This time, the biennial conference focused on how we as a university can promote inclusion and diversity in all aspects of our work – from recruitment and career paths to the way we communicate in our daily interactions.

The rector: We need to maintain the positive progress

The rector and pro-rector opened the conference by emphasising how important it is for Aarhus University to remain an open and inclusive place – especially when it comes to gender representation. They shared their hope that the positive progress we have seen in recent years will continue, so that, among other things, we will have more female professors – because there is still a backlog in this area.

“Diversity can bring challenges, but it can also create energy and creativity when we pay attention to nuances and make room for them in the dialogue on how to make Aarhus University a stronger university and a better workplace for all of us.”

– Pro-rector Berit Eika

Language as a tool for inclusion

After the opening presentations in the Main Hall, the participants moved on to the individual breakout sessions. The dean of the Faculty of Arts, Maja Horst, opened the session on language.

The title was “The Language Landscape: Strengthening Inclusion through Communication”. The focus here was on how language can create both opportunities and barriers – and how we can use it more consciously to embrace diversity.

I would like to focus on language proficiency as a strength. Far too often, we talk about a lack of language skills – whether in English or Danish. I would much rather talk about the many amazing languages that we actually speak at AU – we’re close to 100 different languages.

- Dean Maja Horst

Sarah Jennings talked about the new translation guide that will soon be available to everyone at AU. She stressed the importance of understanding “we” not as “we Danes” but as “we at AU” – a nuance that can make a big difference in how international staff and students perceive their place within the community.

Christine Parsons described her own experience navigating between the requirement for Danish in medicine and the international research context, where English predominates. For many international researchers, language is not just a matter of communication – it also impacts their ability to thrive, their chances of promotion and their sense of belonging in the community.

An international university – but in which language?

The discussion in the breakout session addressed the big, complex questions:

• What is AU’s common language?
• How do we balance Danish as the national language with AU’s global profile?

Ushma Chauhan Jacobsen stressed that language is always more than just a means of communication – it is also identity, power and belonging. She pointed to the need for a plurilingual approach, where we not only talk about Danish and English but also open up to other languages.

Michael Winther from the International Staff Office added that AU’s international staff often face unclear expectations regarding their language use. Should they learn Danish? At what level? And is it a prerequisite for career development?

Language policy or language guidelines?

Several participants called for a more nuanced language policy at AU. As one of them put it:

“Right now, it seems as though our language policy was created by physicists. We would like to have linguists involved in shaping it!”

The conclusion was clear: There are no quick fixes. Inclusion through language requires flexibility, generosity and a willingness to navigate a landscape where not everyone has the same prerequisites.

The way forward: An open approach to language and diversity

The DEI conference left participants with plenty of reflections – and an important reminder: Diversity is not an abstract value. It is something we live out in practice.

At the Faculty of Arts, this means, among other things, that we take the role of language seriously – both in the small details, such as how we translate internal documents, and in the big questions about the university’s identity.