No. 20, 26 May

Satisfied staff at Aarhus University

We should be very pleased with the results of the extremely extensive survey of the psychological workplace environment, which is now available on our website. More than 5,000 members of staff (77%) contributed to this major investigation.

The survey shows that the psychological workplace environment is generally good at Aarhus University – the staff are satisfied, committed and good at cooperating.More than 70% thus replied that they – to a great or very great extent – feel comfortable with their work, experience job satisfaction, and are generally pleased with their work. Only 3–4% answered that they feel comfortable to a minor or very minor extent. Overall, this is a really good result for the staff at Aarhus University. This workplace assessment (APV), which is probably Denmark’s most thorough survey of the psychological workplace environment, provides us with a good tool for further work on creating an even better workplace environment at the university.

Altogether, Aarhus University has a low rate of harassment, bullying, and other such factors. The survey shows considerable variation, and there are certain places where action must be taken regarding the factors mentioned above. The management has a clear attitude to zero tolerance at Aarhus University, regardless of how well we rate compared with the average for Denmark.

The survey shows that Aarhus University has a valuable “job satisfaction resource” at its disposal, in the form of very committed members of staff, who work very hard – 25% of them so much that it affects their private lives. And according to the survey, 10% of them state that they experience symptoms of stress.

This is one of the major challenges as far as the workplace environment at Aarhus University is concerned. Stress and an undesirable impact on the staff’s private lives are unacceptable. The survey clearly shows that we must work with the management and especially a visible management that can take these work-related problems into account.

The ongoing work with the workplace environment will now take place in the main academic areas, but the Vice-Chancellor’s Office is naturally prepared to provide back-up wherever there is a need or request for it. Work with implementing the HR Track http://www.au.dk/en/changeprocess/hr will take off during the summer with the appointment of Louise Gade, Deputy Director for Human Resources.

Read more (in Danish only) at www.arbejdsmiljo.au.dk

(The Danish School of Education (DPU) has just initiated an assessment of the psychological workplace environment (APV). The report will be published as soon as it is completed)

Desire for greater degrees of freedom

On Monday 25 May, Aarhus University submitted its final contribution to the evaluation of the university sector http://www.au.dk/en/uni/university_evaluation – the theme regarding degrees of freedom.

The freedom and independence of the university are crucial prerequisites for it to be able to meet its obligations to society. Taken in isolation, the University Act cannot provide an accurate reflection of the nature of the distribution of power between the university and society, as the University Act is a so-called framework act or enabling act which to a considerable degree grants the minister authority to lay down the specific regulations governing a particular area. Thus, the Act vests the minister with forty-eight distinct powers. The actual distribution of authority is, therefore, in practice determined by how the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation executes the many powers granted the minister by the Act in the form of concrete ministerial orders and other regulative provisions.

This tendency towards increased bureaucracy and supervision is incompatible with the time-honoured Danish tradition for decentralised management and mutual trust characteristic of both the private and the public sector.

Aarhus University’s viewpoints regarding degrees of freedom are available in their entirety here: www.au.dk/da/uni/universitetsevaluering2009/frihedsgrader

New organisation and management structure for joint administration

To streamline the joint administration’s organisation and management structure, the Vice-Chancellor’s Office has decided on the following organisation of the area:

These departments refer directly to the Vice-Chancellor’s Office:

• Vice-Chancellor’s Staff (Head of the Vice-Chancellor’s Staff Kirsten Jensen)
• Senate Department (Deputy Director Ole Olsen)
• Finances and Planning (Deputy Director Søren Trangbæk)
• HR (Deputy Director Louise Gade)
• Communication (Deputy Director Mads Hvitved Grand)
• University Studies Office (Head of Department Eva Teilmann)
• IT (Deputy Director Flemming Bøge)

Head of Press Affairs Anders Correll is attached to the Vice-Chancellor’s Office on an equal footing with the Vice-Chancellor’s Staff.

The Technology Transfer Office and the Aarhus Entrepreneurship Centre headed by Centre Director Flemming Fink refer directly to the Vice-Chancellor’s Office on an equal footing with the line organisation. For the present, there is also a direct relationship between the Vice-Chancellor’s Office and the Research Support Office, headed by John Westensee.

Kind regards
The Vice-Chancellor’s Office
26 May 2009

The Vice-Chancellor’s Office publishes News from the Vice-Chancellor’s Office 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 News from the Vice-Chancellor’s Office, please go to http://info.au.dk/medarbbreve/index.asp?sprog=en. The English version of News from the Vice-Chancellor’s Office is published every Wednesday and is available at http://www.au.dk/en/uni/rectorate/newsletter.

You can read previous editions of News from the Vice-Chancellor’s Office at http://www.au.dk/en/uni/rectorate/newsletter/2009.