Pregnancy & maternity protection

Since 1 January 2018, the Maternity Protection Act (MuSchG) has not only applied to working women, but also to students. This is intended to protect your health and that of your (unborn) child at your place of study. In addition, you should be able to continue your studies without any health risks or disadvantages during pregnancy, after giving birth and while breastfeeding.

• If you know about your pregnancy or if you are breastfeeding your child, then you need to look at your place of study from a completely new perspective: Are there any health hazards for me, my unborn child or the child I am breastfeeding?
• Maternity protection usually applies for six weeks before and eight weeks after the birth. During this time, you do not have to take part in events even if the place, time and programme are mandatory or you are completing an Internship as part of your university education. You can still take part if you wish. In other cases, individual solutions will be found so that you can complete your coursework and examinations.
• In order for the University of Regensburg (UR) to be able to support you, you should report your pregnancy or the fact that you are breastfeeding. The maternity protection periods will then be set for you and an individual risk assessment will be drawn up for you under the responsibility of the Dean of Studies. You can find more information on this on the homepage of the Safety Division.
• You can also take advantage of the personal counselling services.

• Please report your pregnancy to the Registrar' s Office.
• The Family Service will be happy to advise you on how to combine your pregnancy, studies and child.
• Last but not least, you should talk to your members of the teaching staff and examiners about your individual situation so that they can provide you with the best possible support.

• to your person:
  • Surname, first name
  • Enrolment number
  • Degree program, semester
  • E-mail address
• about your child:
  • Copy of the part of the mother's passport with the expected date of birth or the birth certificate or medical certificate
• about your study programme: Which courses do you want to attend or which examinations do you want to take during the semester(s) of maternity leave and breastfeeding?
  • Name of the course
  • Course number
  • Member of the teaching staff
  • Examination
  • responsible examination office
  • Examiner
  • Date

• Information material on maternity protection at the UR from the UR Safety Division
• Guide to maternity protection with the Maternity Protection Act from the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth: www.bmfsfj.de/bmfsfj/service/publikationen/leitfaden-zum-mutterschutz/73756
• Employer guide to maternity protection from the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth: www.bmfsfj.de/bmfsfj/service/publikationen/arbeitgeberleitfaden-zum-mutterschutz/121860

On 9 May 2012, the University of Regensburg adopted far-reaching guidelines on family-friendly study and examination regulations (opens in a new window). (This PDF is not accessible).

Target groups: These guidelines apply in principle

• to students with caring responsibilities for children under the age of 14,
• for students who are carers for close relatives,
• for all degree programs at the UR (exceptions are possible, e.g. for state examinations such as State Examinations).

Please note that these regulations generally apply to students with children; since 2018, the Maternity Protection Act with its own regulations has applied to pregnant or breastfeeding students .

Please also note that these guidelines are to be understood as recommendations for action and implementation. (Legally) binding decisions can only be made in consultation with the members of the teaching staff, examiners, heads of internship centres or the examination offices and committees.

• Guidelines of UR | Family-friendly study and examination regulations (pdf file, 359 KB)
• Guidelines of UR | Family-friendly study and examination regulations (pdf-file, 57 KB)

1. Alternative coursework

Possibility of taking suitable alternative coursework in the event of increased supervision requirements (e.g. in the event of illness or lack of a suitable supervisor).

2. Extended processing times

On request, reasonable extension of the processing times for term papers, seminar papers and final theses by up to 30 per cent.

3. Preferential choice of course times

Preferential admission to courses during core hours, i.e. during normal childcare hours (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) within the scope of organisational possibilities.

4. Flexibilisation of Internships

Possibility of splitting mandatory full-time internships in the Study Plan or completing them part-time within the scope of organisational possibilities.

5. Flexible examination scheduling

• Cancellation of examinations at short notice upon informal request (also by e-mail) to the responsible examination office no later than one hour before the start of the examination. Important: Proof of childcare obligation, e.g. in case of illness of the child, must be submitted later!
  Required information: Name of the examination, examiner, examination date and time.
• As a rule, the examination load should not exceed three examinations per week. For this reason, special consideration should be given to the needs of students with caring responsibilities when scheduling examinations. Within the scope of organisational possibilities, it should be possible to choose a preferred examination date within the regular examination period or to agree individual alternative examination dates. It may also be possible to take examinations in a suitable alternative form.

6. Extension of the maximum duration of study

It is possible to apply for an extension of the maximum duration of study at the end of the regular study period, regardless of periods of leave of absence or parental leave, to the extent that this is appropriate to the disadvantage.

Please contact the central examination office or the Registrar's Office for more information.

If you have any problems or further questions, you can also contact the University's Family Service: Phone 0941 943-2323, familienservice@ur.de (opens your email program) or use the contact form.

Students can take leave of absence for important reasons in accordance with Art. 48 of the Bavarian Higher Education Act. Such important reasons may include pregnancy, maternity leave, parental leave or caring for close relatives.

For leaves of absence for these family-related reasons, there are some exceptions regarding the duration of the leave of absence (more than two semesters) and the fact that coursework and examinations can be completed during this period of leave of absence.

You can find more information on leave of absence on the Registrar 's Office website.

Please note that you are not entitled to Bafög during a semester of leave of absence. More information on alternative financial aid can be found here at Studierendenwerk (external link, opens in a new window).

As the regulations depend on whether students have statutory or private health insurance or whether they are still covered by their parents' family insurance, it is best to enquire individually with your health insurance provider.
General information on student health insurance is available from the Studierendenwerk Niederbayern/Oberpfalz (external link, opens in a new window).

In addition to taking a leave of absence from your studies, it is also possible to interrupt your studies completely for a certain period of time. This is done by deregistration.

As re-enrolment can be very problematic under certain circumstances, students should only consider this option in extreme emergencies and if it is fairly certain that they do not wish to continue their studies at all.

Important: Before deregistration, please make sure you obtain comprehensive information from the relevant offices (General Student Advisory Service, course-related information and advice, Registrar's Office, Examination Offices) as to whether any admission restrictions, changes to the Examination Regulations or other legal changes are to be expected.

You can find more information on deregistration on the Registrar's Office website.

1. Study & examination organisation

• Registration office for pregnant/breastfeeding students, coordination of procedures, semesters on leave, protection periods: Registrar's Office
• Examination law issues: Examination secretariats
• Questions about the curriculum, assistance with compensation for disadvantages: Dean's Office of the respective faculty, degree program coordinators

2. Health protection & occupational safety

• Health protection, medical counselling: Occupational health department
• Occupational safety in general, genetic engineering and biological substances, hazardous substances, radiation protection, X-rays, optical radiation, etc: Division V/3 Safety
• Special hazards due to current projects in the laboratory area: internship supervisors, laser protection officers, radiation protection officers, representatives for biological safety, project managers, safety officers in the respective work area

3. Social information & counselling for female students

• Social information, counselling and support for pregnant and breastfeeding women and parents: Equal Opportunities Coordination Office & Family | Family Service
• Counselling for women and parents: General Student Advisory Service
• Social counselling services, financing: Studierendenwerk Niederbayern/Oberpfalz

You can find further information on the subject of help and counselling on these pages:
Family portal of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (external link, opens in a new window)

Info tool for an overview of family benefits and assistance from the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (external link, opens in a new window)

The University of Regensburg (UR) provides financial support in the form of a so-called maternity protection bridging allowance to bridge the legally prescribed employment bans for expectant and nursing mothers within the meaning of the maternity protection regulations (MuSchG and UrlMV).

It serves as a university-wide structural measure to promote the compatibility of family and science.

The maternity leave bridging allowance for academic staff serves to

1. to compensate for the loss of teaching and research or restrictions on these due to the protection periods before and after childbirth, if it is not possible to fully replace the pregnant woman or mother (usually in the case of civil servants or certain third-party funded projects),
2. the financing of personnel support for individual employment bans during pregnancy or to support the experimental laboratory work of pregnant women,
3. financial security for scholarship holders if the scholarship provider does not provide funding for maternity protection periods.

You can find more information on the maternity leave bridging allowance (external link, opens in a new window) here.

Contact for queries: Equal Opportunities Coordination Office | Katja von Poschinger | chancengleichheit@ur.de | Phone 0941 943-3581

• Internal service agreement on flexible working hours at the University of Regensburg
• further forms and information on flexible working hours

• Internal service agreement on "Alternating home and teleworking" at the University of Regensburg
• further forms and information on living and teleworking at the UR

In addition to the Family Service, there are the following contact points at the University of Regensburg:

• Women's representatives of the faculties
• Convention of assistant professors and artistic staff
• Human Resources Department of the UR
• Staff council of the UR
• Equal opportunities officer of the UR
• Health protection, medical advice: occupational health department
• Occupational safety in general, genetic engineering and biological substances, hazardous substances, radiation protection, X-rays, optical radiation, etc: Division V/3 Safety
• Special hazards due to current projects in the laboratory area: internship supervisors, laser protection officers, radiation protection officers, representatives for biological safety, project managers, safety officers in the respective work area

• Family portal of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth
• Info tool for an overview of family benefits and assistance from the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth

Here you will find helpful links to financial aid for families: Link list financial aid