Freie Universität Berlin makes it possible for employees to balance family and working life optimally, which is why the university has been included in the "Familie in der Hochschule" best practice club. The Executive Deputy Director of Administration and Finance of Freie Universität, Dr. Matthias Dannenberg, sealed the membership by signing the charter of "Familie in der Hochschule," an initiative for sustainable equal opportunity and family orientation in academia. The university agreed to work in cooperation with other members to achieve continuous improvements in compatibility between family responsibilities and those that apply in studies, teaching and research activities.

At Freie Universität, we believe "family" means all situations in which people take long-term social responsibility for others. This includes, most especially, people who are raising children and those who are taking care of other family members. The goal is to raise awareness and increase the visibility of these situations in order to enable satisfactory handling thereof on all sides.

The "Familie in der Hochschule" iniatiative is jointly supported by the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the Centrum für Hochschulentwicklung (CHE). The best practice club includes more than 60 institutions in the academic and research sector in the German-speaking countries. Freie Universität is one of the first in Berlin. It is scheduled to host the club's working meeting in September. The university has already received distinction for its exemplary commitment to equality between women and men five times over in recent years in the form of the "Total E-Quality" seal.