The term "family" is used broadly at the Medical University of Graz. We understand it to refer to all forms of living together in private in which responsibility is taken for other people on a long-term basis. Our goal is to support staff and students in finding a balance between their individual needs in their studies and professional life as well as their family responsibilities.
As a university certified with the "universityandfamily" audit, we find the reconciliation of work/studies and family to be an item of great importance and offer a variety of programs that prioritize it. We are also working on new ideas and ways that our entire university community can succeed in meeting the diverse requirements of work, studies and family life in the future. Through the promotion of dual career couples and their families, the university supports highly qualified employees in all academic areas from Austria and abroad by creating optimal conditions for their entering into employment at Med Uni Graz. In addition, Dual Career Service provides information about housing, schooling and child care.
At kinderCAMPUS, the Med Uni Graz child care facility, our university staff can find the right program for their children. Depending on their situation and needs, staff have the choice of a day nursery, a kindergarten as well as care by day parents (Betriebstageseltern). Our diverse programs and projects should arouse a child's curiosity, encourage critical thinking, imagination and creativity and make it fun to learn, research, and discover.
As studies have shown for years, many young fathers wish to experience the time in which they start a family more intensively by taking leave. In recent years, legislation on family leave for both fathers and mothers has continued to be expanded. In practice, only fathers who work for companies that actively encourage them to take leave and that recognize it as valuable time can take advantage of these theoretical models. We see the promotion of a healthy balance between professional and private obligations as part of our responsibility as an employer.
No matter if one decides to care for a dependent oneself, if care must be organized, if such a situation is temporary or longer-term, in any event care for dependents is an additional stress that raises specific challenges in reconciling work and private life. Furthermore, care for older dependents is often still treated as a taboo that can hardly be referred to in a professional context. As a role model organization, Med Uni Graz believes it is responsible not only for supporting staff and students with children, but also for actively addressing the situation of those who care for dependents.
kinderCAMPUS was established as part of the joint child care facility of Med Uni Graz and KAGes and opened in 2014. The shared building permits exploitation of synergies, yet each institution provides its own child care. The focus of care is on language and music, health and exercise, research for kids, gender and diversity-sensitive teaching and intergenerational work.
The following kinderCAMPUS services are available to Med Uni Graz staff and students:
The educational program at the child care facility is managed by GiP (Gemeinnützige Projekt GmbH) in cooperation with the association Tagesmütter Steiermark. The day nursery and kindergarten are included in the fee model of the City of Graz, i.e., the City of Graz subsidizes the cost of child care following a graduated fee model and thus only children whose main residence is in Graz are eligible for these forms of care.
Founded in 2008, the kinderCAMPUS office is the first point of contact for (expecting) parents. In the organizational structure, kinderCAMPUSbüro is assigned to the GENDER:UNIT and is part of the Service Center for Reconciliation of University and Family located there. The office provides information to anyone interested in child care opportunities or the many additional university services.
The MINT seal of approval is awarded to educational institutions that use various measures to promote innovative and inspiring learning in mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology and implement them with diverse approaches for girls and boys. The certificate was awarded in June 2022 to our childcare facility kinderCAMPUS, which was established in 2014 by Med Uni Graz and KAGes.
The MINT seal of approval is an initiative of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, the Federation of Austrian Industries, the Knowledge Factory and the University College of Teacher Education in Vienna.
