Almost all the members of the Academic Council at the Faculty of Arts are newly elected, and the official positions were allocated at a meeting on 1 February 2016. Nina Kofoed, the previous chair of the council, hands over the baton to the new chair with the following words:

“It’s been a great privilege to be the chair of the Academic Council for the past year. A number of major processes following in the wake of the review of the faculty went into their final stage during the year. As a result, we had the time and energy to spend more time discussing a range of themes such as equal opportunities and the identity of the Faculty of Arts.

The political situation has also changed drastically during the year, with the government’s study progress reform and degree programme resizing initiative being put into effect – plus the extra cuts we will have to make following the government’s latest budget.

The new Academic Council are definitely not going to be bored! The council will be an important sparring partner for the dean and senior management team in guiding the faculty through the developments that lie ahead. Which is also why I’m so pleased that the council has such an excellent working relationship with the dean and rector. I’m convinced that the old council is handing over a strong platform for the work of the new council,” says Kofoed.

And Merete Wiberg looks to the future:

“I look forward to working on the Academic Council. Almost all the members of the council are newly elected, so we will need to find our feet at first.

The politicians are asking the Danish universities to restructure their activities and make other changes, so it’s important that we’ve got a broadly representative political body like the Academic Council to discuss how the faculty should cope with measures like the resizing initiative and the study progress reform – without compromising on the quality of our degree programmes.

Our faculty is facing a number of challenges at the moment, and it’s important to underline the role and importance of the humanities in society today. In December 2015 the Academic Council invited the faculty to debate its identity and discuss the impending strategic challenges. It’s important that the Academic Council continues to take the initiative for this kind of discussion across our schools and centres with a view to creating inclusive debates about how the humanities can develop and consolidate their vital role in society. 

And it’s also important that we find strategies enabling the council to communicate with our subject environments as effectively as possible,” concludes Wiberg.

Merete Wiberg is an associate professor at the Danish School of Education specialising in educational philosophy and learning theory. Her research has focused in particular on the connection between morality, values and learning – including moral learning and ethical education. She has also worked on the relationship between evidence and judgement in the field of education, and on fundamental philosophical discussions of the concept of learning. Merete Wiberg has also been occupational health and safety representative as well as head of department at the Danish School of Education in Aarhus.