Reception for Nina Smith

On 31 July, Nina Smith resigned from her position as Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs to take up an appointment as Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Aarhus University.

An informal reception will be held to mark the occasion on Monday 10 August at12.00–13.30 in the Richard Mortensen Room, Student House, Building 1422, Aarhus.

Invitation to the university’s annual celebration

It gives the Vice-Chancellor’s Office great pleasure to hereby invite Aarhus University employees to attend the annual celebration on Friday 11 September 2009. Download the invitation to the annual celebration as a PDF file (0.5 MB) http://www.au.dk/en/news/events/2009/230609/invitation_uk.pdf

The annual event will be celebrated with a number of activities during the course of the day:

• Ceremony in the Main Hall (for invited guests only due to limited seating)
• Festive event for students in the University Park
• Evening celebration in the Concert Hall Aarhus

From 10 August at 09.00 , all members of staff can enrol for the evening celebration in the Concert Hall on a first come, first served basis. Enrolments via the Kongreskompagniet (Congress Company) at http://www.kongreskompagniet.dk/au2009-c no later than 20 August .

The first to sign up get a place in the Main Hall, and thereafter the Symphonic Hall. The entertainment in the Main Hall will be transmitted to the Symphonic Hall. There will be more places available to staff this year because the 25th jubilarians will be celebrated at the main academic areas and will thus not be taking part in the evening event.

Please note that separate invitations will be sent to the university management, heads of departments, centre directors, directors of studies, members of academy councils, and union representatives.

Record intake in sight

To date,4,800 applicants have accepted their offer of enrolment at Aarhus University, while only about 100 have declined.The University Studies Office is still waiting to hear from approximately 700 applicants. At the same time, the second round of applications is well under way, and many applicants have shown an interest in the vacant places available at Aarhus University.
This means that Aarhus University is heading towards a record intake.

Virtually everybody enrolled in their study programme via the university’s self-service function at mit.au.dk. The first students had been in to have a look just after midnight on 30 July, and the lucky ones were able to confirm their study place.By 01.00, 777 students had accepted their study place and by 07.00, this figure had risen to 1,000.

The huge intake is a very positive sign for both the university and the city of Aarhus. We should be pleased that Aarhus University is such an attractive place at which to study, and the Vice-Chancellor’s Office has no doubt that Aarhus as a university city with its intimate study environment also attracts many new students.The final admission figures for the Bachelor’s degree programmes will first be available by October, when the figures for admission to the Master’s degree programmes will also be ready. Aarhus University expects to admit approximately 750 new Master’s students to the Danish School of Education alone. Altogether, Aarhus University expects to admit about 6,500 new students in 2009.
Read the media release at http://www.au.dk/en/news/archive/2009/290709

New agreement about allocation of basic funds

The Danish Government, the Social Democrats, the Danish People’s Party and the Danish Social-Liberal Party have agreed on a new model for allocating basic funds to the universities. The parties thus agree with the presentation submitted by Universities Denmark in April. The new model is a modification of the 50-40-10 model [(education grant) – (external research financing) – (graduate PhDs)]. The change consists of adding the bibliometric research indicator, shown here in brackets:
- In 2010:45-35-(10)-10
- In 2011:45-30-(15)-10
- In 2012:45-20-(25)-10

The Vice-Chancellor’s Office is very satisfied with the new basis of allocation, and now looks forward to completing work on the bibliometric research indicator.In this regard, the Vice-Chancellor’s Office expects a model that is both clear and logical for researchers and other users.According to the Government and the parties to the conciliation agreement, the bibliometric research indicator is based on the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation’s count of research publications.This count is made on the basis of reports from the academic groups and the level of classification of peer-reviewed research publications.When doubt arises, the level of classification of the research publications is approved by a specially appointed academic committee.The lists of journals and publishers must be updated on an ongoing basis.

The agreement also requires that books published in Denmark and abroad are subject to the same terms and conditions in connection with the allocation of levels.The parties also agree that the model should be evaluated after three years.

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

Letting rooms to students from abroad

Every year,Aarhus University helps foreign students to find accommodation in Aarhus.On an annual basis, the university houses approximately850 foreign students, about650 of whom are exchange students with guaranteed accommodation.Most of the students from abroad are provided with a room in a hall of residence, but when insufficient numbers are available, the university tries to find rooms via private landlords.

The price for letting a room is determined by the landlords themselves.The amount Aarhus University charges the foreign students is exactly the same as the amount the university pays the private landlords. However, the university is not covered for its administrative costs, etc.

Six foreign students and the Student Council’s legal aid service have been advised by the Rent Control Board that the DKK 3,200 they have paid in rent is too much.The university has decided to take this decision to the Housing Court because the price determined by the Rent Control Board – DKK 1,500–1,800 (including consumption) per room per month – is so low that it can make it particularly difficult for the university to find suitable rooms.

Aarhus University would preferably like to build an international hall of residence, as this would provide the best possible framework for the students from abroad. However, the current University Act prohibits this. Read the report (in Danish only) at http://www.au.dk/da/nyheder/presse/2009/220709

Kind regards

The Vice-Chancellor’s Office
5 August 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 .