Yesterday, the Danish government, the Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten) and Liberal Alliance agreed to grant DKK 770 million for strategic research within e.g. foods, the environment, health, production research as well as independent research and innovation in 2013.
The Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation’s funding is not being cut as much as first announced in the government’s bill for the Finance Act, and it looks as though the Danish Council for Independent Research (DFF) and the Danish Council for Strategic Research will both be able to maintain the same level of activity in 2013 as this year.
The universities do not know their own budgets before the final Finance Act is adopted, but it is hoped that the government will receive sufficient support to maintain the universities' basic funding at 2012 levels.
The new proposal will now be studied to see how it may affect the funding for Aarhus University.
Read more about the new agreement (in Danish):
The transition from accrediting study programmes to accrediting institutions is very much the main headline in the bill for a new Accreditation Act (Akkrediteringslov) which the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education submitted for consultation to the universities last week.
Introducing institutional accreditation may mean that, in future, the universities will be subject to a general accreditation once every six years. A positive accreditation entitles the university in question to offer new study programmes, however, on condition that the study programmes are pre-qualified by the Ministry.
The bill also includes the possibility of external stakeholders being able to ask the Ministry to select individual study programmes for special quality checks.
The complete bill is being discussed in the AU Forum for Education, in the pan-university bodies for education as well as in the four main academic areas before Aarhus University submits its final consultation response.
All employees are welcome to contribute; the four main academic areas have organised the consultation process in their own ways:
The internal deadline for the consultation at Aarhus University is Tuesday, 20 November at 10 am.
Last week, Aarhus University launched the first joint Master’s degree in collaboration with the University of Amsterdam.
The new joint degree is awarded to students who have completed the two-year MA 'Erasmus Mundus Masters in Journalism, Media and Globalisation', and who have spent a year at both Aarhus University and the University of Amsterdam.
Each year, the Master's degree brings together 80 students from all over the world, and is part of AU's ambition of strengthening international educational collaboration.
Strong support for independent research can be expected when the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS) opens its doors in 2013.
AIAS will bring together Danish and international elite researchers from all academic disciplines under one roof and give both young, talented researchers and experienced researchers the freedom to conduct independent research.
The search for fellows has just started, with fellowships being offered in four different categories:
Employees at Aarhus University can apply for Jens Christian Skou Junior Fellowships and Jens Christian Skou Senior Fellowships, while researchers from other universities wanting to pursue their projects at AU can apply for Dale T. Mortensen Junior Fellowships and Dale T. Mortensen Senior Fellowships.
AIAS will be located next to the International Centre in Vennelystparken on Høegh-Guldbergs Gade in Aarhus.
The first foundations for Denmark’s biggest hospital building were laid at the end of last week.
Chairman of the Regional Council in Central Denmark Region Bent Hansen and AU Dean Allan Flyvbjerg participated at the official kick-off to the construction of the new university hospital in Skejby, which will eventually cover 216,000 square metres, of which 25,000 square metres are earmarked for research and teaching.
The new university hospital will be finished in 2018.
The Aarhus Symposium could boast a full house when it was held last week at the Lakeside Lecture Theatres.
The symposium, which was held this year for the second time, aims to provide an opportunity for direct debate between students and business leaders.
This year, senior executives from Novozymes, Danfoss, Lego and Velux etc. participated, and the Brazilian ambassador to Denmark, Gonçalo de Barros Carvalho e Mello Mourão, also spoke.
Aarhus Symposium is organised by 23 students from Aarhus University.
Kind regards
The Senior Management Team