The heads of department, deputy directors, administrative managers, senior advisers, vice deans and the senior management team met for a 24-hour management seminar at Sandbjerg on 28-29 November. The seminar was organised by a group of department heads who drew on the challenges facing the departments in presentations which provided qualified input to the discussions.
The discussions primarily took place in ten cross-departmental working groups and revealed that the 26 departments are having to deal with many different challenges. However, the general perception was that there is now a greater sense of collaboration between the academic areas and that collaboration with the administrative centres has improved over the past six months.
On the other hand, there are still a number of challenges which stem from the departments' considerable complexity, management challenges and communication needs. Concrete issues discussed at the seminar included:
The discussions resulted in a number of recommendations from the groups. These will now be gathered and systematised. The senior management team rounded off the seminar by thanking the organisers for a good and inspiring event while emphasising that AU has, with its development contract and Strategy 2013-2020 set clear goals, once the consultation and consideration period for the strategy is over and it is adopted by the Board in the New Year. An important management task will be adjusting the course and the speed of developments in relation to the challenges which AU encounters during the strategy period.
Follow-up on the seminar will be published on both the website and in UNIvers.
The result of the election of the two student representatives to the University Board was announced Friday. Two candidates from the Student Council, Heidi Klokker and Benjamin Bilde Boelsmand, will represent the students on the Board from February 2013. The overall turnout was 13.77%.
Benjamin Bilde Boelsmand keeps his seat on the Board while Heidi Klokker replaces the current student representative Karen Marie Kjeldsen, who did not stand for re-election.
Monday 3 December at 8.00 was the last chance to participate in the psychological workplace assessment survey (WPA) at Aarhus University.
As of last Friday, 72% of employees had participated in the survey, which is intended to measure job satisfaction at AU. The more employees who complete the questionnaire, the more accurate the results of the survey.
The WPA will identify specific areas requiring targeted efforts to improve the psychological working environment. And, equally important, it will shed light on where and why things are going well so that best practices can be extended throughout the university.
The results of the WPA survey will be published in February 2013.
The proposal for a new joint concept for employee performance interviews (MUS) at Aarhus University is now ready.
The new MUS concept consists of four parts, including an consultative question guide and an agreement form which together will ensure a higher degree of quality in the employee development process and more targeted competence development for all employees and managers at AU. Moreover, the new concept involves a more electronically based process, both before and after the interview, which will ensure enhanced control of the stated objectives and results.
The proposal will be sent for consultation on 18 December by the three liaison committees: the Faculty Liaison Committee (FSU), the Administration Liaison Committee (ASU) as well as the Local Liaison Committees (LSU), with the deadline on 28 February 2013.
The new concept is expected to take effect in autumn 2013.
Aarhus University is to become the base for a new research centre focusing on the well-being of children and young people which the TrygFonden is backing with a DKK 60 million grant.
Over the next six years, the new centre will contribute to building up a solid base of knowledge about improving the well-being of children and young people in Denmark by, among other things, examining whether and how current initiatives targeted at children's and young people's growth and development work in practice.
Professor Michael Rosholm from the Department of Economics and Business is heading the new research centre. He will collaborate with both Danish and international researchers within a wide range of academic disciplines related to children and young people.
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The first research projects will be launched during 2013.
The senior management team is inviting everyone to an informal Christmas event on 19 December at 15.00, which is being held for the first time in Stakladen.
Rector Lauritz B. Holm-Nielsen will look back on the past year and ahead to 2013. Moreover, it will be a good opportunity for everyone to exchange Christmas greetings over a glass of gløgg and traditional Danish æbleskiver.
All employees are welcome.
The programme for the event will be announced soon.
Kind regards,
The Senior Management Team, 4 December 2012
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.