"We are family" - and family-friendly. On 18 June, Federal Minister for Family Affairs Lisa Paus and Oliver Schmitz, Managing Director of "berufundfamilie" GmbH, awarded TUBAF the "family-friendly university" audit certificate at an official ceremony. Prof Swanhild Bernstein, Vice-Rector for Education and Quality Management in Teaching, accepted the certificate in Berlin on behalf of TUBAF. The Vice-Rector said: "This award shows that TU Bergakademie Freiberg is an attractive employer and a great place to study. We offer a family atmosphere and are committed to equal opportunities in our mission statement. As a university with many international members, we are open to different cultures and lifestyles."
TUBAF receives the certificate for the second time. The university already received the award in 2018. Professor Silvia Rogler is the representative of the current audit, which was completed on 10 December 2023 with the awarding of the certificate. She reports on the auditing process, which lasted several months and involved developing solutions to improve the compatibility of work or studies and family life. "We started from a broad concept of family," explains Silvia Rogler. "Family means solidarity, personal connection and care. TU Bergakademie Freiberg has long focussed on family friendliness. Now we will continue to drive forward the realisation of our goals with additional measures."
Federal Minister for Family Affairs Lisa Paus MdB emphasised at the certification ceremony: "The certified companies, institutions and universities show a sense of responsibility to make it easier for their employees to combine family and career. This not only makes them role models for employers in Germany. They also benefit in the competition for the best skilled workers and contribute to a modern, family-conscious working environment. I would like to congratulate all certificate holders who have embarked on this journey, who are just starting out or who have been doing so for some time and who continue to improve and develop year after year."
Making families the topic
Existing measures for employees include flexible working hours and mobile working. The option of part-time study, individual study plans and two university daycare centres make it easier for students to combine family and studies. According to Silvia Rogler, further measures are to be added in the future: "For example, the university would like to further expand the child-friendly infrastructure on campus or offer more courses on time management. The compatibility of family and career is to be regularly discussed in university committees and in staff meetings." The measures are regularly monitored. This also forms the basis for the re-audit process in three years' time.
Freiberg University of Mining and Technology is one of a total of 306 organisations - 119 companies, 151 institutions and 36 universities - that were awarded the audit berufundfamilie or audit familiengerechte hochschule certificate this year, which generally runs for three years.
Students and employees can find out about offers from the university and other institutions on this website.
Implementable in all sectors and different company sizes, the audit records the status quo of the family and life-phase-conscious or family-friendly measures already offered, systematically develops the company's individual potential and ensures that family awareness is anchored in the organisational culture with binding target agreements. Once this process has been successfully completed, an independent board of trustees made up of prominent representatives from business, science, politics and associations awards the audit certificate. The practical implementation is reviewed annually by berufundfamilie Service GmbH. After three years, further personnel policy objectives can be agreed as part of a re-audit. The employer may only retain the certificate if the re-audit is successful. Since the audit was introduced in 1998, almost 2,000 organisations have been awarded the certificate. A total of 975 organisations are currently certified in accordance with the audit berufundfamilie or audit familiengerechte hochschule, including 412 companies, 457 institutions and 106 universities. Around two million employees and over 1.3 million students can benefit from this.