Modified hiring freeze at Aarhus University

On 27 January 2007, a modified hiring freeze for technical/administrative staff positions at Aarhus University will come into effect. The hiring freeze will promote internal placement of university employees who lose their positions. This policy means that no technical/administrative positions will be filled, with the exception of specialist positions, short-term project positions ending before 1 September 2010 (with the possibility of extension), as well as extensions of existing employment contracts.

In addition to the hiring freeze, it has also been decided that all positions at Aarhus University are to be advertised internally, and that all Aarhus University employees who apply for a new position at the university after being laid off have a right to a job interview. The hiring freeze will remain in effect until 1 May 2010 and will be re-evaluated on a regular basis.

To respond to the personnel adjustments currently taking place in connection with the 2010 budget, there is a need for a more general policy in this area. The modified hiring freeze is being introduced as a temporary measure until a university-wide personnel policy is adopted.

The Global Dialogue Prize: the Rector’s Office not 'chief referee'

On Wednesday 27 January, Aarhus University participated in the Global Dialogue Prize award ceremony together with Grundfos, VisitÅrhus, the Municipality of Århus and Central Denmark Region. The award has been the subject of lively debate in the media, not least concerning the university’s role.

While Aarhus University supports the Global Dialogue Prize, the university has at no point influenced the decisions of the awards committee. The academic prize committee has had sole responsibility for the selection process. Aarhus University would rather forego the prize altogether than function as 'chief referee' for the academic prize committee. As one of the signers of the Magna Charta of the European universities, Aarhus University respects academic freedom. In the words of the charter, “a university is the trustee of the European humanist tradition; its constant care is to attain universal knowledge; to fulfil its vocation it transcends geographical and political frontiers, and affirms the vital need for different cultures to know and influence each other.” (read the entire Magna Charta in the Aarhus University Strategy, p. 42)

As a humanistic award bestowed on candidates who have contributed work of extraordinary value within the field of intercultural dialogue, the Global Dialogue prize is a clear expression of the values and goals expressed in Magna Charta.

The Iranian philosopher Dr Dariush Shayegan was selected as the first recipient of the prize.

Final phase of change process begun

The administrative change process has now entered its final phase: implementation. The Rector’s Office and university management have decided that responsibility for the implementation of new administrative systems and work routines are to be transferred from the steering committee to 'ordinary' operations. In practice, this means that responsibility for implementation will now pass to the Deputy Directors of Information Technology, Communication, Studies Administration, Human Resources, and Finance and Planning, along with the other members of the central administration’s senior management group (FALK) . Naturally, the implementation process and the further development of administrative routines and systems will occur in close collaboration with the administration managers of the main academic areas.

University management has also accepted the new division of labour between the central administration and the local administration of the main academic areas resulting from the change process (in the areas of IT, finance, studies administration, HR and building maintenance and operations).  The steering committee will continue to function as a monitoring group under the direction of University Director Jørgen Jørgensen, and will provide follow-up on the projects and consider possible new initiatives.

Over three hundred staff members have participated in the projects. They have demonstrated extraordinary engagement in the administrative change process, putting in an enormous amount of work on top of their daily responsibilities and functions. The Rector’s Office is deeply grateful to these participants for their efforts. As a result, Aarhus University’s administration has become more professional. It is therefore expected that the university will be able to handle coming years’ growth in research and teaching activities without experiencing proportionate growth in administrative costs.

Read more about the process in the latest change process newsletter (in Danish only).

Coming relaunch of university newspaper CAMPUS

The next edition of the university newspaper will not be available until 1 March. Publication is delayed while the paper’s editors work on a relaunch of CAMPUS which is intended to make the paper even more relevant for all university staff members and students.

The first edition of CAMPUS was issued in 2004. The university has seen significant development and marked growth since then. ”The inspiration for the paper's name is the unique campus environment which forms the physical framework for life at Aarhus University," read the front page of CAMPUS No.1. CAMPUS is thus no longer an appropriate title for the Aarhus University of today. A significant aspect of the relaunch is finding the perfect name for Aarhus University's new newspaper.

Read more about the relaunch and participate in the naming competition (in Danish only).

Calendar

• 11 February: Meetings between Faculty of Humanities department heads and centre directors and between Faculty of Health Sciences department heads and centre directors in connection with the academic development process
• 12 February: Meetings between Faculty of Social Sciences department heads and centre directors and between Faculty of Science department heads and centre directors in connection with the academic development process
• 22 February: Open Access - make your research visible. Public lecture by Dr Alma Swan. See invitation with information about time and place 
• 22 February: University management meeting
• 1 March Aarhus University Board meeting
• 3-4 March: University management seminar at Sandbjerg
• 4-5 March: The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation’s annual Dialogue Forum (Dialogforum) in Fredericia

Kind regards

The Rector’s Office

3 February 2010

Hvis du ønsker at tilmelde dig en engelske version af rektoratets nyhedsbrev, kan du gøre det på adressen: http://info.au.dk/medarbbreve/index.asp?sprog=en. Den engelske version af rektoratets nyhedsbrev kan læses på adressen: http://www.au.dk/en/uni/rectorate/newsletter.

På adressen www.au.dk/da/uni/rektorat/nyhedsbrev/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.