On 25 January, a draft of a new development contract will be made available for comments from the academic councils, the university-wide forums and committees for the coordination of the four core activities, the main liaison committee, and the student organisations which participated in the last election. The deans will also solicit input from relevant employers during the consultation process.
The final development contract will include the three to five goals proposed by the Ministry of Higher Education as well as three to five goals set by Aarhus University itself. The new model for university development contracts was introduced as a consequence of the May 2011 amendments to the University Act.
Aarhus University will select the goals it wishes to include in the contract within the framework of the existing strategy. The goals must contribute to the university's continued development within the four core activities: research, talent development, knowledge exchange and education.
The development of action plans and strategies by the main academic areas and departments will also be reflected in the goals chosen for inclusion.
The ministry will forward its development goal for AU by the middle of January, after which the consultation process will take place.
The process will begin on 25 January, and the deadline for comments is 15 February 2012. The final development contract will be negotiated over the course of the spring and is scheduled for adoption at the end of May.
The new development contract will be valid retroactively from 1 January 2012 for three years.
Aarhus University will be an active participant in the Danish EU Presidency as co-host or host of several activities. One such activity will be the EU conference Excellence 2012, which AU will host on 18-20 April. The theme of the conference will be Excellence Revisited - The Value of Excellence. Excellence in research and talent development are on the agenda for the event. The conference is one of the major events which will take place in connection with the Danish EU Presidency. Two prestigious awards, the Albert Einstein World Award of Science and the José Vasconcelos World Award of Education, will be presented during the conference.
The conference will be co-hosted by AU in collaboration with the Ministry of HIgher Education, the Danish Council for Independent Research, and a number of private foundations. 450 participants are expected to attend, including European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, Minister for Higher Education Morten Østergaard and Minister for European Affairs Nicolai Wammen.
Three other major events will take place at AU in connection with the EU Presidency: the Great debate, Industrial Technologies 2012, and a series of public debates in April, May and June.
The homepage on the EU at AU will be continually updated, and will provide information about and registration for the debates. The homepage will also feature EU-related developments and research news during the Presidency, as well as video presentations where EU experts discuss the major challenges the EU faces.
The homepage also includes a list of the university's EU experts for the media. The list will be continually expanded and updated.
In 2012, AU will develop a sustainability policy to support the development of the university's campuses which will include a green annual report.
This new initiative has been inspired in part by the Sustainable Campus pilot project at the former Aarhus School of Business. The project resulted in the identification of a number of possible energy savings.
Both academic and administrative staff will be involved in the development of the sustainability policy and a plan for its implementation.
A steering committee is responsible for the development of the policy. The comittees members are Keld Laursen (AU Finance and Planning), Henrik Bindslev (Science and Technology, vice-dean for research), Steen Ib Kjeldsen (School of Business and Social Sciences, administration manager).
There are such serious problems with parking at several of the university's locations that it has become necessary to introduce more strict regulation. The most serious problems are in Aarhus on the University Park campus, Vennelysparken, and Fuglesangs Allé, as well as in Emdrup. In many cases, a shortage of parking spaces means that cars park illegally in inappropriate places, for example in fire lines, on lawns or in reserved parking spots. There do not appear to be problems with a shortage of parking in Foulum, Roskilde and Herning.
The first line of action will be to make existing parking spots more accessible to AU staff. The majority of these parking spots are located on the university's own parking lots, which means that it would be possible to limit access for non-AU users in various ways. The university has established a committee which which negotiate with the relevant municipalities to find an appropriate solution.
Kind regards
the Senior Management Team
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.