Ulm University is once again entitled to bear the “audit family-friendly university” seal for the next three years. In awarding this distinction, berufundfamilie gGmbh (workandfamily organisation) attests to the University’s efforts to maintain a family-friendly and life-phase-friendly HR policy in terms of research, working and studying conditions. This distinction was presented at a virtual awards ceremony on 22 June, which was broadcast from Berlin.
“In particular, the coronavirus pandemic has presented great challenges for families with children or relatives in need of care when regular care services were suddenly interrupted. By expanding our family-conscious personnel arrangements, such as the ability to work from home, flexible working hours and emergency childcare in our nursery groups, however, we were able to make it possible for university members to manage both their career and their family”, relates Maria Stöckle, contact person for the inhouse Family Services at the University.
In recent years, the University has adopted a whole range of measures to improve the compatibility of studying, pursuing a career and having a family. Various childcare facilities have opening hours adapted to fit parents’ working hours, for example, and the number of days that they are closed is kept to a minimum. Flexible working hours, advisory services for those providing care for their relatives, and special childcare offers during the school holidays are intended to make it easier for university members to combine family life with studying or pursuing a career. Female academics can also take advantage of laboratory support programmes for expectant and nursing mothers as well as career re-entry and transition scholarships.
Students with children or other family commitments can contact Family Services at Central Student Advisory Services for more support or take advantage of preferential course registration for courses with limited numbers of participants. The University also provides parent-child study rooms to facilitate studying with children. In order to improve networking within these particular groups of people, the Student Representative Body (Studierendenvertretung, StuVe) organises a Family Round Table and maintains a mailing list for students with family responsibilities.
Ulm University has been certified as a “family-friendly university” since 2008 and is required to undergo re-auditing every three years. At the virtual awards ceremony on 22 June, a total of 287 employers throughout Germany were re-certified, including 34 universities. The current certificate is valid until May 2024.
The Ulm University Family Portal can be accessed here: www.uni-ulm.de/familie
Text and mediacontact: Daniela Stang