The consultation period is being taken seriously. Only after employees have provided their input will the senior management team decide what will happen, and how the process should proceed. It all depends on the consultation responses.
The senior management team's proposals set the scene for major organisational changes in the existing front and back offices of the administration. This has resulted in considerable feedback, especially from the administrative staff members; for example, some are concerned about moving or changes in reporting relationships, and some simply disagree with the proposed reorganisation of the administrative divisions.
The senior management team is aware of these problems and finds the concern that has been expressed completely understandable. Therefore, everyone is encouraged to express their views - through their unit, the governing bodies, as a group or individually. The consultation period will last until 19 September.
The Danish Accreditation Institution has granted Aarhus University's application to postpone the institutional accreditation process from 2015 to 2016.
The reason for the application is a desire to focus on the implementation of the study progress reform, which is currently demanding considerable resources in both the academic (VIP) and the technical and administrative (TAP) staff environments. The postponement will free up the necessary time to enable the accreditation process to be carried out on a sound basis.
The process of having Aarhus University accredited was initiated after the Danish Accreditation Act (Akkrediteringsloven) was amended in 2013. With the new act, it is no longer the individual degree programmes but Aarhus University as a whole which must be accredited in order for the university to be able to establish new degree programmes and courses in future.
More than 2,000 students and 300 staff members from the Aarhus School of Marine and Technical Engineering and the Aarhus University School of Engineering can now move into the new facilities in Navitas. This will be celebrated with an official inauguration on Friday 5 September.
The eight-storey, 38,000-square-metre building will be a leading growth and knowledge centre for energy, the environment and construction for both students, researchers and the business community.
Four of the university's 21 engineering degree programmes as well as engineering research within the fields of construction and mechanical engineering will be housed at Navitas.
On 5 September, the first sod will be cut for the new research facilities at the Department of Biomedicine, which will be completed in the course of 2015.
Two new parallel buildings totalling 12,000 square metres will house ultra-modern research facilities as well as a 4,000-square-metre underground facility with, among other things, housing for laboratory animals.
In connection with the construction of the new buildings, other biomedical research and teaching facilities will undergo major renovation work, including the Bartholin building.
The Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science is now inviting nominations for three new members of the board of the Danish Innovation Foundation who will take up their positions on 1 January 2015.
The foundation currently has a transitional board. Its members include the three former chairmen of the bodies which have been merged to form the Innovation Foundation: The Danish Council for Strategic Research Council, the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation and the Danish Council for Technology and Innovation. Replacements need to be found for the three former chairmen of these bodies.
Nominations for new members of the board must be received by the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science no later than 8 September.
A new survey will help create a better foundation for meeting researchers’ needs with regard to digital resources. The survey is intended for all researchers.