Part-time positions

The management of all academic staff at Aarhus BSS is founded on a combination of performance evaluations and consolidation. Aarhus BSS expects and rewards strong performances within both research and teaching, and both progress and performance are measured on several levels. This applies not only to full-time researchers (VIP), but also to part-time employees (DVIP).

A solid core of researchers (VIP) is the foundation that allows Aarhus BSS to offer high-quality research and teaching and to be an attractive workplace and partner for private and public organisations as well as for researchers at other business schools and universities in Denmark and abroad. For a business school, outside input and close collaboration with the business community are central aspects in the development of the students’ skills and competences. It is the policy of Aarhus BSS that the resources of full-time academic employees are supplemented by DVIP, whose primary employment is in the business community or in the public sector. As such, it is the policy of Aarhus BSS to use the DVIP’s professional expertise as an important element in the teaching, as this expertise helps add a practical relevance and incorporate a key business-related aspect into the teaching. 

The dean has the overall responsibility for the staff management, but the day-to-day responsibility for the departments and their staff lies with the heads of department. The heads of department are responsible for both the academic and the financial aspects of the departments, just as they are responsible for achieving the established budget targets within the announced budgetary framework. Among other things,  this means that the heads of department are responsible for managing the budget for full-time employees as well as part-time employees.

The dean and the vice-dean for research and talent development are responsible for monitoring the departments’ distribution of funds in connection with employing lecturers and for approving all new job postings and reports from the assessment committees. Furthermore, the DVIP budget is monitored via the financial model, the ongoing strategic evaluation (the departments’ White Papers), the annual evaluation of the degree programmes and the extensive degree programme evaluation with external peer review, which takes place every five years.

DVIP at Aarhus BSS are employed in part-time positions, which ensures that their professional qualifications are maintained via their primary employment. As a minimum, all DVIP must have a relevant Master’s degree and an active career, and they are not expected to be active researchers. Furthermore, the DVIP applicants’ professional qualifications are evaluated in the initial assessment process by an internal assessment committee. DVIP are employed in positions which are either related to the academic discipline in question (e.g. a marketing manager as a part-time employee on the marketing-related degree programmes) or to a position of a more general or administrative character in private or public organisations. In addition, DVIP are expected to possess satisfactory teaching competences. As such, DVIP are also expected to achieve satisfactory results in the mandatory teaching evaluations in addition to, as a minimum, holding a Master’s degree and having an active career as mentioned above.

All positions will be filled via open postings and in open competition pursuant to the Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities. Additionally, DVIP contracts must be renewed every three years according to Danish law. Furthermore, the applicants’ professional qualifications are assessed regularly throughout the re-application process.  

Aarhus BSS houses a considerable number of degree programmes with highly diverse needs and uses for DVIP. For some degree programmes, the use of DVIP is very sporadic, while other degree programmes have a very specific need for practice-related and micro-focused teaching, which e.g. applies to degree programmes with significant vocational elements. Additionally, the need for DVIP typically varies depending on whether the students are on a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree level. It is up to the individual departments to prepare any supplementary guidelines for the use of DVIP in their degree programmes.

In addition to constructive dialogue with the VIP responsible for the course (see below), all lecturers at Aarhus BSS (including part-time lecturers) are offered to participate in academic development courses, which they are expected to attend. Additionally, the departments provide the DVIP with the opportunity to develop their academic competences and to interact with the relevant researchers at the department. The departments are responsible for conducting the relevant events and for sending out invitations for these events. In this way, it is ensured that the DVIP are always kept abreast of the latest research within their academic area. 

In addition, DVIP must participate in a basic course in pedagogics, which introduces the participants to university teaching. 

At Aarhus BSS, the boards of studies and the faculty management team are jointly responsible for developing and approving the degree programmes. This includes a joint responsibility for maintaining the quality of the degree programmes. The director of studies has the day-to-day responsibility for the degree programme.

All courses at Aarhus BSS’ degree programmes (with the exceptions of Business Development Engineer, Global Management and Manufacturing and the Graduate Diploma in Business Administration (HD)) must be research-based. As such, all courses handled by DVIP have an associated full-time lecturer (the person responsible for the course) who provides supervision regarding the teaching and content of the course, and who has the overall responsibility for its academic level. It is possible for DVIP to function as Master’s thesis supervisors to a limited extent. However, this must be approved by the department and in such cases, the DVIP must have completed a supervisor course if at all possible.