University of Aarhus 2005
The rector’s annual report
One of the first tasks of the University Board was to appoint the university’s rector. In August 2005, I had the great pleasure of taking up my position as the first appointed rector after about 75 years of elected managers.
According to the University Act of 2003, the university now appoints rather than elects its managers. In December 2005, I was able to introduce the five appointed deans: Svend Hylleberg is the new Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, whereas Bodil Due continues as Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, along with Carsten Riis as Dean of the Faculty of Theology, Søren Mogensen as Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Erik Meineche Schmidt as Dean of the Faculty of Science. The five deans took up their positions on 1 February 2006 and are responsible for appointing heads of department in 2006. The university’s entire new management structure will then be in place.
Internationalisation
In recent years, the high standard of research and education has been confirmed by a number of international surveys. In 2005, the university ranked first among universities in the Nordic countries in the field of Science, as well as first in Denmark and third among universities in the Nordic countries in the field of Health Sciences. In Economy, the university ranks among the 25 best in the world, and in Political Science, it is among the top five political science institutes in Europe.
The University of Aarhus ranks second among Danish universities overall, third in Scandinavia, 57th in Europe and 138th globally.
Internationalisation will remain a focus area, and the quality of both research and internationally oriented education is to be maintained and further enhanced.
The university’s development contract
We have pursued and met the targets defined in the university’s 2005 development contract with the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Development. At the same time, we have prepared a new development contract for the period 2006–2008. This new contract defines the most important strategic goals relating to the university’s main tasks: research, education and disseminating knowledge to the society at large. The university is known internationally for the high standard of quality that characterises all activities throughout the five faculties, and this bodes well for the university’s further development. In future, globalisation and increased international cooperation will be given particularly high priority.
Research
The development contract for 2005 defined six focus areas within university research: globalisation, molecular medicine, nanoscience and nanotechnology, religion as a normative task, theoretical science and the knowledge society. These six focus areas will remain at the core of the university’s development contract for 2006–2008.
The University of Aarhus will be responsible for educating at least 25% of Danish PhD graduates in the coming years. With effect from 2006, the focus areas will be combined with another key area at the university, viz. the strengthening of our PhD programmes. Overall, the university expects to double the number of PhD students in the coming three years, but will also aim to more than double the number of PhD students in its focus areas by 2008. In 2005, all PhD programmes were accommodated at graduate schools that are able to attract a large number of promising Danish PhD students and not least students from abroad.
Degree programmes
The University of Aarhus is known for its excellent student environment, and we must make sure that students continue to consider the university a challenging and inspiring place in which to study and spend their time. In 2005, the student and career guidance facility at the University of Aarhus was the focus of attention. In the coming years, the university will become even better at providing optimum guidance for students, whether relating to their actual studies or the labour market situation that awaits them.
The University of Aarhus endeavours to be among the leaders in the Bologna process – i.e. the development and implementation of international initiatives to further mobility, transparency, acknowledgement and flexibility in the education system. A number of goals have been defined that should be reached before 2010.
Interaction with the outside world
Once more in 2005, staff at the University of Aarhus participated in a considerable number of projects as members of international and national committees, commissions, etc., and the university’s participation in different collaboration forums also contributed to the development of the knowledge society. The Alexandra Institute at the Katrinebjerg IT Town is an example for others to follow: researchers from the public sector, private companies and other organisations work closely together here on mutually inspiring and challenging subjects.
Amalgamation with HIBAT
The year 2005 was dominated by ideas of an amalgamation within the university and research world. The university’s strategic goal for 2005 was to extend its collaboration with both regional and national research and education institutions. It was therefore decided to amalgamate the Herning Institute of Business Administration and Technology (HIBAT) with the University of Aarhus. This amalgamation aims to combine HIBAT’s extensive experience with innovation in small companies with the high level of research competence found at the University of Aarhus. We expect that this amalgamation will develop and strengthen cooperation between the university and the business community. In the future restructuring of the Danish regions, the university will be represented in the western part of Central Jutland, and this will ensure that education programmes offered in this part of Denmark will also become more involved in research.
We are currently endeavouring to ensure that, in 2006, we will benefit from the plans of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Development for mergers between Danish universities and state research institutions.
Students read and prepare for their exams, play sport or simply enjoy eachother’s company in the University Park.