As part of the problem analysis follow-up, last Friday Rector Brian Bech Nielsen presented the senior management team's proposed solutions.
The proposals pave the way for significant changes with respect to delegating managerial responsibility and access, budgetary responsibility, responsibility for appointments, co-involvement, the organisation of the faculties and the administration as well as internal and external communication.
The proposals address the organisational and administrative issues which both the internal expert group and the designated analysis panel have brought to the attention of the senior management team as well as all the direct input which it has received.
The proposals have now been sent out for consultation among the university staff in the main academic areas, who are organising the subsequent process at the departments, academic councils, boards of studies etc., and in the administrative divisions, which are organising the consultation process in the administrative units, the Main Liaison Committee, student unions and the core activity committees.
It is also possible to email suggestions and comments to 2014@au.dk or to become involved in the ongoing debate on this page.
The senior management team is encouraging everyone to take an active part in the consultation process, which runs until 19 September 2014. As soon as possible after this date, the senior management team will decide on a plan for the decision-making and actual implementation. All responses will be carefully considered and assessed with a view to possible inclusion in the final proposal.
On Friday 12 September, Aarhus University is celebrating its 86th anniversary with speeches, an anniversary lecture and honorary awards in the Main Hall at Nordre Ringgade.
A new honoured alumnus and four new honorary doctors will be named at the event, which will also see the Aarhus University Anniversary Foundation's Honorary Award in Education, Aarhus University's research communication award as well as Queen Margrethe II Travel Grants all being awarded.
Due to a lack of space, the ceremony in the Main Hall is by invitation only, but the event will be streamed live on au.dk so that everyone has the opportunity to follow the proceedings. Any extra places will be offered to the main academic areas for distribution among staff.
Registration for evening party now open
All employees, including a companion, are invited to evening of entertainment in Concert Hall Aarhus, which this year starts at 20.00.
Invitations were emailed to all employees early last week. As a new measure, rather than allocating seats on a first-come, first-served basis as in previous years, this year lots will be drawn for seats in the Great Hall at Concert Hall Aarhus. The deadline for registration is 22 August.
The results of the draw will be announced in week 36. The seats in the Great Hall will be allocated according to the number of employees at the four main academic areas and AU Administration. The draw will be performed by Kongreskompagniet.
After the entertainment, all guests are invited for wine and snacks in the foyer.
The new Shanghai ranking list of the world's best universities has just been published. Aarhus University moves up seven places to no. 74.
The ranking is based on criteria such as the number of Nobel Prizes awarded to alumni and staff at the universities, as well as a range of indicators for the number of research articles and citations, including, among other things, a list of the most cited researchers in the world within 21 subject areas.
One of the reasons why Aarhus University has moved up the list is that it now has three researchers (Karl Anker Jørgensen, Jens Stougaard and Asger Lunde) ranked among the world's 3,000 most cited researchers instead of only one as was previously the case (as measured by the Shanghai method). However, there is also an improvement in the indicators for the number of articles in Nature and Science, the total number of research articles and the number of articles per researcher.
Aarhus University and the think-tank DEA are together focusing on education and its significance for the universities.
Among things, the importance of general education for the universities will be questioned, and the extent to which today's students are sufficiently well-educated.
The panel will be made up of representatives from student organisations, universities and upper secondary schools as well as the private sector. There will be presentations by Associate Professor Peter Lauritsen, Pro-Rector Berit Eika and Vice-Dean Peder Østergaard from Aarhus University.
The knowledge salon is taking place on Thursday 21 August at 14.00-16.00 in the Mogens Zieler room in building 1421. Participation is free, but registration is required.