Family-friendly University Service Centre

The Family-Friendly University Service Centre

We think of a “family” as a partnership or a community made up of different generations - parents, children, siblings and grandparents. The characteristic feature of this community is that its members take responsibility for each other. Students and university staff should be able to have a career and a family as well, and so Esslingen University of Applied Sciences provides family-friendly conditions for those who study and those who work here.

In June 2020, Esslingen University of Applied Sciences was awarded the berufundfamilie Service GmbH certificate for the 5th time in a row and now has permanent certification.

The Service Centre

Offers and measures

goals and certificate

The Service Centre

Family-Friendly University Service Centre

The Family-Friendly University Service Centre is the central point of contact for any questions you may have about reconciling work and family life. Our aim is to make information on reconciling work and family life readily accessible, create transparency about which offices at the university are responsible for which aspects, and tell you about the services outside the university which are available to families. We provide concrete support to those who are having to deal with a difficult situation affecting their family. We are actively working towards enhancing the family-friendly climate at the university and implementing the objectives we set ourselves in the family-friendly university audit.

Family-Friendly University Service Centre
Annemarie Graffé
Telefon 0711 397-3212
S 17.203

Project management
Prof. Christel Althaus
Telefon 0711 397-4572

Offers and measures

What we already offer

To supplement the advice provided by the service centre, Esslingen University of Applied Sciences offers a variety of activities to help members of the university reconcile their work and their family life:

Family-friendly working

Confidential information and advice on family- related issues
Working hours regulations which take the demands of the family into account
(Flexible working hours regulations, alternating periods of working from home, options to take leave)
Free psychological counselling for staff who are experiencing a family crisis or stressful situation
Family member requires nursing care: free staff hotline with specialist advisory services and practical help
Initial advice from a colleague should a family member require (emergency) nursing care (buddies for carers (Pflegelotsen) project)
Parents pack (Elternmappe) and nursing care pack (Pflegemappe) - collection of information in the intranet
Academic appointments - Senate resolution to pay due regard to family-related breaks in a professional biography

Family-friendly studying

Child-care centre run by the Student Services Organisation on the Flandernstrasse campus
Taking account of the demands made by family life in the organisation of the programme requirements and in the regulations governing degree programmes and examinations
Advice on studying with a family from the Student Advice Centre
Leaflet “Studying with children”

Further services

Talks and information events on family-related topics
Baby care rooms
Mobile toy boxes

More information on all the measures available can be obtained from the Family-Friendly University Service Centre) and from the intranet.

goals and certificate

Family-friendly working and studying

[Please translate to English] Zertifikat 2019

Esslingen University of Applied Sciences regularly sets itself new objectives to improve its level of family friendliness and works constantly on their implementation. Its aim is to improve the satisfaction of staff and students alike with the opportunities provided to reconcile family responsibilities with studying and working. Esslingen University of Applied Sciences strives to be an attractive employer and educational provider for both new members of staff and prospective students.

It is supported in this endeavour by the workandfamily agency (audit berufundfamilie), and is monitored and certified by the family-friendly university audit. Esslingen University of Applied Sciences has been recognised as a family-friendly university since 2006. It has meanwhile undergone four re-audits, in 2009, 2012, 2016 and 2019. Its most recent achievement was to be awarded the certificate in the family-friendly university audit for a further three years in 2019. Our objectives for the next certification period are outlined in this Brief Portrait.

Brief Portrait 2019-2022