Outstanding family-friendliness TU Braunschweig once again awarded certificate with distinction as an ‘audit familiengerechte hochschule’ (family-friendly university)

TU Braunschweig has received confirmation of its ‘audit familiengerechte hochschule’ certificate from the Board of Trustees of berufundfamilie Service GmbH. This marks the second time that TU Braunschweig has secured the certificate with distinction, in recognition of its long-standing, sustainable efforts to create family-friendly working and study conditions. The ‘audit familiengerechte hochschule’ certificate is regarded as a seal of quality for a strategically planned work-life balance policy.

Anne-Christin Eggers and Luisa Perdomo Lopez from the Family Office of the Equal Opportunities Unit at TU Braunschweig. Photo credits: private

Prior to this, TU Braunschweig successfully completed the dialogue process for the audit, which is open to employers who have been pursuing a strategically planned family-friendly university policy through the audit for at least nine years. We were first awarded the ‘audit’ certificate in 2007. Following seven re-audits, we have now completed the second dialogue process.

The aim of the dialogue process is to maintain the high standard of family-friendly working and study conditions and to capitalise on the potential for optimisation in selected areas. To ensure the quality of the certificate, a further dialogue process will need to be undertaken in three years’ time.

The audit offered by berufundfamilie Service GmbH is a management tool designed to initiate a sustainable process of work-life balance. The ‘audit familiengerechte hochschule’ has been available since 2002. It is currently under the patronage of the Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Karin Prien.

On 18 June 2026, the certificate was presented on behalf of the university by Prof. Dr. Dr. Helmut Schneider (Senior Research Fellow at the Ferdinand-Steinbeis-Institut and the Board of Trustees’ certification officer) and Oliver Schmitz (Managing Director of berufundfamilie) to Anne-Christin Eggers from the Family Office of the Equal Opportunities Unit.

Together with members of the university community and the Executive Board, the Equal Opportunities Unit is constantly developing TU Braunschweig as a family-friendly university in order to support staff and students in achieving the best possible balance between care responsibilities and their studies or careers. The diverse life circumstances of the university community are taken into account when implementing appropriate measures. A key aspect of this is recognising care responsibilities as part of academic life and making them visible. Family-friendly study and working conditions are an integral and reliable part of the university’s core values.

The fact that TU Braunschweig has decided to undergo a re-audit once again underlines its commitment to maintaining family-friendly structures in the long term and to developing them continuously. In our view, it is also an important commitment to a family-friendly university culture that values all members of the university community in their respective life situations.

According to a press release from berufundfamilie Service GmbH, in 2026 a total of 250 companies and institutions, including 29 universities, received their certificates in recognition of their family- and life-stage-conscious HR policies, as well as their family-friendly working and study conditions. They had successfully undergone the audit process over the preceding twelve months.