Morten Østergaard, Minister for Science, Innovation and Higher Education, is currently touring the Danish university cities, and today, Monday 18 November, it is Aarhus University’s turn to welcome him.
The Student Council has arranged a debate meeting, where the heralded quality reform is on the agenda.
All students and employees are welcome at the event, which is taking place on Monday 18 November at 16.00 in the Tvillingeauditorierne or 'Twin Auditoriums', (1324-011) (see map).
There is general support for the political intention of making the educational system more coherent and more efficient, but there is not enough time to implement the reform, and the administrative requirements are too demanding.
This is the verdict on the so-called 'study progress reform' described in the consultation response which Aarhus University has sent to the Danish Agency for Higher Education.
In the response, which has been sent to the four main academic areas for consultation, the university recommends extending implementation to 2015 to allow time to review the academic regulations and ensure thorough and proper guidelines for students.
In the in-depth appendix, the consultation response highlights the inappropriateness of counting the students' leave as study time, that insufficient account has been taken of students with special needs, and that new restrictions can prevent more students from studying abroad.
With the full support of the Accreditation Council, Aarhus University will strengthen the research environment behind the MSc in Engineering programme in Technology Based Business Development which is offered at AU Herning.
The degree programme will be given a new structure in order to ensure that the labour market has access to academically stronger graduates. At a meeting on 15 November 2013, the Accreditation Council decided to extend the accreditation of the MSc in Engineering programme, thereby allowing the programme to continue in a restructured form for the next year, after which the programme will be re-evaluated.
The Accreditation Council has previously issued a preliminary refusal to grant re-accreditation to the programme. But after having considered Aarhus University's proposal for a new study structure, the Council has decided to allow AU Herning to continue the degree programme and implement the new structure. The Accreditation Council will then assess the new structure after one year of operation.
The research environment behind the programme has greatly improved since the Council’s last accreditation visit in early spring, and the programme is now working to strengthen the research base even further by hiring several new academic staff members.
Early last week, Aarhus University received a visit from a group of representatives from Utrecht University in the Netherlands. The visit enabled the two universities to discuss their experiences regarding such issues as research funding, campus development and IT strategies, before the Dutch delegation was invited to visit iNANO.
The two universities are already collaborating on mobility and internationalisation under the auspices of the Utrecht network.
Kind regards
The Senior Management Team
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