The University of Aarhus offers research talent development of an international standard, and its PhD programmes are an essential basis for the university’s work. The university regards the development of research talent and the recruitment of researchers as a task of high priority to society. The development of research talent at the University of Aarhus must be generous in the sense that older researchers have a particular responsibility for sharing knowledge and experience with the next generation of researchers. The university also wants to ensure sufficient space and freedom to develop unique talents.

The university has extensive experience with this task, and the important investments in research and development planned for the coming years require that the university optimises its considerable coaching capacity and doubles the number of its PhD students. In addition, the university needs to create new dynamic career paths for young researchers. The university has concentrated its PhD programmes in graduate schools and participates in national graduate programmes together with other institutions. The PhD programme of the university is organised in three different ways. In order to recruit young talent as early as possible, the university uses the so-called 4+4 model, the traditional 3+2+3 (Bologna)model and a new 3+5 model ¹ .

The University of Aarhus is of the opinion that the development of research talent is an ongoing process that involves the Master’s and PhD programmes as well as subsequent postdoctoral appointments. The university has approximately 14,500 Master’s degree students, about 1,250 PhD students and close to 700 postdoctoral scholars. In 2006, approximately 2,800 Master’s degree students and 227 PhD students graduated from the university. PhD graduates find employment in all sectors of society both in Denmark and abroad.

The aims and objectives are:

• to ensure that the quality of the PhD programmes compares favourably with the best in the world
• to recruit top talents from Denmark and abroad to unique environments, where they feel free to pursue the unexpected
• to double the number of researchers educated and developed at the university
• to offer a continuous researcher development programme for the greatest talents from the Bachelor’s degree level.

The University of Aarhus has decided:

• to strengthen the university’s strategic international alliances
• to create a financial framework that enables the researcher development environments to be characterised by creativity and curiosity
• to ensure that the university’s best researchers can give priority to advising and coaching at Master’s degree, PhD degree and postdoctoral levels
• to offer 5-year researcher development programmes that can keep qualified individuals in a long-term development programme, e.g. from the Bachelor’s to the PhD level or from the Master’s degree level up to and including the postdoctoral level.

¹ According to the 4+4 model, the PhD students are recruited when studying for a Master’s degree. According to the traditional model, the PhD students are recruited upon completion of their Master’s degree, whereas recruitment of the PhD students according to the 3+5 model takes place upon completion of the Bachelor’s degree (first degree). The university monitors development closely to ensure that its PhD programmes are attractive to students from other universities and university systems.