The needs of external and internal users and clients require from an attractive elite university a very high level of support and services. Support and services must be undertaken by a flexible, service-oriented organisation and comprise tasks ranging from external business partners and ministries to the maintenance of technical installations, service and guidance to students and staff, and the support of management decisions.

The technical and administrative support staff provide services to the students, academic and other technical/administrative staff, and to business partners, guests and visitors, etc. The support and service delivered by the university include highly qualified technical assistance in laboratories, professional financial and legal advice and management, organising of meetings, workshops, symposia and conferences, presentation of results, student guidance and maintenance of administrative routines. The service takes the form of personal assistance as well as the development and operation of research and administrative systems.

The ratio of technical and administrative staff to students and academic staff varies according to the functions of the individual academic fields, with the highest ratio being in faculties depending on advanced laboratories. Support and services are provided at both a centralised and a decentralised level. Altogether, the technical and administrative staff account for 3,484 full-time employees or approximately 40% of the staff.

The aims and objectives are:

• to provide professional support to the university’s core activities
• to ensure efficient and user-oriented technical and administrative service to the entire university
• to develop a holistic, flexible and interdisciplinary approach to the handling of tasks.

The University of Aarhus has decided:

• to establish an effective, professional and proactive research support unit
• to rethink the technical/administrative organisation, including assessing the relevance of current and future administrative routines and tasks
• that the university will work towards shared solutions within the university sector and the government, and introduce the necessary shared administrative systems, including: a system for the administration of degree programmes, a finance system, IT communication platforms, salary and staff systems, as well as systems to handle purchasing agreements
• that service and administration must be adapted to the actual needs of the individual unit based on geography, academic field and other characteristics
• that the university must define service goals for all the main administrative and technical areas, and work towards making the administrative routines more efficient.