• Will I get help, if –having children- I decide to write a doctoral or habilitation thesis at the Viadrina?

Please address questions of how to reconcile the demands of family life and academic work to the Family Representative at the University. She will inform you about childcare, funding and all types of support that the University provides. As for questions regarding doctoral and postdoctoral programmes, please turn to the Viadrina Center for Graduate Studies (VCGS). You are also welcome to subscribe to the VCGS newsletter.

• Where can I get information concerning the support offered by the University to parents?

Once a month the Family Representative sends out a newsletter with useful information for the parents who study, work, teach and/or conduct research at the Viadrina. If you would like to subscribe, please write to the Family Representative.

At the beginning of every term, the Family Representative invites all parents with children to a ‘family breakfast’ event in Berlin and in Frankfurt/Oder, where parents have the opportunity to meet one another. 

• What rights do the parents in Germany have?

In Germany every parent is entitled to a parental leave of up to three years for each child and this right applies to both parents equally. If you are employed at the Viadrina when writing your PhD thesis, you may take time off work for up to three years to care for your child. While on leave, the parent may work a maximum of 30 hours a week and s/he benefits from protection against job termination. For the first year of the parental leave and after having met certain requirements, parents may apply for Parental Benefit (allowance). More on the subject, see the answer to the question no. 12. Should you plan to take a parental leave, we advise to consult the Family Representative.

The mothers who work in Germany benefit from the Maternity Protection Act (Mutterschutzgesetz). It shall extend to all working women, irrespective of their nationality and marital status. Special protection was laid down for women from six weeks before to eight weeks after delivery. During that period the future mother is not allowed to work (with the exception of six weeks before delivery when she may work if she formally states such an intention) and she is protected from loss of employment due to dismissal.

• I have a child/children and I am writing a PhD in Germany. What type of financial assistance am I eligible for?

During the legal (job-)protection for expectant and nursing mothers (Mutterschutz, six weeks prior and eight weeks following delivery) every woman working in Germany, e.g. as a researcher at the University or in another institution, receives the Maternity Allowance (Mutterschaftsgeld). This allowance paid by the Health Insurance - normally around 13 Euro a day - compensates for the loss of income during the protection period and it will vary as it is based on the applicant’s income from the last three months before the protection period started. If your salary was higher than 13 Euro a day, the responsibility of payment of the remaining sum (till the amount equal to an average income) falls on your employer. For further information please contact your Health Insurance company.

After delivery you may apply for family allowance called Child Benefit (Kindergeld). Child benefit is paid monthly as follows: for the first two children, per child 184 Euro, for the third child 190 Euro and for each further child 215 Euro.

The doctoral students living in Germany and coming from European Union member states, the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland shall receive the Child Benefit irrespective of their residence status. Doctoral students from Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia, Montenegro, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey are entitled to the family allowance if they live in Germany and are covered by at least one of the statutory insurances of the German social security system (e.g. health, pension, unemployment, accident insurance funds).

All other foreign doctoral students are eligible to the Child Benefit if they have both, a residence permit, issued because of their enrollment at the University, and a work permit.

The above applies also to the Parental Benefit (Elterngeld). Parents in Germany are entitled to the parental leave. In addition, they may receive the Parental Benefit for a maximum of 14 months. It is usually granted to all parents, whether or not they earned income. Doctoral students for whom a scholarship is the main source of income shall receive a minimum monthly payment of 300 Euro for a maximum of 12 months. They do not need to interrupt their PhD programme to be eligible for the Parental Benefit. Parents who were employed prior to the birth of the child receive a maximum net worth of 67% of their previous salary in the form of the Parental Benefit. According to the EU law, all the citizens of the European Union who work or live in Germany are - like Germans - entitled to that benefit. This regulation applies also to the Swiss citizens (following the EU agreement with Switzerland). Doctoral students from other countries with residence permit only for educational purposes (also with a time-limited work permit) are generally not eligible for Parental Benefit. To find out if you qualify for Parental Benefit, please consult individually the Family Representative.

Between the 15th and 36th month of your child’s life you may apply for the Childcare Allowance (Betreuungsgeld) if your child (after turning one year of age) is neither attending a public childcare institution (crèche, kindergarten, daycare centre) nor private daycare. At first you will get 100 Euro per month, per child. This will increase to 150 Euro from August 2014 on and is paid to all parents regardless of whether or not their work and what are their working hours.

• Does the University provide financial support for doctoral students with children?

If you have been matriculated at the Viadrina as a doctoral student and become a parent at that time, you will receive a 100 Euro welcome gift. Half of it is funded by the students’ services (Studentenwerk) and half by the General Students’ Committee (ASTA). You will find the appropriate application form  in internet. You may also apply for a subsidy in the amount of 100 Euro per term, per child to cover the costs of extra hours in a crèche/kindergarten or school .  

Furthermore, the University awards grants for young scholars. All current calls are published on the website of the Viadrina Center for Graduate Studies. Additionally, every year the University awards bridging grants to support the doctoral students with children or with family members in need of care. The idea behind these three to six-month-grants is to help students overcome the obstacles which seriously hinder or could endanger the continuation of their PhD projects (due to a break resulting from a difficult personal situation or new family obligations).