During 2012, a physical and a psychological workplace assessment (WPA) will be conducted at Aarhus University. The physical WPA will be conducted first, while the psychological WPA will be carried out later in the year.
AU HR is conducting the questionnaire-based survey for the physical WPA with the majority of employees in weeks 12 and 13 in March. The questionnaire will be distributed by email. BSS and the departments at ARTS and ST are not participating in March 2012 because many people are still involved in moving offices etc. Once everything has fallen into place, the employees in these departments will be asked about their physical working environment.
The psychological WPA will be held for all employees in November.
The four new academic councils have each appointed a new chair:
The four academic councils are now ready to take on the duties and responsibilities which are defined in the new by-laws. According to these guidelines, the academic councils must be involved and be given the opportunity to present their ideas and views on issues before decisions are made. In addition, the academic councils must appoint members for the new cross-organisational fora which will advise the senior management team on strategic development for the core activities: research, talent development, knowledge exchange and education.
In addition to a chair, the new academic councils are made up of people representing the academic staff, PhDs and students. In addition, representatives are chosen for the technical and administrative staff, who function as observers.
The university’s heads of department have just launched a development process which, among other things, will involve individual competence development and focus on building up networks that will help to support constructive collaboration across the university.
The process for the heads of department is the first part of a combined management development strategy, which was adopted in 2009. The strategy also covers a development process which started in September for academic middle managers and administrative heads of department secretariats, who will soon receive more information. Processes for the other management groups will be started in 2013, while a number of after-work meetings will be held for administrative managers as early as this spring.
The senior management team has now invited the student organisations Frit Forum Århus, Studenterlauget and Studenterrådet (Student Council) to a dialogue meeting on news coverage, debate and student co-determination and involvement in decision-making at Aarhus University.
The invitation is being made as a follow-up to the open letter which the organisations sent to the chairman of the Board and the rector before the latest Board meeting.
Degree programmes in foreign languages and internationalisation were key themes on the agenda when the annual supervisory meeting with the Danish Agency for Universities and Internationalisation was held last week.
At the meeting, representatives from the senior management team and AU Strategy discussed the general status of Aarhus University’s activities with the agency. On behalf of the Danish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education, the agency is obliged to give a general picture of AU in its supervisory report, which will be published later in the spring.
This year, cycling commentators Dennis Ritter and Jørgen Leth are providing the commentary when the annual "boat" race takes place, in which teams of students compete for “The Golden Bedpan”.
True to tradition, the Boat Race will take place on the lakes in the University Park. The event takes place on 3 May from 12-17, and is followed by a party in Klubben at Aarhus University's Fuglesangs Allé 4 location.
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/2012.