Last Friday marked the 86th anniversary of Aarhus University. With the sports day and Denmark's biggest Friday bar for students in the University Park and the traditional ceremony in the Main Hall, Friday 12 September was a banner day for education and research at Aarhus University.
Chairman of the Board Michael Christiansen, Rector Brian Bech Nielsen and one of the students, Christian Kraglund Andersen, gave speeches for the university about the university. Against a backdrop of celebrating a university in a position of strength in the increasing international competition, there was also an opportunity to look forward to the challenges and demands facing the university from both within its walls and beyond.
At the award ceremony in the Main Hall, this year's distinguished alumnus was announced, LEGO CEO Jørgen Vig Knudstorp. He originally planned to pursue an academic career, but life took an unexpected turn when he was headhunted to LEGO.
True to tradition, the Aarhus University Anniversary Foundation awarded prizes to two members of staff at the university, one for outstanding skills as a teacher, the other as a communicator. This year, the Aarhus University Anniversary Foundation recognised Professor Ning de Coninck-Smith from the Department of Education by awarding her the research communication prize, while the prize of honour for pedagogics was awarded to Associate Professor Per Thorsen from the Aarhus University School of Engineering.
In addition to the distinguished alumnus award and the prizes awarded by the Aarhus University Anniversary Foundation, HM Queen Margrethe II's Travel Grants for students at Aarhus University were also awarded, this year to four students who have shown special talents within their fields.
In connection with the annual celebration, Aarhus University also conferred four honorary doctorates on researchers from other institutions with whom the university has a particularly close and valued working relationship. The title is conferred on eminent researchers in different fields. The conferral of the four honorary doctors was celebrated in the Main Hall. The four recipients have already been presented at the university
On Friday 12 September, Aarhus University officially opened its doors to the new greenhouses in the Botanical Gardens when the Danish Minister for Higher Education and Science Sofie Carsten Nielsen cut not a ribbon but a liana.
The newly built and restored buildings boast state-of-the-art forms of communication combined with outstanding nature experiences in the four hothouses: the Mediterranean Hothouse, the Desert Hothouse, the Mountain Forest Hothouse and the Tropical Hothouse.
The Greenhouses are the fourth of Aarhus University’s Science Museums, and up to 80,000 visitors a year are expected.
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http://www.au.dk/en/about/uni/seniormanagement/newsletter/2014.