McKinsey falls short

The Vice-Chancellor’s Office gives its backing to the criticism made by Universities Denmark regarding the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation’s McKinsey report. The aim was to study how the low taximeter subsidies for university degree programmes in the humanities and social sciences affect the quality of the teaching provided, and to analyse how the considerable amount allocated to research – subject to councils, foundations and application procedures – affects the overall research effort of the universities. Instead of this, McKinsey & Company delivered an analysis of the universities’ finances that reveals a lack of understanding of the universities’ structure and operational conditions.

In its efforts to show administrative expenses, McKinsey investigated faculties in different subject areas at different universities, after which these were compared reciprocally using a simple average. There is no sense in comparing expenses for equipment or laboratory technician assistance at the Faculty of Science at AU with the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Copenhagen, for example – or the size of classes in Law and Portuguese. There is a reason for dividing universities into different faculties with a wide spread of subjects. The fact that the report also classifies student guidance, marketing, regulatory requirements, accreditation, e-learning, and similar areas as administration seems almost tendentious, and the attempt to draw parallels to administrative percentages in a nameless segment of industrial companies gives a misleading picture. This is simply because full-time equivalents are compared and not expenses, i.e. the report does not take into consideration the difference in salary levels in the two sectors and the special obligations that a university has.

However, there is one single conclusion where the Vice-Chancellor’s Office agrees entirely with McKinsey: the Danish university degree programmes are underfinanced, and there are students who either have too few lessons or spend most of their lessons in very large classes. This was proved in AU’s thorough survey of the study environment (2007). However, as the Danish Parliament’s assignment included an analysis of the effects of the taximeter subsidies, why did the report fail to investigate the impact of the low taximeter subsidies on the quality of education? And why was not one single student interviewed in the whole survey when the aim was to evaluate their benefit? It would have been appropriate for the survey to include these factors – considering that AU offered McKinsey full access to the data basis for the survey of the study environment (2007), which included approximately 8,000 responses!

It is a poor result, considering that the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation paid for an expensive and resource-demanding survey.

The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation has now submitted the McKinsey report to hearings at the universities.

Read more (in Danish only) at http://www.vtu.dk and http://www.dkuni.dk

Internationalisation

On Monday 22 June, the university management adopted an internationalisation strategy for AU. The strategy sets goals for the international work up to 2013, and describes the main focus areas in the coming years. The international involvement will be academically based at the nine main academic areas, but the joint administrative AU will increase the impact and ensure that the resources are used optimally. The perspective is to gather and upgrade consultancy and practical support for incoming and outgoing researchers and students. At the same time, the university will build up a capacity to support innovative partnerships, make Aarhus University prominent abroad, and assist by organising summer schools and major international events. Aarhus University will endeavour to develop close collaboration with public authorities and central players in the local community. The aim is to create the best possible framework for receiving international students and foreign researchers, as well as integrating them and their families in the local environment.

Read the entire strategy (in Danish only) at http://www.au.dk/da/uni/rektorat/nyhedsbrev/2009/24/internationaliseringsstrategi

Annual celebration 2009

Aarhus University is holding its annual celebration on 11 September. During the afternoon, the day will be celebrated with speeches, research lectures, musical entertainment and prize-givings in the Main Hall. At virtually the same time, the students will once more hold “Denmark’s largest Friday bar” in the University Park, featuring bars with special themes, events and concerts.

The evening celebration in the Concert Hall Aarhus consists of an exciting programme featuring Bob Dylan’s music interpreted and performed by Steffen Brandt, Thomas Helmig, Caroline Henderson, Claus Hempler, Peter Lodahl, Poul Krebs and Camille Jones. Once again this year, the conductors will be Peter Vuust and Per Frost, while Mikael Bertelsen from DR2 will run the show. Following the entertainment, all guests are invited to a buffet.
This year, all employees can register for the evening celebration on a first come, first served basis, which means the first to sign up get a place in the Main Hall, where there is room for more than 1600 guests, and the rest get a place in the Symphonic Hall, with room for approximately 850. The entertainment in the Main Hall will be transmitted to the Symphonic Hall.

Invitations will be sent during the week beginning 3 August, stating the opening time for online bookings.

A new feature this year is that the main academic areas are celebrating their 25th, 40th, 50th and 60th anniversaries with special events at the individual main academic areas. Some of them have already celebrated their jubilarians. Jubilarians celebrating their 50th and 60th anniversaries will also be invited to the annual celebration on 11 September.

Read more about the annual celebration (in Danish only) at http://www.au.dk/da/uni/rektorat/nyhedsbrev/2009/24/aarsfest

Amendment to the statutes

On 15 June, the University Board appointed a working group to consider the need for an amendment to Aarhus University’s statutes, in the light of the experience gained by the university since the 2007 amendment to the statutes and the recommendations and assessments resulting from the evaluation of the university sector. The working group consists of Board members Jens Bigum, Erik Strange Petersen, Erik Højsholt and Mikael Bomholt Nielsen, and – as a special expert – Professor Jørgen Grønnegaard Christensen, Department of Political Science.

New EU working group

On 22 June, the university management decided to appoint an EU working group under the Research Committee. The Research Committee would like to establish a forum for exchanging knowledge about research funds from the EU and discussions about possible initiatives aimed at improving the success rate of EU applications from the university. John Westensee, Head of the Research Support Office, will chair the EU working group.

Calendar

25 August:The international evaluation panel appointed by the Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation visits Aarhus University to follow up on the evaluation report previously submitted by the university in April and May.

11 September: Annual celebration


Kind regards
The Vice-Chancellor’s Office
23 June 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 .