No. 1, 6 November 2007

Rectorate News

The new rectorate is in place and we put great emphasis on openness. The rectorate holds a meeting every Monday morning – apart from holidays and public holidays – and the Rectorate News will be published every Tuesday from now on. This will include a brief description of current activities and discussions.

UNIK

The deans/directors have been sent a timetable for preparing applications to UNIK (Investment Capital for University Research). The universities can send 31 applications altogether, five of which are from the University of Aarhus. Applications must be received by the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation no later than 20 March 2008. Funds amounting to DKK480 million (approximately EUR 64 million) have been allocated, and more information is available from the deans or at http://fi.dk/site/english/apply-for-funding/calls/2007/unik-call-for-proposals.

Board meeting on Thursday

The agenda (in Danish only) is available at http://www.au.dk/da/bestyrelse. Discussions include strategy and the development contract. As regards the strategy, the focus is on describing the particular ambitions of the University of Aarhus in the years ahead, using the Magna Charta of European Universities (Bologna 1988) as a starting point. We are a university – not a production company. Many people have been involved along the way, and once the University Board’s deliberations and any proposals for improvement have been incorporated, the strategy will be submitted to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation for approval.

Budget process

We are at work on the budgeting. The main academic areas have held individual meetings with the rectorate. At present, it is difficult to get the ends to meet, partly because the ministry has not yet completely announced the funds that will form the basis for growth at the universities in the coming years. However, the rectorate firmly believes that such growth will come, and that it will be reflected in the budget for 2008. Finally, we are working on the financing of investments in connection with the merger.

Sponsor policy

A sponsor policy has been drawn up for the University of Aarhus. This will be made available on our web site this week. The main elements are that there must never be any doubt regarding the University of Aarhus being the organiser/sender – and that the University of Aarhus has the responsibility and competence to determine the programme/contents, etc.

University Association and Friends of the University

At a meeting on Monday, the Aarhus University Association discussed how the future should look. There was a consensus to draw up a proposal to combine the Aarhus University Association with the Friends of the University of Aarhus in “Friends of the University of Aarhus of 2007”. The association has a long tradition for establishing productive relations between the university and the community, and this is what we will build further on in the “new” university and university association.

2,000 upper secondary school pupils get practical training at the University of Aarhus

Last week, we had 2,000 trainees signed up for a 3-day course at the university. Feedback has been very positive and events of this type are invaluable for the university. We would like to thank all those involved in planning and carrying out the event.