Guidelines of 1 October 2010 for departments and centres at Aarhus University

Departments

Pursuant to section 17 of the Danish University Act (Universitetsloven), teaching and research are normally the responsibility of the departments.

It appears from the explanatory notes to the Draft Bill on Universities that “a department is a unit managed by a Head of Department. It is the normal venue of research and teaching. The department is the context for the university’s activities within the framework of the overall research and educational strategies of the university in compliance with the development contract.”

Each main academic area has a varying number of departments (NERI sections), a total of approx. 70. A department is managed by a head of department, who is appointed by the dean. The head of department has the day-to-day staff responsibility, allocates tasks between the employees and is responsible for the department’s research and teaching activities. The departments have different levels of administrative staffing, as the practice adopted by the main academic areas varies in respect of the administrative division of responsibilities between department and main academic area level.

Centres

A significant proportion of research activities in particular are conducted at centres which are temporary managerial structures designed to create particularly good conditions for interdisciplinary research. Employees will often be employed at department and on loan to the centre. A centre director reports directly to a head of department or, in special circumstances, directly to a dean. The university has a total of approx. 90 research centres.

Definition

A centre is a formalised  framework for scientific and scholarly collaboration, the purpose of which is to strengthen a specific research, teaching, public sector consultancy or communication area. The collaboration normally crosses or falsl outside existing departmental boundaries, and may also involve collaboration with external partner. A centre can have its own premises or be a ‘centre without walls’. A centre may employ its own staff and/or be the workplace for employees who, according to agreement with their department, may perform all or part of their work at the centre. A centre may and often does to a certain extent have its own grants and its own user number.

Background for setting out guidelines for centres

- Pursuant to section 17 of the Danish University Act, teaching and research are normally the responsibility of the departments. It is thus still possible to organise research and teaching activities outside the departmental structure.

- The university’s financial and other systems require that all units with financial and administrative authority be placed at the appropriate organisational level.

- It is still is desirable to ensure orderly, clear and transparent information on the university’s structure – both in relation to society in general and for internal use, including on the website.

Common rules applying to all centres

- All existing and future centres at Aarhus University must be approved.

- Administratively speaking, a centre must be organised under one of the university’s faculties and must have a director who reports to a dean or a head of department.

- In cases where a centre belongs directly under a faculty and the centre director does not have managerial responsibility corresponding to that of a head of department, the dean carries out the responsibilities and duties of the head of department, cf. section 17(5) of the Danish University Act.

- By-laws must be prepared for each centre, or another foundation document with comparable content and validity must exist, such as  a contract with the Danish National Research Foundation.

- The foundation document must describe the following areas: 1) name, 2) organisational category and affiliation, 3) basis of foundation, participating parties, objective and tasks, 4) employee groups at the centre, 5) organisation and management, 6) finances, 7) approval of rules and regulations and amendments to rules and regulations, and 8) commencement.

Organisational category and affiliation

Centres can be established with the following organisational category and affiliation:

 Faculty affiliation

 Departmental affiliation

A

 Department-like centres, i.e. centres which, in practice, correspond to ad hoc departments or temporary departments and where the centre director’s managerial responsibility is generally speaking  equivalent to to that of a head of department. Such centres most often belong directly under a faculty, but may also belong under a department. While there are no specific requirements with regard to size, only larger centres normally qualify for approval as A centres.

B

 Centres with the same organisational status as sections under a department

C

 Centres with the organisational status of a project. Such centres often belong under a department, but may also be established directly under a faculty.

D

 Centres which are  forums for collaboration which have no or only a limited independent budget.

I

 Instrument centres

Authority to approve centres

- Department-like centres (‘A centres’) are approved by the rector (formerly by the Board following recommendation from the rector) on the basis of a recommendation from the faculty.

- Other centres (i.e. B, C, D and I centres) which include activities at several faculties or parties outside the university must be approved by the rector following recommendation from the relevant faculty/faculties.

- All other centres (B, C, D and I centres with activities at a single faculty) are approved by the dean.

Registration of centres

- The dean or the rector, respectively, is responsible for creating a file (group 082) in connection with each centre approval. An updated foundation document must be available in the file.

- A database with information on approved centres must be established. The Management Secretariat is responsible for establishing and updating the database. The database is intended to ensure that the same information on centres is used for all administrative purposes (management information, web information, annual report, addresses etc.). Information is entered at the place where approval or approval of changes takes place.

- The rector must be notified whenever new centres are approved.