Unique opportunity to meet the president of Ireland

President of Ireland Mary MacAleese will hold a public lecture entitled Small States in the New World Order at Aarhus University in connection with a three-day visit to Denmark. President MacAleese is originally from Northern Ireland and is currently serving her second term as president.

After the lecture, the audience will have an opportunity to ask questions. This event is a unique opportunity for students, staff, and the general public to engage in dialogue with the Irish president. This is the only public talk President McAleese will be giving during her visit to Denmark.

The lecture will take place on 12 October at 4 pm in the Lakeside Lecture Theatres on the University Park campus in Aarhus.

• Read more about the President's visit

Administrative expenses at Aarhus University

Aarhus University finds the figures related to the size of the university's administration published online by Forskerforum ('Researcher forum') on 7 October inaccurate and misleading.

While it is correct that administrative costs have increased during the period in question, according to the university's own calculations, the actual increase has been much smaller than Forskerforum claims.

• Read the university's press release (in Danish only)

Update on the academic development process and presentation of new deans

The university's senior management group will hold two open meetings for students and staff members in November. At these meetings, Rector Holm-Nielsen will present an update on the status of the academic development process and present the new deans. There will also be ample opportunity to engage the university's new senior management group in dialogue.   

The first meeting is for university employees, and will take place on 9 November at 2.30 pm. The meeting will be streamed live from the Main Hall. If desired, public screenings will be held at AU university campuses outside of Aarhus.  After the meeting, staff members are invited to join the university's senior management group at the Museum of Ancient Art (Antikmuseet) for light refreshments. Refreshments will also be served after the public screenings.

On 15 November, a similar meeting for university students will be held from 12 noon to 1.30 pm. The meeting will take place in meeting room 2 at the Conference Centre on Frederik Nielsens Vej in Aarhus. Students will have an opportunity to discuss the Aarhus University of the future with the Rector's Office and the four newly appointed deans. The meeting will be held in cooperation wit the Aarhus University Student Council. Refreshments will be served after the meeting.

Nine constructive staff meetings

The Rector's Office held staff meetings at each of Aarhus University's nine academic areas in September.

At these meetings, employees were informed about the progress of the academic development process. The process is currently in the hands of the four academic analysis groups. At the same time, a number of interfaculty working groups are examining such issues as the future structure of the academic councils and the boards of studies.

Naturally, the discussions which took place at the individual meetings were coloured by the specific situations and concerns of each main academic area.  One common theme was the difficulty of balancing efforts to strengthen classical core disciplines while at the same time encouraging these disciplines to collaborate in new and innovative ways.  Participants emphasised the importance of basing decisions on academic and administrative structural changes on thorough analysis and discussion and the contributions of the various working groups and analysis groups.

Another major theme was the situation of employees in connection with the implementation of the structural changes to come.  Rector Holm-Nielsen emphasised that the process is not about cutbacks; on the contrary, it is intended to strengthen the university in order to accommodate anticipated future growth. The rector encouraged employees to consult the personnel policy statement which was issued before the meetings.

• View slides and read reports from the staff meetings (in Danish only)

First project documents from the administrative working groups

The first five of the seven academic development process administrative working groups have completed their PIDs (project initiation documents),which will provide a framework for their work. The documents contain schedules and preliminary descriptions of the analytical foundation for the groups' work. The working groups are set to deliver their final proposals on 10 December.

• Read the working groups' PIDs here (in Danish only)

Working group to strengthen educational IT

In the future, Aarhus University will be increasing its e-learning activities. A working group has therefore been established by the university management group to analyse needs and opportunities in the area of IT-based learning and teaching activities. The group, which consists of representatives from all four of the new main academic areas, will present its recommendations on how to strengthen educational IT at Aarhus University before the end of the year.  The final proposal will include a strategy for such areas as purchasing of services and competence development.

• The mandate of the working group (in Danish only)

Lively debate with the minister for gender equality

Minister for Gender Equality Lykke Friis guested Aarhus University on Monday 4 October. Her visit was the occasion of a debate on the need for equality and the barriers to achieving it.

The minister announced that she intends to call all of the rectors of the country's universities to a 'knowledge sharing meeting' on university gender equality initiatives.

• Read report from the gender equality debate (Danish only)

Guest researcher fellowships at Stanford and Berkeley

The Ministry of Science has concluded agreements with the H-STAR centre at Stanford University and the CITRIS centre at UC Berkeley.  The agreements will enable up to twenty Danish researchers to work as as guest researchers at the centres.   

H-STAR is an interdisciplinary research centre which focusses on IT, design and user-driven innovation, while CITRIS carries out research on IT in society as well as energy and climate-related issues.

The deadline for applications is 15 November. Read more on the Ministry of Science homepage

Commission on Climate Change Policy recommendations on research

The Danish Climate Commission's forty recommendations to help Denmark phase out fossil fuels by 2050 include three research-related recommendations.  The commission's report recommends that climate and energy-related research funding grants should be long-term, covering a period of at least five to ten years. In addition, the commission recommends that research programmes should develop joint strategies and that the performance testing phase should be retained, as it is particularly important to the success of energy-related research projects.

Professor Jørgen E. Olesen of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Aarhus University, is a member of the commission.

The report was published on 28 September 2010.

• Read the report here (in Danish only)

Calendar

• 12 October: Public lecture by President of Ireland Mary McAleese in the Lakeside Lecture Theatres
• 13 October: University management meeting
• 27-28 October: Management seminar for current deans and coming university management group
• 1 November: Meeting of University Board
• 4 November:  Danish University Extension 'researcher battle' (forskerfight)
• 9 November: Employee meeting: update on the academic development process and presentation of new deans
• 15 November: Student meeting: update on the academic development process and presentation of new deans

Kind regards,

The Rector's Office,

11 October 2010

The Rector’s Office publishes a newsletter every week. This newsletter includes a brief description of current activities and discussions. You can sign up for the Danish version of the newsletter at http://info.au.dk/medarbbreve, after which you will receive an e-mail whenever the newsletter is issued.

If you would like to subscribe to the English version of News from the Rector’s Office, please go to http://info.au.dk/medarbbreve/index.asp?sprog=en. The English version of News from the Rector’s Office is available at http://www.au.dk/en/uni/rectorate/newsletter. You can read previous editions of News from the Rector’s Office at http://www.au.dk/en/about/uni/rektorat/newsletter/2010/.