The rector will give this year’s Christmas speech on Thursday 15 December at 15.00 in the Main Hall in Aarhus. Here he will announce the budget for 2012, as well as focusing on the challenges for 2012, including a status of the merger with the Engineering College of Aarhus, the interdisciplinary centres and AU Ideas.
Meet the new members of the University Board
The three recently elected members of the University Board representing the staff – Peter Christian Bugge, Susanne Bødker and Bertha Plotnikof Mortensen – have also been invited to make short presentations on the theme ‘the greatest challenges for Aarhus University in 2012’.
The Christmas event will be streamed to Aarhus University’s locations in Silkeborg, Emdrup, Årslev, Flakkebjerg, Foulum, Roskilde and Herning. During the meeting, there will be an opportunity to address questions to the rector and the forthcoming Board members by sending an e-mail to presseenheden@adm.au.dk.
Elections to the University Board, academy councils, boards of studies and PhD committees have now been finalised. As of February 2012, five new faces will represent the university’s staff and students on the Board.
Succeeding Kirsten Jakobsen, Martin Tang Jørgensen and Erik Strange Petersen as staff representatives are Associate Professor Peter Christian Bugge, Department of Culture and Society, Professor Susanne Bødker, Department of Computer Science, and Laboratory Technician Bertha Plotnikof Mortensen, Department of Biomedicine.
Most of the votes for student representatives went to two candidates from the Student Council: economics student Karen Marie Kjeldsen and history student Benjamin Bilde Boelsmand. They succeed Christian Thyrrestrup and Maria Juhler Larsen.
In addition, a considerable number of staff and students at the main academic areas were elected to the local councils, committees and boards.
Ove Poulsen, professor with special responsibilities (MSO), Aarhus University, is resigning as rector of the Engineering College of Aarhus (IHA) on 1 February 2012. He describes the merger with Aarhus University as a success and is taking up an appointment as director of the Lindoe Offshore Renewables Centre (LORC).
The Danish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education’s plan for fifty per cent of school-leavers completing a higher education programme appears to be reaching its target. The latest figures from the ministry show that fifty-four per cent of ninth-year pupils who left school in 2010 are expected to complete a short programme of higher education, while twenty-four per cent are expected to complete a longer programme.
Aarhus University Hospital (AUH) remains the best hospital in Denmark, according to a major new survey undertaken by Dagens Medicin.
AUH gained first place in twenty-one of a total of thirty-six medical specialist areas assessed in the survey, and was among the three best in all the remaining areas.
The assessment of the Danish hospitals was based on available data for quality of care, and the Danish medical journal Dagens Medicin also conducted a poll among readers. Also included in the calculation were the national figures for patient satisfaction.
International students who are introduced to Danish study techniques and habits. Student counsellors who learn to recognise and manage stress among students. Medical students who receive information about relocated classes on their mobile phones.
In early autumn, Aarhus University launched more then seventy widely different pilot projects for developing and improving the study environment. The cross-disciplinary education committee has prepared a web overview of all the projects. Here you can read more about the individual programmes and find contact people for the projects.
The National Audit Office has published a new report that praises the Danish universities for taking a more targeted and holistic approach to their quality assurance work. The report also notes that the universities have strengthened their evaluation efforts, and made greater use of external partners in connection with quality assurance work.
A statement in the report recommends the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education to include quality assurance in its future development contracts in order to support the universities’ continued efforts in this area.
The National Audit Office’s comments are based on the universities’ policies and procedures for quality assurance, as well as education evaluations made by the accreditation operator ACE Denmark.
Kind regards
The Senior Management Team
13 December 2011
The Senior Management Team publishes a newsletter every week. This newsletter includes a brief description of current activities and discussions. You can sign up for the Danish version of the newsletter at http://info.au.dk/medarbbreve, after which you will receive an e-mail whenever the newsletter is issued.
If you would like to subscribe to the English version of News from the Senior Management Team, please go to http://info.au.dk/medarbbreve/index.asp?sprog=en. The English version of News from the Senior Management Team is available at http://www.au.dk/en/about/uni/seniormanagement/newsletter/. You can read previous editions of News from the Senior Management Team at http://www.au.dk/en/about/uni/seniormanagement/newsletter/2011.