News from the senior management team no. 27/2014

A good study environment with room for improvement

By far the majority of students are thriving and would recommend Aarhus University as a place to study.This is one of the main conclusions of the new study environment survey that has just been published.

However, the survey identifies a need to focus more on stress, digital teaching and students' time use.

The study environment survey will be discussed in the coming months by the faculties, departments and boards of studies. The challenges in the individual teaching environments may differ, but the ambition is to solve the problems as locally as possible.

However, the findings also reveal some general issues which will require a unified effort on the part of the university. For example stress, which is affecting students at all faculties.


 Grant stability in Finance Bill 2015

Last week, the government presented its draft Finance Bill for 2015. The draft bill maintains three-year basic funding grants and extends the increase in taximeter funding to the humanities and social sciences until 2017. However, the increase is subject to the condition that the funding must be used for improvements related to teaching and supervision hours as well as improved researcher coverage. According to the bill, the sector can avoid cuts to teaching funding if it meets the requirements of the study progress reform to reduce student completion times.

The Danish government is maintaining its target that the public sector must invest min. 1% of GDP, but according to the bill, public research funding must be reduced from the present level of approx. 1.11% to approx. 1.09% of GDP.

Preliminary estimates show that, in relation to grants, the Finance Bill for 2015 is in line with the Finance Bill for 2014. The senior management team is currently in the process of studying the draft budget to assess the possible consequences for AU.


Chair and vice-chair of Universities Denmark re-elected

At the meeting at Universities Denmark on 26 August 2014, Ralf Hemmingsen was re-elected chairman and Brian Bech Nielsen vice-chairman for a two-year period until the end of August 2016


Great interest in evening party

At the end of this week (week 36), everyone who has applied for tickets for the evening party at Concert Hall Aarhus on 12 September will be informed whether they have been allocated tickets. The tickets are being allocated by a lottery.

Just over 2,200 people (including partners) have registered for the annual celebration, and there are about 1,100 seats for employees. The seats in the Great Hall will be distributed in relation to the number of employees at the four main academic areas and in AU Administration.

The intention is for as many people as possible to participate in the event at Concert Hall Aarhus. Therefore, if you are prevented from attending, please cancel and return the tickets as quickly as possible.


Calendar


Kind regards

The Senior Management Team

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/2014.