Viadrina with child

Students who are unable to devote themselves full-time to their studies have the option of applying for an individual part-time study programme. Caring for a child is one of the recognised reasons for such part-time study. We recommend that you seek detailed advice before applying.

A part-time study programme can also be started after the end of a semester of leave.

If you would like to apply for a semester off, we recommend visiting the admission's office and/or the family office. Advice is also available at the AM Service Point.

Taking a leave of absence during pregnancy or after the birth of a child has various consequences that need to be taken into account. For example, it should be decided on an individual basis whether it makes more sense to apply for an extension of studies or a semester of leave. Fathers can also take leave of absence.

§10 of the Viadrina enrolment regulations regulate the duration and justification of a leave of absence. In the case of pregnancy and childcare, the admission's office is guided by the statutory parental leave. Students who are caring for their children can therefore apply for a leave of absence for up to 6 semesters. You must apply for a leave of absence at the admission's office.

Possible consequences of a leave of absence:

• Semesters on leave of absence are counted as university semesters, but not as subject semesters. Students who take a leave of absence are not entitled to Bafög during the semester of leave. However, the entitlement to the maximum funding period according to Bafög remains in place, only the subject-related semesters are counted here.
• You may no longer be entitled to your own child benefit, with the exception of the maternity protection period and a 4-month transition period between the end of the maternity protection period and the continuation of your studies.
• If students are gainfully employed, they are fully liable for social security contributions during a semester of leave.
• During a semester of leave, the student's compulsory health insurance remains in place if they have no income of their own or are only in marginal employment.
• Under certain circumstances, student parents can receive citizen's allowance during the period of leave of absence. If you are receiving parental allowance at the same time, please note that the parental allowance will be deducted from the citizen's allowance to reduce your income.
• At Viadrina, it is currently not possible to take examinations during the semester of leave. In some degree programmes, it is possible to take examinations at the beginning of the following semester if parents are already enrolled again. Details must be clarified individually with the academic advisors and the examination board.

Parents with statutory health insurance can apply for child sickness benefit for 15 days if a child under the age of 12 is ill. Single parents can stay at home with their sick child for up to 30 days a year. The child must have a sick note from the paediatrician. As a rule, child sickness benefit amounts to 90% of the lost net pay.

For studies and examinations, this means that a child's illness should be treated as a separate illness and the days on which a sick child is cared for are not counted as days missed. If examinations are missed due to a child's illness, this must be reported to the university and a sick note submitted. Law students require proof of illness from a public health officer for examinations.

In cooperation with the International Office, we would like to encourage students with children to take the plunge and study abroad. The organisational effort is certainly higher than for students without children, but in most cases a solution can be found. The International Office provides advice on which universities are particularly suitable for studying with children and what financial support is available.

The General Student Committee represents the student body vis-à-vis the university, the city and the state of Brandenburg. Students who find themselves in a particular financial hardship situation can obtain information from the AStA about the guideline on the compensation of financial hardship cases.
This guideline deals with the determination of a financial hardship case, the subsidy for the semester ticket, as well as learning materials and child welcome money.

Contact AStA:
Allgemeiner Studentischer Ausschuss der Europa-Universität Viadrina (AStA)
Große Scharrnstraße 17a
15230 Frankfurt (Oder)
Contact persons:
asta-soziales@europa-uni.de
asta-finanzen@europa-uni.de

All students in the area of responsibility of the Studierendenwerk:Ostbrandenburg who find themselves in a financial emergency situation have the opportunity to apply for a hardship loan. The hardship loan is an interest-free loan. Further financial assistance and counselling services are also available there.

The Studierendenwerk also pays a baby welcome allowance of 200 euros per child for children born from 1 January 2025. Even if both parents are students, 200 euros will be paid.

For children born by 31 December 2024, 50 euros will be paid per child and per student parent.

If, in exceptional cases, children need to be cared for outside the daycare centre, Viadrina will reimburse some of the costs. This regulation applies to students and enrolled doctoral candidates, the amount of the reimbursement is up to €100 per semester and child.
Provided that the regular care (daycare centre, child minders) does not apply and the care of the child is necessary to advance the studies or doctoral project.

Examples:

• Attendance at a daycare centre or childminders is not possible due to illness
• Courses are held in the evening or at weekends, i.e. outside the opening hours of regular childcare
• Care for the child is necessary during participation in academic conferences and public university events

For the reimbursement of costs, please submit the completed application form together with the receipt for the childcare costs to the Family Office. The receipt must include the name and address of the carer. Applications for reimbursement within a semester can always be submitted up to two weeks after the start of the following semester.

The service agreement on flexible working hours (FLAZ II) and the service agreement on the implementation of home office and mobile working allow working conditions to be adapted to specific family situations.

Service agreement on flexible working time arrangements (FLAZ II) (currently under revision)

Service agreement on the implementation of home office and mobile working

If you have any questions about the possibilities of flexible working hours, please contact the Family Affairs Officer or the Human Resources Department.

Brückenteilzeit
Since 2019, employees have been entitled to temporary part-time work with the so-called Brückenteilzeit from the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

Parents can be released from work if their own children are ill up to the age of 12. The prerequisite is that you look after the child yourself and that care by another person living in the household is not possible.

Parents with statutory health insurance can apply for child sickness benefit for 15 days if a child under the age of 12 is ill. Single parents can stay at home with their sick child for up to 30 days a year. The child must have a sick note from the paediatrician. The child sickness benefit usually amounts to 90 per cent of the lost net pay.

Recommendation: If a weekend falls within the child's sick leave, it is advisable to have two sickness certificates issued so that the weekend days are not accidentally counted as sick days. For example, if the sick leave lasts from Wednesday to Tuesday, a sickness certificate should be issued for Wednesday to Friday and an additional one for Monday and Tuesday.

There may be days when employees want or need to bring their child to university. To bridge such exceptional situations, the Viadrina has a parent-child workroom in Hauptgebäude K20 as well as the nursing and quiet room HG 84, which caters to different needs. On the one hand, the room is equipped to meet the needs of children (children's table and chair, high chair, changing table, toys and books are available). On the other hand, the room is equipped with a desk, in-house telephone and a LAN connection, allowing parents to get on with their work - with the little ones always in view. The parent-child rooms are available for short-term childcare needs to help with the work-life balance. The key card is available at the gate in the HG.

Alternatively, Viadrina emergency childcare can also be utilised in the cases described. In cooperation with partners in Frankfurt, we help to find suitable childcare in emergencies. Childcare can be provided both on the university premises (parent-child workroom, breastfeeding and quiet room) and at home (Frankfurt and the surrounding area). If emergency childcare is required, the Family Affairs Officer should be contacted as early as possible.

Maternity protection applies for 6 weeks before and 8 weeks after the birth (12 weeks for premature and multiple births). If the due date is exceeded, the parent is still entitled to a full 8 weeks of maternity leave from the child's birthday. If the child is born before the due date, the days are added to the protection period after the birth. In the 6 weeks before the birth, the mother can work if she wishes. However, this declaration can be revoked at any time. In the 8 weeks after the birth, employment is prohibited. Periods of absence due to employment bans under maternity protection law and the maternity protection periods count as periods of employment. Holiday entitlements also accrue during this time. Leave that the employee has not used up before the statutory protection periods can be claimed in the current or next calendar year after the periods have expired.

During pregnancy and 4 months after giving birth, there is protection against dismissal; if parental leave is taken, the protection against dismissal is extended until the end of parental leave.

The employer is obliged to release the person giving birth for examinations during pregnancy and maternity within the framework of statutory health insurance without loss of pay. These provisions also apply to persons not covered by statutory health insurance.

There is a right to breastfeeding time of at least 2x 30 min or 1x 60 min per day, with a working time of 8 hours to 2x 45 min or 1x 90 min breastfeeding time per day without loss of earnings. The breastfeeding times are not counted towards rest or break times and are not to be worked before or after work.

If you have any questions or problems, please contact the state occupational health and safety or labour inspectorates, which monitor compliance with the Maternity Protection Act.

Maternity benefit replaces wages during the period of maternity protection. It is applied for from the statutory health insurers.

The information is not exhaustive. The relevant advice centres and offices are responsible for providing binding information.

Parental leave refers to the legal entitlement of working parents (mothers and fathers) to take time off work or reduce their working hours, either jointly or alternately, also split over different periods of time.

Parental leave is not limited to the parental allowance period.
For each child, each parent is entitled to up to 36 months of parental leave, generally until the child reaches the age of 3.
With the consent of the employer, 24 months of parental leave can also be taken later, but only until the child is 8 years old.
Parental leave can be divided into three periods by each parent, further divisions are possible with the consent of the employer.
The employee must make a binding commitment as to the periods of parental leave to be taken within 2 years.
During parental leave, employment of up to 32 hours per week is possible. Upon request, working hours can be reduced twice or organised differently under the conditions of Section 15 (5-7) BEEG.
The BEEG contains a protection against dismissal for parental leave recipients, according to which the employment relationship can only be terminated in special cases and in exceptional cases from the announcement of parental leave, but no more than 8 weeks before it begins, and for the period of parental leave.
Parental leave can be terminated prematurely at the request of the parents, but this requires the consent of the employer. After parental leave, the original employment relationship automatically applies again.
An extension of parental leave beyond the requested period is only possible in exceptional cases, e.g. if the partner is prevented from taking parental leave for good reason.
A temporary replacement can be hired for the period of maternity leave, parental leave or the agreed leave of absence to care for a child. Details on hiring a replacement must be discussed with the employees of the Human Resources Department.

Parental allowance and parental leave must be considered independently of each other. Parental allowance can also be received without taking parental leave. For an exact calculation of the amount of parental allowance and a sensible claim, it is advisable to contact the parental allowance office of the responsible youth welfare office.

The parental allowance calculator can be used in advance as an individual source of information.

Further information on parental leave and parental allowance can be found on the pages of the family portal.

The fixed-term employment contracts of academic staff can be extended due to family phases.

The service agreement on the structure of employment contracts for academic staff applies.

Academic staff in budget-financed positions (Section 2 (1) WissZeitVG) are entitled to the so-called family policy component. Their employment contracts can be extended on request by up to two years per child if the maximum fixed-term period of six years per qualification phase has been exhausted.

Academic employees with third-party funding contracts (Section 2 (2) WissZeitVG) have the option of extending their contract by periods of maternity leave and parental leave.

Junior professorships are extended by a maximum of two years for a maximum of two children in accordance with the possibility in the Brandenburg Higher Education Act (§46 para. 1 sentence 3 no. 2 BbgHG) upon application by the junior professors if they are caring for a minor child.

Applications for contract extensions must be submitted to the Department of Human Resources.

The Family Affairs Officer and/or the Human Resources Department will be happy to answer any questions regarding the options for contract extensions.

As a family-friendly university, the European University Viadrina has set itself the goal of providing targeted support for academics with caring responsibilities and awards bridging scholarships for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers for this purpose. These serve to bridge situations in which the re-entry, continuation or completion of a qualification project is made more difficult or jeopardised after a family-related break or due to family responsibilities.

In addition, as part of its equal opportunities concept, the university endeavours to specifically support women in their academic qualifications and awards scholarships to female doctoral and postdoctoral candidates to promote particularly qualified women.

The scholarships are advertised once a year depending on the funds available. There are currently no funds available.

Up to eight bridge and graduation scholarships were awarded annually until 2024.

The Family Office works together with various partners in Frankfurt to offer emergency childcare for the children of university members on daycare centre closing days, during exams at the weekend, seminars in the evening or similar.

The Volkssolidarität childcare service is affiliated to the "Am Sonnensteig" daycare centre and offers individual care for children aged 0-12. Childcare is available from Monday to Saturday. The employees of the childcare service are trained educators, trainees and childcare assistants.

Childcare at the Viadrina emergency childcare centre requires health, liability and accident insurance for children. The respective carer (or the family office) should be contacted approx. 1 week before the desired care. In urgent cases, short-term help is also possible. However, it cannot be guaranteed that the desired carers will have capacity.

In Frankfurt (Oder), it is possible to have children looked after as "guest children" for up to 20 days a year.

The Viadrina Family Affairs Officer supports and advises the relevant chairs and departments in organising appropriate childcare for conferences, colloquia and similar university events.

Planning and invitation:
If conference childcare is to be offered, the Family Office must be contacted in good time. The following information is required to organise the childcare:

Client
Title, date, time and location of the planned event
Estimated number and age of children
Contact person
Cost bearer

We recommend that you draw attention to the conference childcare service when planning and announcing the event. The registration deadline for childcare should be at least 14 days before the start of the event in order to be able to react to cancellations or further registrations in good time.

Financing:
The costs for childcare may vary. The amount is reduced if several children are looked after.
The costs are usually borne by the respective organiser. In justified exceptional cases and subject to available funding, financing by the Family Office is possible.