Dear all

It would be stretching the truth to say that summer has finally arrived in Denmark. But outside my office window there is at least one sure sign of summer: high-school graduates driving by in trucks, wearing caps in all the colours of the rainbow to signify that they have passed their exams. The sheer volume of noise and the sense of relief and pleasure on their faces tells the whole story. Summer is upon us! Which means that it’s time for me to issue my traditional summer message.

In previous years we’ve talked a good deal about the major projects and processes facing the faculty, and I don’t think I was the only one who thought (and perhaps hoped) that this year would be a bit less eventful. Perhaps things would even settle down into some kind of routine. I hope this is how it turned out for some of you, at least. One of the questions asked by the people who work at the Dean’s Office is: where on earth did the past year go? The truth is that even though we haven’t launched many major initiatives during the past year, a great deal of work and focus has been required just to complete all the tasks that lay in the pipeline. And I’m sure the same thing applies at our schools, at CUDiM, and in the administration. One of the biggest tasks has involved developing a quality system for our degree programmes which can be used in our application for institutional accreditation. I’d like to thank everyone who has contributed to this grand endeavour. Including everyone who has worked so very hard to achieve our goals for the study progress reform – both staff and students.

This year we’ve decided that AU Library should form part of the new Royal Library. The faculty management team were given advice about this decision by an ad hoc committee; and to help our collaboration with the big new library, we have now decided to set up a permanent faculty library committee.

We have also adjusted the role of our heads of department, who now have the same duties and functions at all three of our schools. We believe that this will simplify and clarify the structure of our schools and departments, as well as improving our understanding of the situation facing each department. In this connection we had a broad-based management seminar in March (including heads of department) to improve our internal communication and mutual understanding. This is a process that is still ongoing.

Progress continues in terms of the faculty’s research, which has once again earned plaudits from inside and outside the faculty. Our researchers continue to publish significant research contributions and present their results to a wide audience, and we are still making steady progress in terms of external research funding. This is true not only of our tenured researchers, but also of our many talented PhD students and postdocs. Our researchers have also won recognition for their contributions to the public debate in 2017. The big Reformation conference won the acclaim of many observers. And the same applies to our collaboration with Aarhus as a European Capital of Culture – and to the contributions of our researchers to Denmark’s Political Festival. Not forgetting all the lectures, meetings and publications of the National Centre for School Research.

In general terms, the faculty’s financial situation has developed as we expected. Some major challenges still lie ahead, but we can face them with confidence as long as we maintain our current level of performance. For the time being we are sticking to our familiar, conservative plan in terms of new appointments. But if the funding reform ends up as expected, at least one major uncertainty will have been resolved and we can look forward to more long-term stability. We are of course keeping a watchful eye on our study progress and degree completion times. But here too we expect more clarity during the autumn of 2017, after which we can be more certain about what the future holds. One thing is clear, though: the Faculty of Arts still has too few professors. And we are planning to remedy this.

So what should we expect during the rest of the year?

Well, first of all we can all have a good summer holiday with an absolutely clear conscience.

And after the holiday I think we should start talking about how the faculty can contribute to the process of digitalisation, which is something the board and senior management team agreed on just before the summer holiday. This process will include an increasing focus on digitally supported teaching and more widespread digital competences. The chair of the university board (Connie Hedegaard) and the rector have recently acknowledged the fact that the Faculty of Arts has a great deal to contribute to the digital field. They have also underlined that the social sciences, the humanities and theology all have an important mission involving the development of a stronger knowledge base founded on research in order to understand the major social changes influencing international affairs, the internal cohesion of European societies, and the consequences of all the technological innovations in our contemporary world. This is all underlined in the rector’s summer video. We’ll be discussing this at greater length in the months ahead.

Nor am I in any doubt that the great expectations of the chair of the board and rector regarding the contribution of the social sciences and humanities to a strong, knowledge-based society – and the express wishes of the minister regarding an increase in general education – are a sign that people recognise the importance of the faculty’s academic areas for the future development of Danish society. At a meeting of the Academic Council recently, I said I disagreed with the notion that the humanities and the other subjects covered by our faculty are in any kind of crisis. It’s true that our income is suffering a significant decline, something we are dealing with responsibly and with an eye on the long term. But there is nothing to indicate that our research, degree programmes or knowledge-exchange activities are in a crisis. On the contrary, in fact.

And here come some more high-school graduates, driving past my window. I hope you have an excellent summer holiday.

Johnny Laursen