We need to be better - not larger

Dean Thomas Pallesen touches upon some of the important initiatives at Aarhus BSS in the year 2021.

[Translate to English:] Thomas Pallesen
[Translate to English:] Foto: Anders Trærup, AU Foto

While we are waiting to fill our lecture theatres and meet each other at campus, a busy year of work is ahead of us at Aarhus BSS - a year in which strategy, new systems related to teaching, and past experiences as well as the continued use of digital forms of instructions are on the agenda.

A strategy process focussing on quality

According to dean Thomas Pallesen, the faculty strategy for the period 2021-2025 will focus on Aarhus BSS as an institution governed by quality.

“We need to be better - not larger, and Aarhus BSS should continue to be driven by quality. When we were awarded the EQUIS accreditation for the second time back in the autumn 2020, EFMD acknowledged our quality, but for the first time they also expressed an understanding of our identity, which rests on the two overarching pillars of business and social sciences along with a third and smaller pillar: the mix between the two. In this way, Aarhus BSS is founded on three key components. We have a series of interdisciplinary research fields and degree programmes, but this does mean the whole faculty is cross-disciplinary as a consequence, because this is not the strategic ambition,” says Thomas Pallesen.

The best framework for teaching

In continuation of the faculty’s core tasks within education and research, the ambition is to strive for research of the best possible quality and to educate highly skilled graduates who do well on the job market.

2021 will be shaped by two projects in particular: Curriculum planning will entail a new way of planning lessons and Brightspace will replace Blackboard as learning management system.

“We must see to it that these projects are implemented well in collaboration with the research and teaching programmes, and we must ensure that our teaching staff and many students perceive them as progress.

Experiences with digital forms of instruction

According to Thomas Pallesen, it is vital that we pass on our positive experiences with online classes.

“Last year brought an unexpected stress test of Edu IT, and considering the circumstances, we made it through quite successfully. We must gather and share our experiences across the faculty. We are not necessarily returning to what came before. Instead, we must use our tools, ideas and perspectives from the period with coronavirus and bring them with us into the future,” says Thomas Pallesen.