News from the Vice-Chancellor’s Office
No. 35, 8 October

Aarhus University no. 63 in the world

For the third year in a row, Aarhus University has experienced notable success in the much referred to THE–QS World University Rankings, published by Times Higher Education in the UK. Aarhus University was number 126 in 2006, number 114 in 2007 and number 81 in 2008, a placing that really caused a stir in the international world of research. This is now followed up by yet another considerable leap up the ranking list to number 63.

With its new placing, Aarhus University is not only the next-highest ranked university in the Nordic countries, but also has the 20th-best ranking in Europe. With its placing as number 51, the University of Copenhagen is the highest-ranked university in the Nordic countries. In Sweden, Lund University and Uppsala University are respectively numbers 67 and 75 on the list, which – true to tradition – is topped by Harvard University, followed by Cambridge, Yale and University College London.

The Vice-Chancellor’s Office is pleased that Denmark has two universities in the absolute top class – the University of Copenhagen and Aarhus University. This means that Denmark has an immensely strong position in the international research and education market.

The Vice-Chancellor’s Office emphasises that Aarhus University will not be dictated to by ranking lists and the criteria used, but that the ranking lists have great significance nowadays when students and researchers have to choose another country in which to continue their careers.

Aarhus University is one of the youngest universities in the top 100, and one of the universities that has made the most progress up the ranking list in recent years. As shown in the table below, all fields of research have impressive placings. The new field of engineering is not as well placed as the others, of course, but this is one activity at Aarhus University that is not as well known in the world at large.

Arts and Humanities Rank: 80
Engineering and IT Rank: 182
Life Sciences and Biomedicine Rank: 64
Natural Sciences Rank: 71
Social Sciences Rank: 88

Read more about THE–QS here.

New joint platform for the university’s websites

On Monday 5 October, the university management decided to acquire a new joint CMS to drive the university’s websites. A CMS (content management system) is the tool used for editing websites. A TYPO3 has been chosen, and this will now supersede the eight different systems currently used at the university. Conversion will take place on an ongoing basis from December, when websites such as www.au.dk, the Humanities and Theology will be moved to the new system. The plan is to transfer the remaining main academic areas one at a time in the New Year. An education programme has been planned for the staff in connection with the conversion of the websites, and support will also be available. Concurrently with the conversion, work will commence on going through aspects such as the content, structure and navigation of www.au.dk.

Read more about the CMS project (in Danish only) here

Adjusting the design programme

At its meeting on 5 October, the university management approved an adjustment to the design programme, based on feedback from the staff. From 26 March, staff members had an opportunity to express their points of view in the form of positive and negative experience with using the design programme. When the deadline for reporting problems and proposing improvements expired on 15 August, the Communication Office had received 47 responses. The major change is moving the colophon from the left to the right side of the stationery design. The remaining changes apply particularly to errors and functions. The seal remains part of the profiling of the university and is often an optional addition in the design programme. During the period from October to December, the Communication Office will regularly release the redesigned and new media, after which the design programme goes over to ordinary development on an ongoing basis. You are still welcome to send comments to design@adm.au.dk

Read more about the design programme (in Danish only) at www.designmanual.au.dk

Kind regards
The Vice-Chancellor’s Office
8 October 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 .