What we do:

Marketing is partly directed towards AU students and other Danish students, partly towards international students from AU’s partner universities and free-moving international students. We produce posters, postcards, conference folders as well as various merchandise for use in recruitment on an international level. In addition we also make ads for facebook, produce newsletters, make campaigns for study portals and upload courses to online databases, which attract students both internationally and from other Danish universities. We have regular contact with previous students and lecturers as well as the international coordinators at our partner universities. We also participate in and promote AU Summer University at EAIE, APAIE, NAFSA as well as Tilvalgsdagen, International Day and Kandidatdagen locally at AU. Additionally we also receive regular visits from partner universities where the courses are promoted. We primarily market AU Summer University as a brand and usually not the individual courses.

What can you do:

It might be relevant to supplement our broad marketing strategy, with a more dedicated campaign targeted at certain audiences, which might be a specific university or within a narrow area of study if your course is directed at a specific audience. In that case it’ll require a determined effort from the lecturers or the international coordinator on a professional level to ensure that there’ll be an adequate number of applicants for the summer school. As a lecturer you could therefore use your international network and you could inform current students or send materials we produce to relevant colleagues abroad.

Teaching

Since all Summer University courses are regular courses, they also follow common practice at the institute. It is possible however, that there are special considerations that might deviate from common practice due to room conditions or other limitations. No course is to be easier to take over the summer than in the regular semesters.

The following is a guideline for the common practice:

5 ECTS need a minimum of two weeks of teaching with a total workload of 125-150 hours.

10 ECTS need a minimum of three weeks of teaching with a total workload of 250-300 hours.

IU will find rooms for the courses based on the teacher’s wishes. It’s an aim to keep all teaching gathered at Campus Aarhus.

IU will provide information for those who are accepted about introduction day, Blackboard, digital exams, wi-fi access and other practical aspects.   

Exam

IU is in cooperation with the administrative centre and teachers responsible for the planning and holding of exams and re-exams at AU Summer University, as well as the administration of grades and grade certificates.

Note that IU can only help with the practical issues in regards to monitored exams (written and oral) taking place at Campus 8000 Aarhus C.

If international guest lecturers are used, we recommend that the academic contact (VIP) go through the Danish grading system with them and guide them on the practices and rules in this area.

There are roughly 3 ways to involve a guest lecturer in an AU Summer University course:

1. Invite one or more guest lecturers to give one or more talks during your course.
2. Invite one or more guest lecturers that you already know in an academic capacity to plan and teach an entire course at AU Summer University (they will need to be paid by the department).
3. The institute can make an external call for teaching proposals and offer their preferred candidates to join AU for the duration of an AU Summer University course (they will need to be paid by the department).

What AU Summer University offers:

If a department or institute employs guest lecturers to run entire courses (option 2. or 3.), AU Summer University offers to take care of the following:

• Job advertisement and marketing of the job advertisements
• Administration in relation to recruitment and employment (invitation and rejection, contract, pay, travel expenses, tax exemption, visa)
• Communication between institute/board of studies and the guest lecturer
• Collecting information for the website
• Ordering cases and literature in cooperation with the library
• Ordering IT and classrooms
• Housing, welcome, social programme

In short, AU Summer University handles the practical things and makes it possible for the guest lecturer to focus on teaching and the academic aspects of the course, without worrying about all the things that occur when you come to a new country and university.

As the international guest lecturers visit AU in periods when the department often does not have the resources needed to handle the task, IO offers, once it has received the necessary authorisation, to act on behalf of the department in relation to handling the employment terms and conditions.

What is required of the department:

Regardless of the option you choose, the department, school or faculty of Arts will be liable for the remuneration of the guest lecturer.

The main academic area is also obliged to find an academic contact (VIP/member of academic staff) who can act as the internal link between AU Summer University, the academic environment and the Head of Studies. The academic contact is in general responsible for several guest lecturers simultaneously, and works closely with the Head of Studies. The academic contact has the following tasks:

• Coordination of job advertisement
• Handling the applications together with the Board of Studies
• Developing the course offers according to existing semester course-portfolio
• Clarification of academic questions related to the guest lecturers
• Being present during their visit throughout the summer – participating in welcome exam meetings, joint lunch and dinners

It varies from Department to Department how the recruitment of lecturers is handled. Some send out a call for lecturers where the individual lecturer suggests the course content, others have job advertisements where the content is already decided and some recruit directly though their academic research networks.

Job advertisement should consist of:

• Description of position and subject area (and any requirements for a ph.d.)
• Description of salary and employment terms
• Description of the documentation to be submitted (course proposals and CV)