New director of studies at Aarhus BSS

A new batch of director of studies have been appointed at Aarhus BSS. Here you can read about their plans and what they look forward to embarking on. Vice-dean for Education Per Andersen would like to thank the former director of studies and bid the new ones welcome.

Photo: From left Carsten Jensen, Lars Haahr and Jacob Klitmøller.

Three new director of studies have just been appointed at Aarhus BSS. Professor Carsten Jensen has replaced Professor Anne Skorkjær Binderkrantz as director of studies on the Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes at the Department of Political Science, Associate Professor Jacob Klitmøller has replaced Associate Professor Helle Spindler on the Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes at the Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, while Teaching Associate Professor Lars Haarh has replaced Associate Professor Pernille Smith on the Executive Master’s degree programme in Digital Innovation.

Vice-dean for Education Per Andersen takes the opportunity to thank the former director of studies and bid the new batch welcome:

“I would like to thank the former director of studies, who have all done a great job. They have been director of studies during some rather turbulent years, and I have really appreciated our collaboration. Discussions have always taken place in mutual respect and with a focus on finding good solutions. I look forward to continuing the good work with the new director of studies, who have all taken on the task with great enthusiasm. Welcome to all of you!” 


Meet the new directors of studies: 

Carsten Jensen
Professor at the Department of Political Science
Director of Studies for Political Science/Social Science

What experiences and competences will you make use of as director of studies?

The most important competence as director of studies must be my teaching experience. I would say I know the Department of Political Science well, and also what good teaching looks like here. This is obviously an important guiding tool to bring with you when you undertake a more administrative role. Additionally, I’ve been section chair for the past five years and member of the board of studies for about a year.

What projects and tasks do you look forward to embarking on?

Political Science is a very well-run degree programme with incredibly committed lecturers and talented students. I’ve also already noticed that the administration runs very smoothly and works hard behind the scenes to make things work. In that sense, it’s very much about maintaining what’s already a great success. A key part of my role is to secure the academic integrity of the degree programme at a time where many players are pushing us in different directions. The degree programme must be in continuous development, but it must happen with respect for what makes us great.


Lars Haahr
Teaching Associate Professor at the Department of Management
Director of Studies on the Executive Master's degree programme in Digital Innovation

What experiences and competences will you make use of as director of studies?

As director of studies, I’ll draw on my experiences from business and industry where I’ve worked in digital innovation for several years. Here, I’ve participated in digitalisation processes and also acted as an adviser for companies before I returned to the university to write my PhD, which explored how companies work with digital innovation.

From my years in business and industry, I know how important it is to offer students a degree programme they can use in practice. This requires us to be up to date with the latest technological knowledge, but also that we incorporate cases from the students’ own everyday lives in the teaching.

Furthermore, it’s crucial that the degree programme rests on a solid research-based foundation - it’s the combination between practical applicability and research-based knowledge that makes the Executive Master’s degree programme special. In relation to this task, I’m pleased that the programme has a strong team of lecturers to help achieve our goal.

What projects and tasks do you look forward to embarking on?

The degree programme is relatively new, so I look forward to creating more awareness about it and positioning it well. That will be an exciting task. Also, I look forward to examining how the latest technological possibilities and challenges that companies face can be incorporated in the degree programme - again to ensure the practical applicability.

Finally, I would also like to strengthen the link between the degree programme and other business-related events at the school within the field - including our annual digitalisation conference in September and a number of smaller conferences. On April 4, we actually have an event about Software robots in practice. Everyone interested is welcome to attend these events - employees, too. 


Jacob Klitmøller
Associate Professor at the Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences
Director of Studies for Psychology

What experiences and competences will you make use of as director of studies?

I’ve been an employee representative on the board of studies for the past four years. Furthermore, I’ve been in close dialogue with the former director of studies Helle Spindler for the past year. This has allowed me to gain insight into the many different responsibilities of a director of studies. I’m an associate professor in educational psychology where education and learning are two core areas. In my research, I’ve worked with students’ experiences with schooling and explored the implications of different learning programmes. I expect to bring this knowledge with me into my role as director of studies by focusing on the students’ experience of teaching, their outcome and the different initiatives offered to us lecturers to improve our teaching.

What projects and tasks do you look forward to embarking on?

This is a difficult question to answer as I’ve yet to look into the content and full extent of the formal obligations. In addition, I think it’s important for me to explore my colleagues’ different pedagogical considerations before taking on projects across the degree programme. In my opinion, however, there are at least two areas that a director of studies in the field of psychology should focus on. One area revolves around continuously encompassing the many scientific traditions that characterise the field of psychology when educating our students. The other is balancing the general and the more vocational aspects of our degree programme.

Furthermore, I look forward to continuing some initiatives that I started before I became the director of studies - focusing on our students’ written communication as they approach the Bachelor's project. Last but not least, I’m currently partaking in a round of meetings with a number of committees that were founded by students on the psychology degree programme. Through this, I hope to strengthen the connection to the students in general and particularly the link between their social and academic interests.