The University of Aarhus is a leading European university that competes internationally with the very best. The university is a founding member of the esteemed Coimbra Group of elite European universities.

The research areas at the university take relevant national and international research groups into consideration, and it is the university’s policy to increase international collaboration and recruitment. In addition, the university specifically promotes internationalisation through researcher mobility, visiting professorships, sabbatical leave schemes and international alliances regarding PhD programmes.

Traditionally, the internationalisation of research has been fully decentralised, whereas a considerable number of centralised exchange agreements have been established for the university’s study programmes. These agreements are supplemented by a large number of decentralised partnerships with selected university departments abroad.

In 2006, the university had a total of approximately 600 visiting researchers from abroad and about 2,500 foreign students. The university has approximately 750 foreign exchange students, while about 750 Danish students go abroad every year. In addition, around 1,750 foreign students complete an entire degree at the university (degree students). Finally, the University of Aarhus offers a growing number of full-time and part-time programmes in English, and the summer university – also taught in English – is growing rapidly.

The aims and objectives are:

• to establish itself as a leading, open and international university
• to integrate internationalisation into all its activities and strengthen the exchange of students and staff
• to secure the University of Aarhus a position of strength in the global market through research, knowledge transfer, research-based advice and education.

The University of Aarhus has decided:

• to assume leadership and representation in international networks and forums
• to review the considerable number of international agreements for all the departments, schools and faculties with a view to concentrating key agreements on strategic partners
• to consolidate the university’s far-sighted language policy and develop a shared intercultural competence centre to ensure the quality of the degree programmes and of student communication
• to strengthen the administrative support of internationalisation, including the development of service packages for Danish and international students and staff
• to strengthen the incentives for international researcher mobility
• that all students must have an opportunity to transfer credits equal to minimum 30 ETCS from study abroad
• to create a broad portfolio of degree programmes taught in English and to increase the number of the university’s international summer schools.