News from the Rector's Office no. 36
Universities to receive increased basic funding
A political settlement on the administration of globalization funds for 2011 has resulted in a DKK 400 million increase in basic funding to Danish universities. DKK 100 million will be allocated in the form of matching funds. Individual universities will be awarded funding in proportion to the amount of private funding they attract. The Rector's Office views the decision to award the universities DKK 300 million in additional basic funding as a declaration of trust on the part of the government.
DKK 28 million have also been allocated to doctoral projects on the development of the Danish primary school system. These funds will be distributed via Aarhus University, where a special committee will award PhD stipends to the universities and university colleges which apply for them.
Fruitful central management group meeting
The Rector's Office, the current deans, the director general of NERI and the deans of the new main academic areas held a positive and constructive meeting on 27 October at Sandbjerg Manor. A consensus regarding the progress of the process and the nature of the challenges the process faces was reached.
As of Monday 1 November, the university's new deans, Mette Thunø, Svend Hylleberg, Brian Bech Nielsen og Allan Flyvbjerg, will assume responsibility for the academic development process in their respective main academic areas. The deans' term of service in their new positions officially commence on the same date. Continuing the academic development process will be among their first responsibilities.
The current deans will retain responsibility for the day-to-day management of their respective main academic areas until the end of the year.
Staff meeting on the big screen
The staff meeting on 9 November at 2.30pm in the Main Hall will be shown on big screen TVs at the following locations:
- DJF in Årslev, Flakkebjerg og Foulum
- DMU in Roskilde, Silkeborg og Kalø
- DPU in Emdrup
- AU-HiH
The deans of the new main academic areas will be introduced at the meeting, and Rector Holm-Nielsen will review the progress of the academic development process thus far.
After the meeting, light refreshments will be served at the Museum of Ancient Art on the Aarhus campus as well as in connection with the screenings at the locations listed above.
Main academic areas establish local web pages on the academic development process
A web page with local news about the process has been created for each new main academic area. Staff, students and others with an interest in the process will find up-to-date, detailed information on progress in each main academic area.
The central website on the academic development process, www.au.dk/fk will continue to publish information on the administrative and interfaculty tracks of the process. Links to the latest news from the main academic areas will also be available.
Successful NASA-AU press conference
The Department of Physics and Astronomy at Aarhus University and NASA held a joint press conference early last week which generated considerable publicity in Danish and international media. Both TV2 and Danmarks Radio covered the press conference, and Viden Om ('Knowledge About') on DR2 devoted a programme to the research results presented at the press conference. Read examples of foreign media coverage:
- United States: ScienceDaily
- China: Xinhua News Media
- India: India Strikes
At the press conference, the latest research results based on the analysis of data from the Kepler satellite were presented to journalists live on the the internet. Afterwards, they were given an opportunity to ask the international researcher group questions about their work.
- The full press conference is available here
ASB on the Financial Times ranking
The Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University, is now represented on the Financial Times Masters in Management 2010 ranking, a prestigious ranking of international Master's degree programmes at business schools all over the world.
The MSc programme in finance and international business achieved a ranking of number 51, a position which is the result of focussed effort on the part of ASB.
- Read the university's press release (in Danish only)
'Århus' to become 'Aarhus' (again)
Aarhus University applauds the Århus city council's decision to change the city's name to 'Aarhus' as of 2011. The spelling of the city's name was changed from 'Aarhus' to 'Århus' 62 years ago. This decision will help Denmark's second largest city market itself internationally, in addition to symbolically linking the city's past with its future as a participant in a globalised world culture and economy.
The double 'a' spelling will also make the relationship between the city and the many businesses and institutions (the university included) which include it in their names clearer for non-Danes, most of whom are not familiar with the letter 'å'. The letter 'å' replaced the letter 'aa' in 1948 as part of a general reform of Danish orthography.
Rumours about closure of Research Centre Årslev
A number of media, first among them the newspaper Fyns Stiftstidende, have recently speculated that the university is planning to shut down Research Centre Årslev.
These rumours are untrue, as Dean Just Jensen has made clear in a letter to the editor of Fyns Stiftstidende (in Danish only).
Danish researchers among the world's best
The Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation's 'Research Barometer 2010' ranks Danish researchers among the world's elite. The barometer has a particular focus on how often Danish researchers' results are cited by other researchers internationally. Denmark ranks third among 34 OECD countries, far head of countries such as the United States.
The barometer gives highest priority to natural sciences and health sciences research, and it evaluates success in attracting foreign funding for Danish research projects.
For example, the largest American medical research centre, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) granted USD 1.4 million to Danish researchers in 2009 alone. AU researchers who have received NIH grants include Dr Susanne Keiding (Aarhus University Hospital), who works on diseases of the liver, and Dr Sjurdur Olsen, who works on the long-term health effects on children of fish oil consumption by their mothers during pregnancy.
Calendar
- 1 November: Meeting of University Board
- 4 November: Danish University Extension 'researcher battle' (forskerfight)
- 8 October: University management meeting
- 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
- 6 December: University management meeting
- 15 December: Meeting of University Board
Kind regards
The Rector’s Office
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/.