Family-friendliness is an Important Location Factor
TU Chemnitz, Saxony’s first family-friendly university, has once again proven that it deserves its good reputation
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The mix of religions and national origin is a particular hallmark of the “Krabbelkäfer” daycare center and has been for many years. The center is located in the middle of campus and is one of the TU Chemnitz’s local partner daycare centers. By the way: around 45 years ago – on August 1st, 1971 – the first children of university members of the (then) Technische Hochschule Karl-Marx-Stadt were welcomed. Photo: Press office image archive/Wolfgang Thieme
The Technische Universität Chemnitz was recognized once again in March 2016 as a family-friendly university. The university was awarded the “family-friendly university audit” certificate from the berufundfamilie gGmbH, an initiative of the Hertie Foundation, as part of a comprehensive re-auditing process. The TU Chemnitz is the first university in Saxony to receive this distinction since first applying for the audit in 2006. Now, for the fourth time in a row, the university has successfully proven that family and university can indeed go together. “The university would also like to continue to provide its employees and students with good working and studying conditions, so that parenthood and caring for dependent family members are compatible with one another,” says the TU Chemnitz’s representative for women’s affairs, Dr. Renate Wißuwa. “Family-friendly conditions for studying and researching are an important cornerstone in our university’s overall orientation and a locational factor which contributes to students’ and employees’ satisfaction with their work and studies at the TU,” adds Prof. Dr. Andreas Schubert, acting rector of the TU Chemnitz. As a family-friendly university, the university also has a hand in continuing to enhance the city of Chemnitz’s appeal as a place to study, work and live.
TU Chemnitz university members with children have had many various family-oriented offers available to them for several years now. These range from cooperations with external childcare facilities, to special counseling, informational and fitness programs and even to a mentoring program for women in the scientific sector. The Chemnitz-Zwickau Student Union also provides substantial support, and they plan to open a daycare center of their own on the TU campus in the future. But events such as the Kinder-Uni Chemnitz, the Seniors College and the very popular vacation offerings are additional puzzle pieces in the big picture of the family-friendly TU Chemnitz. “In the coming years we want to apply the developed measures even more than before in everyday life at the university. We also plan to create even more sensitivity for the topic of family-friendliness at the university, for example with a welcome package for children of university members, through regular parents’ meetings and through a meaningful network of counseling services,” reports Dr. Wißuwa.
More information is available by contacting the TU Chemnitz’s representative for women’s affairs, Dr. Renate Wißuwa, telephone +49 371 531-10001, email renate.wissuwa@verwaltung.tu-chemnitz.de.
(Author: Mario Steinebach, Translation: Sarah Wilson)
Katharina Thehos
24.03.2016
