Support from the university

You can get initial advice on caring for relatives from the Family Welcome and Dual Career Service. They can advise on balancing caregiving and your career. The Family Welcome Service also has a wide range of informative material available.

Contact:
Family Welcome and Dual Career Service
Mönchebergstraße 19
34125 Kassel
familywelcomeservice[at]uni-kassel[dot]de
Phone: +49 561 804-2813

The service agreement on remote work, which has been in place since October 17th, 2022, gives employees the option to work remotely. The service agreement and further information can be found on the internal site under Working Time Matters - Remote Work.

Employees at the University of Kassel have the option of working part-time to better balance their professional and private lives.

Further information can be found on the Human Resources and Organization Department 's website. If you have any further questions, please contact the responsible staff members of the Human Resources and Organization Department.

You can apply for personal leave to care for underage children or close relatives. The need for care must be confirmed with a medical certificate. Detailed information on personal leave can be found on the Human Resources and Organisation Department’s website.

It is especially crucial for students with children, caretaking responsibilities, disabilities or health restrictions, to be able to attend seminars at specific times. Students with limited time flexibility may be eligible for preferential enrollment in certain departments.

How does preferential enrollment work?
Students in participating departments can apply for preferential enrollment through their program. This is valid for one semester. If the application is approved, students are ensured enrollment in their seminars of choice. Their enrollment is automatically secured by the IT-system. This procedure does not automatically make students eligible to take the corresponding exam. The necessary requirements for participating in the module or for completing an examination are specified in the program’s regulations and must be fulfilled. The requirement for a preferential enrollment is class enrollment through PRIOS.

Students can apply for the following reasons:

• Chronic illness or disability, according to § 2 Abs. 1 SGB IX (verified with a medical certificate - linked on the departments´ homepages, see below)
• Caretaking of a child up to 12 years old (verified with a copy of the birth certificate)
• Pregnancy with an expected date of delivery during the semester (verified with medical confirmation of pregnancy, stating the expected date of delivery)
• Caretaking of a close relative (verified with the copy of a document according to §§ 44, 44a SGB XI)
   

Application for preferential enrollment 
The application forms can be downloaded from respective homepages of the departments. The application must be submitted to the responsible office on time and with all necessary documents included:

• Education (L1, L2, L3 and L5)
  Contact person for inquiries: Melanie Lenz member of staff for studies and teaching in FB 01
  • Preferential selection for the winter semester 2023 / 2024 starts in August 2023. You will then find the link here
• Department 01
  Institute of Social Studies, Bachelor of Social Work
  Contact person for inquiries: Melanie Lenz member of staff for studies and teaching in the Dean's Office
  • Preferential selection for the winter semester 2023 / 2024 starts in August 2023. You will then find the link here
• Department 02
  Institute of German Studies
  Institute of English and American Studies
  Institute of Romance Studies
  Contact person for inquiries: Natalie Dockendorf, Coordinator of Studies and Examinations
• Department 05
  Contact persons for queries: Prof. Dr. Bettina Langfeldt
• Institute for Sport and Sport Sciences (IfSS)
  Contact person for inquiries: Kristina Isermann
• Department 07 and Education L4
  Bachelor of Science Economics 
  Contact person for inquiries: Ana V. Molina Fuentes, Academic advising and coordination, department 07
• Department 11, Bachelors
  Contact person for inquiries: Holger Mittelstraß, Academic coordinator, director of the examination committee
• Faculty 15, EIPA - Introduction to Project Work
  Contact person for inquiries: Karolin Gunkel, Coordinator of studies

If your department does not yet participate in the “preferential enrollment procedure” and you require assistance with seminar enrollment due to the circumstances described above, please contact the Family Welcome Service (family/children) or the Service Center for Studies and Disability (chronic illness/disability). We will aim to find a suitable solution.

IMPORTANT: If you have changed your study program or are currently on a leave of absence, and would like to register for courses, please contact the Family Welcome Service.

The examination syllabus at the University of Kassel includes regulations that may be particularly helpful to students with children. If you are unable to take exams partially or entirely in the intended form or within the specified deadlines, due to maternity leave or parental leave, you will be permitted to complete the exams within an extended period or submit equivalent coursework in another form.

§11 paragraphs 5+6 of the (Allgemeine Bestimmungen für Fachprüfungsordnungen mit den Abschlüssen Bachelor und Master an der Universität Kassel,  German language only) describe: 

(5) If the candidate can credibly argue that they are unable to take the examination fully or partially in the intended form or within the specified time limits due to:

a) a serious or chronic illness or disability within the terms of  § 2 Abs. 1 SGB IX,

b) illness of children requiring supervision and family members requiring personal care,

c) maternity leave or parental leave,

the candidate will be permitted to take the examination within an extended period or to submit equivalent coursework in another form. A medical certificate may be required for this process. The same applies to coursework in accordance with § 9.

(6) If a study program includes mandatory stays abroad, internships, or comparable activities, the subject examination regulations may include alternate forms of coursework for students in particular circumstances (e.g. students with children, students as per paragraph 5).

(7) Accommodations must be requested in written form from the examination committee. The request should be submitted at the time of registration for the examination, at the latest.

The following addition has been made:

Modification of the General Provisions for Subject Examination Regulations for bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Kassel, dated June 8, 2022

8) If a scheduled examination date cannot be met due to a religious restriction on work, an application for a different date may be submitted to the examination committee. In such cases, the examination committee may also determine a form of examination that differs from the subject examination regulations but can still be evaluated according to the same standards. Applications must be submitted before the scheduled examination date, within the deadline set by the examination committee.

If you have any questions, please contact the Department of Studies and Teaching.

Further information and forms:

• Form Request for examination modification (accommodations for students with families)
• Examples of accommodations
• Service center for studying with disabilities: Guide to accommodations
• Service center for studying with disabilities
  The accommodations are submitted to the examination office of your department/institute and decided on by the examination committee.
• General regulations for subject-specific examination regulations with bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Kassel
• Rights and obligations during examinations
  This information was discussed in the Quality Control Committee for Examination Administration and in the Senate Commission for Academic Matters.
• Exceptional hardship
  A small number of admissions may be granted to applicants for whom non-admission would cause exceptional hardship.

In certain cases, for example when raising a child under the age of 10 (verification: child's birth certificate), a part-time course of study is possible in undergraduate and open-admission degree programs.

Please note that part-time studies are NOT eligible for BAföG funding!

It is possible to take a leave of absence from your studies during pregnancy and until your child reaches the age of three.

You can submit your application, along with proof of the need for your leave (maternity log, medical certificate, birth certificate), to the Department of Studies and Teaching within the re-registration period. In exceptional cases (attach medical certificate), this is also a possibility during the current semester.

The mother or father of the child can take a leave of absence. If the father takes leave, the child's mother's certificate of enrollment or a certificate from the child's mother's employer must be submitted.

A new application for a leave of absence with all relevant supporting documents must be submitted each semester.

Semesters of leave do not increase the number of semesters of study, but the semester fee must be paid and you will not receive BAföG during semesters of leave.

During the leave of absence, you are entitled to ALG II.

The reasons for a leave of absence, the application deadline, and important information can be found on this information page of the University of Kassel.

As a rule, it is not possible to earn credits or take exams during a leave of absence. Exceptions include: leave of absence due to maternity leave, parental leave, or caregiving.

Pragraph 6 (14) of the (Allgemeine Bestimmungen für Fachprüfungsordnungen mit den Abschlüssen Bachelor und Master an der Universität Kassel, German language only) states:

(14) The keeping of attendance lists shall be decided upon in the subject examination regulations and shall only be permitted in justified exceptional cases. Justified exceptional cases may include:

• Seminars, practical projects, or internships for which there are capacity restrictions (e.g., laboratory spaces) or which are carried out in cooperation with external institutions (e.g., schools)
• Courses or modules in which student interaction plays a particularly important role
• Module components for which, according to the examination regulations, no independent exam or study performance is required beyond mere attendance.

Further information on mandatory attendance can also be found at the following links on the University of Kassel's information page:Examinations – Information on Rights and Obligations (Prüfungen - Hinweise, Rechte und Pflichten) of the University of Kassel.

There is no fixed rule at the University of Kassel regarding how often students are allowed to be absent from a seminar (e.g. due to a child's illness, or other reasons). This will always depend on the content of the course (e.g. “practical” research work in the laboratory, where attendance is necessary, vs. courses in which material can be easily learned through self-study without attendance).

In individual cases, be sure to contact your lecturers/the examination board.