A Belgian politician’s call for the establishment of an external agency to oversee disciplinary procedures at universities has been hailed as “bold” and “innovative” by campaigners.

Zuhal Demir, the Flemish minister for education, justice and employment, has announced an independent audit of disciplinary procedures in universities and colleges, following a recent by news organisation Pano into how complaints are handled at universities.

A documentary by the organisation revealed that an academic at Vrije Universiteit Brussel had been the subject of complaints about “toxic” behaviour towards staff, with 13 university employees accusing the academic of sexism, and verbal aggression and physical intimidation. However, he received only a written reprimand from the university. 

Pano previously carried out a in 2022 into abuses of power by academics at the two largest Flemish universities, which  over bullying and harassment within academia in the country.

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“The windows and curtains have to be opened,” the minister wrote on her website. “The time of ‘we’re going to arrange all that internally here’ is really over now.”

Demir said an independent external investigations agency should be established to oversee university disciplinary procedures. The move would bring academia in line with other regulated professions, such as teachers and doctors.

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Although some universities have allowed external members to join their disciplinary committees in recent years, “[this] is not enough, and not all universities do that,” Demir said.

She added that the sector had been given time to act, but said: “They wanted to solve everything internally. That clearly didn’t happen.”

Anna Bull, founder of the 1752 Group in the UK, said such an agency would make Belgium one of the first countries to commit to having an independent investigatory agency over misconduct in its higher education sector, and would make the country a “model” for the UK if implemented.

Bull said the move would be a “really positive step” and “shows a huge lack of faith in the sector to investigate itself”.

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Describing the proposals as “bold”, she continued: “Maybe it’s not a coincidence that it’s a woman minister who’s willing to go out on a limb. She’s not just saying universities need to do better, she’s actually proposing innovative steps to tackle the problem.

“These are precisely the steps that survivors have told me that they would welcome, as well as people who’ve been at the sharp end of universities’ failures in investigating staff harassment cases.”

She added that the proposal was a “testament” to the activists who have been fighting to get the story heard. “I really want acknowledge the huge amount of labour from mostly women who have got this onto the political agenda and out to the media, which is a terrifying and brave thing to do.”

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com