Budget shortfall at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences

On 5 January, faculty and staff at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences (DJF) were informed that a fall in research funding and the administrative restructuring involved in the merger with Aarhus University necessitate budget adjustments to the tune of approximately DKK 45-50 mill.

These adjustments will take the form of reductions in staffing and operating costs as well as such initiatives as the termination of leases. The Faculty expects to reduce staffing by about sixty-five of its 978 employees. As far as possible, the necessary reduction will be achieved by means of normal attrition, severance agreements and a restrictive hiring policy. However, it will unfortunately not be possible to avoid lay offs entirely.

”We regret very deeply that we must bid a number of valued employees farewell. Therefore, the DJF management will do everything in its power to help the employees affected by the situation. DJF has engaged the job transition management firm AS3 to provide support and assistance to employees whose positions are terminated. In addition, AS3 will assist managers and union representatives in handling the restructuring process and will support their efforts to move the organisation forward afterwards.”

Read DJF’s press release (in Danish) here

Aarhus University to collaborate with Danmarks Radio

Danmarks Radio (DR), the national public service media organisation, is set to launch the new educational programme Danskernes Akademi (’The Danish People's Academy’) on 11 January in collaboration with all of the universities in Denmark, including Aarhus University. In future, afternoon programming between 2 pm and 4 pm on the DR2 channel will offer broadcasts on all aspects of the world of research. Danskernes Akademi will include talks, interviews, discussions and conferences of up to twenty minutes in length, as well as short TV programmes which will be broadcast on the DR and Aarhus University websites. This material will also be available in print and podcast form. Both DR and the Danish universities will produced programming for the series, which is inspired by BBC’s Open University, and which seeks to build on the popularity of Danish University Extension programmes. AU Communication will be responsible for the collaboration with DR2.

Kind regards
The Rector's Office
5 January 2010

The Rector’s Office publishes a newsletter every week. 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.