(Future) parents follow the guide!

Parenthood and all related issues require a community. This guide is for members of the University of Geneva – staff and students – who are parents or planning to become parents, as well as their superiors or academic supervisors.

Parental leave

Ten days of paid parental leave is granted to members of staff who are legal fathers of children, during the six months following the birth, adoption or fostering of one or more children, as long as the member of staff is the husband or registered partner of the child's mother, or is in a couple with her.


The father's parental leave cannot be added to maternity, adoption or birth leave. In the event of multiple births or adoptions, or the simultaneous fostering of several children, the employee can only claim parental leave once.


Staff are entitled to ten further days unpaid leave during the year following the birth.

You have a contract paid by the Department for Public Education (DIP)
Two years of unpaid parental leave can be granted to the father and mother employed by UNIGE with DIP contracts, after the maternity leave. In agreement with your superior, part-time work can continue. It is guaranteed that you can return to your former role in full at the end of the leave. As is the case with maternity leave, employees who take parental leave are entitled to make up for its duration at the end of their appointment, provided a request was submitted beforehand.


You have a contract paid by an external fund
Employees with a contract paid for by external funding (SNSF or other) are not entitled to parental leave, nor to temporary reduction of their employment rate for family reasons. This reduction can nonetheless be negotiated with the superior, but a return to the previous working hours is not guaranteed.