As soon as the pregnancy is known, the university administration should be notified as soon as possible. The university can only fulfil its duty of care if the pregnancy has been reported to the university.

The pregnancy must be reported to the Examinations Office. The contact person for this is Mrs Paulus-Frick.

The information page on maternity protection for students contains risk assessments for general study conditions and specific risk assessments for individual subjects. With the help of these assessments, the expectant mother can familiarise herself with potential hazards during her studies.

The maternity protection officers of the faculties offer a discussion on the risk assessments. In this discussion, the risk assessments can be adapted and supplemented to suit the specific situation of a student. If there is a specific risk, such as in the case of a laboratory internship in chemistry, protective measures are defined to protect mother and child and at the same time enable the internship to be completed. Contacts for the preparation of an individual risk assessment with the appropriate protective measures are the maternity protection officers of the faculty and the Paderborn University's Department of Occupational Safety, Health and Environmental Protection.

In addition, the contacts can help you if there are problems with the implementation of pregnancy-related compensation for disadvantages or a necessary reorganisation of your studies.

Female students may work between 8 pm and 10 pm and on Sundays and public holidays if they give their consent and this is necessary for study purposes. No official authorisation procedure is required. However, the university must notify the responsible supervisory authority of participation in a training event between 8 pm and 10 pm.

The maternity protection period begins 6 weeks before and ends 8 weeks after the birth. In the case of premature births, multiple births or a disabled newborn, the period is extended to 12 weeks after the birth.

During the protection period, examinations and attendance are generally prohibited. However, this can be overridden by the (expectant) mother by submitting a written declaration and waiving the maternity protection period for certain periods (e.g. maternity protection period before the birth) and thus being able to attend courses. The same applies to examinations. This written declaration can be revoked at any time.

If the (expectant) mother wishes to take advantage of the maternity protection period, she must not suffer any disadvantages as a result. This means, for example, that she must be given the opportunity to complete the coursework/complete the course even if she has not attended the course in the last few weeks before the birth. In the case of examinations to be taken during the maternity protection period, the mother must be offered a date outside the maternity protection period or an alternative form of performance.