Article 8. Consignment of penalties

The penalties imposed will be recorded in the student's academic record and will be cancelled ex officio by the School when the student completes the studies in which they are enrolled or, failing that, within ten years of the penalty being recorded in the student's record.

Article 9. Publication of penalties

Besides being communicated personally to the offending student, the penalty will be published on the School's notice board.

Article 10. Scope

1. In order to impose the penalties provided for in these regulations for very serious and serious misconduct, the disciplinary proceedings must be followed pursuant to the terms set forth below.

For minor misconduct, the simplified procedure referred to in Article 14 of these regulations.

2. Irregular behavior of students that are not deemed misconduct, such as entering the classroom once the class has started, having private conversations in class or hindering in any way the work of students and the explanations of the professor, can and must be corrected by the faculty when detected immediately, by expelling the student from the classroom, without prejudice that its systematic and repeated occurrence may lead to the initiation of disciplinary proceedings for minor misconduct.

3. In the same manner, when a student speaks, copies or uses any other means not authorized by the professor during the course of an exam, if it is detected at the time and there is no contradiction on the part of the student, the professor will adopt the measure immediately expelling the student from the classroom and suspending the corresponding exam, without prejudice that the student's performance may give rise, where appropriate, to the initiation of disciplinary proceedings for serious misconduct.

Article 11. Initiation of the proceedings

1. The Dean of the Blanquerna School of Health Sciences is responsible for initiating disciplinary proceedings, either on their own initiative or following a complaint from any member of the university community.

2. The complaint filed must contain at least the identification data of the person or persons submitting it, the list of the facts constituting the offense and, whenever possible, the identification data of the alleged perpetrators.

3. The document initiating the proceedings must contain, as a minimum, the following information:

• Investigator of the proceedings.
• The identification of the person allegedly responsible.
• The alleged facts, place and date of the facts.
• Infringements that the facts may constitute.
• Penalties that may apply.
• Competent authority for resolving the proceedings and the rule of attribution of competence.
• Indication of the right of the interested parties to present allegations and to be heard in the proceedings and the deadlines for their exercise, specifying that the proceedings are to be handled as a simplified procedure for minor misconduct.
• Provisional measures that have been agreed.

4. This agreement will be communicated to the interested parties and to the investigator of the proceedings, with transfer (right to copy) of all the existing actions and this communication will also include the following warnings:

a) That if no allegations are made regarding the content of the agreement to initiate the proceedings within the established term, this same agreement to initiate the proceedings may be deemed to be a proposal for resolution.

b) That in the event of explicit acknowledgement of the facts and responsibility by the student, the case may be resolved without further proceedings by imposing the appropriate penalty.

5. Students will have a period of five days, from the date of communication of the document initiating the proceedings, to make all the allegations, provide all the documents and propose the evidence they deem appropriate.

Article 12. Investigation into the proceedings

1. The investigator of the proceedings will be appointed by the Dean of the Blanquerna School of Health Sciences, depending on the nature and character of the acts. On their own initiative, they will take all the actions they deem necessary to clarify the facts and to determine, where applicable, the existence of responsibilities susceptible to penalties, including the student's statement.

2. If, as a result of the investigation proceedings, there is any change to the initial determination of the facts, their assessment and the penalties to be imposed, this will be communicated to the student in the proposal for resolution.

3. Once the student's allegations have been received or once the five-day period for presenting them has elapsed, the investigator may agree to open a probationary period for a maximum period of seven days.

4. At the end of the period, the investigator will formulate the proposal for resolution in which the following will be established:

• The facts, specifying those deemed to be proven and their legal assessment, establishing the infringement they constitute and the person/s deemed to be responsible.
• The penalty that is proposed to be imposed.
• The provisional measures that may have been adopted.
• If necessary, a declaration of non-existence of infringement or liability will be proposed.

The proposal for resolution will be notified to the interested parties, to whom the proceedings will be made available (right to a copy of all documents) in order that, within a period of five days, they may make allegations and submit the documents or information they deem appropriate to the investigator of the proceedings.

The proposal for resolution, with all the documents, allegations and information presented by the student, will be transferred to the competent body to resolve the case.

Article 13. Resolution of the proceedings

1. The competent body to issue the resolution will be the Dean of the Blanquerna School of Health Sciences, subject to the agreement of the School's Disciplinary Commission. The person appointed by the Dean of the School to investigate the proceedings may not be a member of the abovementioned Committee, since this is the body responsible for its investigation.

2. In the resolution, facts that differ from those determined in the investigation phase may not be accepted, regardless of their different legal assessment. If the Disciplinary Commission deems that the infraction is more serious than the one determined in the proposal for resolution and/or that the penalty to be imposed is more serious, the student will be informed so that they can present their arguments as they see fit within a maximum period of five days.

3. The resolution of the proceedings will be reasoned and will be taken within fifteen days from the receipt of the proposal for resolution or from the presentation of the allegations referred to in the preceding paragraph or from the date on which the five corresponding days have elapsed without the allegations having been presented.

Article 14. Procedure for minor misconduct

1. In the event that the competent body to initiate the procedure deems that there is sufficient evidence to classify the infringement as minor, its imposition will be processed pursuant to the following simplified procedure.

2. The initiation phase of the proceedings will take place according to the general provisions and the document of initiation will specify the simplified nature of the procedure to be followed and will be communicated to the investigating body and to the student in question.

3. Within seven days of the abovementioned communication, the investigating body and the students in question will make the allegations, provide the documents and/or information they deem pertinent and, eventually, the proposal and submission of evidence.

4. Upon expiration of the abovementioned period, the investigating body will formulate the proposal for resolution or, if it deems that the events may constitute serious or very serious misconduct, it will agree to continue the procedure pursuant to the general procedure, notifying the interested parties of this agreement in order that, within a period of five days, they may propose evidence if they deem it pertinent.

5. The competent body responsible for resolving will issue the resolution within five days at the latest. The procedure must be resolved within twenty days from its initiation.

Article 15. Appeal to the Rector of Universitat Ramon Llull

An appeal may be filed against these resolutions of the Dean of the Blanquerna School of Health Sciences before the Rector of Universitat Ramon Llull, according to the University Statutes, within fifteen days.

Article 16. Expiry of the proceedings

The term of expiration of the disciplinary proceedings will be six months, counting from the date on which the decision to initiate the proceedings was taken.

Article 17. Statute of limitations for misconduct and penalties

1. The statute of limitations for misconduct is three years for very serious misconduct, two years for serious misconduct and six months for minor misconduct from the date of commission. This period of limitation will be interrupted with the initiation of disciplinary proceedings and will start running again if the proceedings are suspended for a period of more than one month for reasons not attributable to the student allegedly responsible.

2. Penalties will expire within three years for very serious misconduct, two years for serious misconduct and one year for minor misconduct, from the date on which the decision becomes final. This period of limitation will be interrupted with the initiation of the procedure for the enforcement of the penalty and will start to run again in the event that this procedure is halted for more than one month for reasons not attributable to the person penalized.

Article 18. Notifications

The notifications of the acts derived from these disciplinary proceedings will be made personally to the interested party at the School's offices or by certified mail with acknowledgement of receipt or by burofax to the student's address that appears on the registration form.

Article 19. Calculation of deadlines

For the purposes of calculating the deadlines set forth in these regulations, the following days will be deemed to be non-working days:

• Saturdays and Sundays.
• Holidays, according to the working calendar in force in the city of Barcelona.
• The month of August.
• Non-school days according to the current academic calendar for the Christmas and Easter vacations.

Article 20. Refusal and abstention of the competent bodies

The content of articles 28 and 29 of Act 30/92, on the legal regime of public administrations and the common administrative procedure, will be applicable by analogy, as regards the rules of abstention and refusal applicable to the competent bodies, pursuant to these regulations, in the processing of these disciplinary proceedings.

Article 21. Provisional measures

1. When necessary to ensure the orderly development of the School's activities or to ensure the effectiveness of the resolution that may be issued, as a provisional measure, at the beginning of a disciplinary proceeding or at any time during the course of its investigation, in the case of serious or very serious misconduct, the Dean of the School, on their own initiative or at the proposal of the investigating body, may agree, on a reasoned and temporary basis, to provisionally change the student's group or to provisionally suspend the student's attendance to certain classes or the right to attend classes at the School (eventually and providing the necessary forms of monitoring and control to ensure that the student, during this period of validity of the provisional measure, does not lose the right to continuous assessment).

2. When the resolution of the proceedings involves applying a penalty of temporary suspension of the right to attend the School, the days of non-attendance served in application of the provisional measure will be considered in advance of the penalty to be served.

Article 22. Links with the criminal jurisdiction

1. At any time during the disciplinary proceedings, when the competent bodies become aware that the events may constitute a criminal offense (felony or misdemeanor), they will inform the Public Prosecutor's Office. In this case, in addition to when the competent bodies for processing the disciplinary proceedings are aware of the existence of a criminal proceeding with identical facts, subjects and foundations between the alleged disciplinary infraction and the alleged criminal infraction, the parties will agree to suspend the disciplinary proceeding until the final judicial resolution of the criminal proceeding. Then, depending on the content of the abovementioned judicial resolution, they may agree to continue processing the disciplinary proceedings or to close the case. In any case, the facts declared proven in the criminal proceedings will bind the competent bodies of the School in the processing and resolution of the disciplinary proceedings and the parties may agree, without further procedure, to issue the corresponding penalty to the offending student.

2. During the time in which the disciplinary proceedings are suspended for this reason, the statute of limitations and expiration periods that affect the processing of this procedure will be interrupted.