No. 41, 2 December 2008

Board meeting

The University Board is holding its meeting on 18 December 2008. The budget for 2009 will be dealt with under the point about the university’s financing. Staff members will be informed about the budget later the same day when the rector holds his Christmas speech. Read the invitation to the Christmas event (in Danish only). The Board will also discuss a presentation regarding a policy for quality work in the area of education. This subject was previously mentioned in the newsletter of 18 November. The agenda for the Board meeting will shortly be available (in Danish only) at www.au.dk/da/bestyrelse.

Election of student representatives to the Board

Contested elections have been held for the two student places on the University Board, with more than 100 candidates nominated. Once more, victory went to the “Student Council’s Top Candidates” list. Christian Jølck, currently studying for a Master in Finance and International Business at ASB, was re-elected, while Michael Bomholt Nielsen, a Political Science student, will be sitting at the Board table for the first time. The two students have been elected for one year and will commence on 1 February 2009. Voter turnout was 15.9% this year, an increase of approximately 1% compared with last year.
Read more about the elections to the Board, Academy Councils and Boards of Studies at: www.au.dk/election

Recruitment and marketing

Discussions were held at the meeting of the deans on 1 December 2008 regarding AU’s future plans – cutting across all areas – for strengthening the recruitment of students and marketing degree programmes. At the same time, the specific initiatives taken by the main academic areas will continue and be coordinated. A decision was made that the rector should appoint a working group to draw up a proposal for a yearly plan for recruitment activities and one for a marketing strategy. The presentations will be discussed in the relevant forums, where decisions will be made.

The Study Committee to hold meeting with a special theme

On 9 December 2008, the Study Committee will take a closer look at the results of the study environment survey. Associate Professor Torben K. Jensen, Centre Director, PhD, will give a presentation about measures AU can take to ensure and develop the way in which students experience academic integration. Svend Dyrholm, member of the Student Council at Aarhus University, will also give a presentation about the students’ allocation of time during their studies. To round off, Head of Department Eva Teilmann will talk about the results and experience from the year’s KOT round (Coordinated Enrolment System).

New positive ranking

AU has done well in the latest ranking from the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University, the Netherlands, where the universities’ research publications and citations are calculated.
AU’s CPP score (citations per publication) increased from 7.41 to 8.25 between 2007 and 2008. In the Leiden Ranking’s so-called green list, which checks the different publication and citation practices in the academic fields, AU moves up five places from no. 38 to no. 33 among the 100 most published European universities.

The University of Southern Denmark and the Technical University of Denmark achieve very good placings in the Leiden Ranking, which emphasises the fact that Danish research has international impact.

All the results are available at www.cwts.nl/ranking/LeidenRankingWebSite.html

Kind regards
The Rectorate
2 December 2008

The rectorate publishes Rectorate News every Tuesday – apart from holidays and public holidays. 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 Rectorate News, please go to http://info.au.dk/medarbbreve/index.asp?sprog=en. The English version of Rectorate News is published every Wednesday and is available at http://www.au.dk/en/uni/rectorate/newsletter.

You can read previous editions of Rectorate News at http://www.au.dk/en/uni/rectorate/newsletter/2008 .