AU’s draft student place relocation and reduction plan: Balance between relocation and reduction, and few programme closures

Relocating student places is challenging. But it’s certainly also difficult to scale back thriving programmes, and it’s particularly sad that closure is on the table in a few cases, the rector and pro-rector stress.

Since the senior management team’s plan was released for internal comment last Friday, affected staff members have been informed of the proposed degree programme closures. The senior management team thought it important to inform them at this stage, even though the plan has not been adopted and nothing has been finalised yet.

Aarhus University will complete its institutional plan in December: after staff and student representative bodies have submitted their comments on the draft, it will be discussed by the board, after which the senior management team will also discuss the plan again on the background of the representative bodies’ comments. 

“This is a difficult process. What’s more, it may also take Parliament a long time to approve a plan, so we will have a long period of uncertainty at the university,” Pro-rector Berit Eika explains.

And Rector Brian Bech Nielsen adds that the senior management team is highly conscious of this.

“First and foremost, this is difficult for the affected staff and students. I want to stress that all currently enrolled students at the affected programmes will be able to complete their studies before any of the measures under consideration are implemented,” the rector said.

On the background of an analysis of 2019 student intakes, Aarhus University’s draft institutional plan proposes shutting down seven degree programmes.

Half relocation, half reduction

Relocating and scaling back degree programmes is the primary focus of the draft institutional plan. Half of the necessary reductions in student places in Aarhus will be achieved through relocation.

The plan proposes relocating the Master’s degree programmes in experience economy (Arts) and in IT, communication and organisation (Aarhus BSS) to AU’s campus in Herning, and moving Tech’s agrobiology programme to Foulum.

In relation to the baseline of 2019 student intakes, a net reduction in student places of six per cent is proposed, to which both the Aarhus and Copenhagen campuses will contribute. All five faculties will be substantially affected by the reduction in student places. But to varying degrees. Factors taken into account in the plan include employment prospects and graduate unemployment rates, in addition to the societal and cultural significance and contribution of the subjects affected. The proposed reductions in student place by faculty are as follows:

(*Relative to the 2021 intake)

Nothing has been finalised

The rector points out that the final decision on what will happen at Aarhus University and in the university sector as a whole will depend on the parliamentary process that will begin in the New Year:

“Of course, we can’t rule out the possibility that the parties to the agreement will amend our proposal. But like Berit Eika, I believe that the plan we have developed lives up to the intentions of the political agreement.”

The final plan that is adopted by Parliament must be fully implemented by 2030.

What happens next?

• The academic councils, the main liaison committees and faculty liaison committees, the faculty management teams, the administration’s management team, the administration’s liaison committee and the student political organisations have until 3 December to comment on the senior management team’s proposals.
• The senior management team will then make further adjustments to the plan, which will be presented to the board at an unscheduled meeting in December.
• Once the board has approved the final draft institution plan, it must be submitted to the Ministry of Higher Education and Science no later than 31 December. No details on the subsequent process have been released to the universities as yet.