The Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen has completed the "audit familiengerechte hochschule" (audit for family-friendly universities) for the third time. The "berufundfamilie gGmbH" (career and family non-profit limited liability company), funded by the Hertie Foundation, first audited the university in 2005 and recognized it as a particularly family-friendly institution.
The certificate attesting to this latest success was presented to TH Vice President Olaf Berger in Berlin by Parliamentary State Secretaries Dr. Hermann Kues (Federal Ministry for Family Affairs) and Peter Hintze (Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs).
Students with children face particular challenges. They have to juggle their studies, childcare, and often also working. University staff also have to balance their paid work and family responsibilities on a daily basis. TH Mittelhessen, where about five percent of students have children up to the age of 14, has committed itself to making its academic operations and staff's daily work more family-friendly.
Following the last award of the certificate in 2009, the university management and auditors agreed on goals that the university should achieve by the time of the re-audit. A project group led by Dagmar Hofmann and Catharine Meckel-Oschmann was tasked with implementation. The group worked successfully, allowing the TH Mittelhessen to retain the title of "family-friendly university" for another three years.
Examples of family-friendly measures from recent years include the establishment of a family service, which serves as a central contact point for university members, parent-child rooms in Giessen and Friedberg, the renovation of the crèche and the creation of additional childcare places for children under three years of age.
By the next audit in 2014, the university plans to further expand its childcare facilities, improve its online information services, and give greater priority to family-friendly aspects in building planning. Staff development will also take the needs of parents more into account.
According to TH President Prof. Dr. Günther Grabatin, the project has "raised awareness of the issue among university members. The existing services and planned measures provide a very good basis for the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen to take further significant Further on its path to becoming a family-friendly university."
Giessen , June 11, 2012