News from the senior management team no. 32/2014

Dimensioning model raises serious questions

Last week, the Danish Minister for Higher Education and Science Sofie Carsten Nielsen presented the Danish government's plan to scale back the size of a range of advanced degree programmes (the ‘dimensioning model’), so that 4,000 fewer students will be admitted in 2017. According to the ministry, the aim is to reduce the number of unemployed graduates. The idea is that the universities in particular need to reduce the number of student places, and humanities degree programmes are particularly heavily affected. 

In total, the universities are to cut 2,391 places on Master's degree programmes by 2017 – 525 of them at Aarhus University. Arts must cut the number of places by 390, Science and Technology by 88, while School of Business and Social Sciences will lose 48 places. 

Aarhus University agrees that the universities have a shared responsibility to make sure there is a coherent relationship between the educational sector and the demands of the labour market. Therefore, under the auspices of Universities Denmark, work has been done on a model that would ensure that dimensioning takes place in dialogue with employers and students while respecting the universities' self-governance. 

But the ministry has now presented its own model, which contains a number of as yet unresolved issues. For example, the ministry’s model will limit the students' options and have major consequences for the educational system as a whole. While the aim of the model is to reduce admissions to the Master's degree programmes, it will also require a relatively large reduction in admissions to the Bachelor's degree programmes. There are a number of dilemmas connected with this. 

Cuts in next year's Bachelor's degree admissions will not affect applications to the Master's degree programmes until 2018. However, the dimensioning model is already due to take effect starting in 2015. This means that the number of current Bachelor’s students exceeds the number of student places that will be available on the Master's degree programmes at the time of their graduation. This is problematic because under Danish law, students who successfully complete a Bachelor’s programme have a legal right of admission to the Master’s programme in the same subject. This in turn may lead to financing problems for the universities during a phase-in period, as the places to which the graduating Bachelor’s students have a right of admission will not be financed by the ministry. 

In addition, it is uncertain to what extent the study progress reform will affect drop-out rates for the Bachelor's degree programmes, which makes it difficult to predict how many undergraduate students need to be admitted to strike the right level of admissions to the  Master's degree programmes that will be reduced under the ministry’s dimensioning model. 

The proposal also risks hampering internationalisation, as it may be harder for foreign applicants to gain admission to Danish Master's degree programmes on account of restrictions on admission. 

There are demands from several quarters to limit the number of new degree programmes. Therefore, it comes as a surprise that the model is in fact biased in favour of the establishment new degree programmes, as the model does not apply to a new programme until after three classes have graduated from it. 

In other words, there are still a number of unresolved issues in the ministry’s model. Aarhus University and the other Danish universities have entered into dialogue with the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science to clarify the model and its associated problems. At the same time, some of the possible consequences which the proposal may have for the universities and the labour market will be presented to the ministry. 

The universities have been asked to submit their recommendations concerning the allocation of places on individual degree programmes to the ministry by 20 November 2014 at the latest.


Funds for 10 interdisciplinary research networks

Ten interdisciplinary research networks at Aarhus University have been granted funding by the Committee for Research and External Cooperation (comprising the vice-deans for research, talent development and knowledge exchange). 

At the deadline, 56 high-quality applications had been submitted by employees at Aarhus University. The funding supports both new and existing networks that will strengthen collaboration between departments and faculties. 

The 10 networks are:

  • Food and Nutrition for Health and Well-Being ; 'Food4Being'
  • Extreme events, climate change, environmental humanities
  • Network for the Computational Modeling of Complex Interactions (CMCI)
  • Energy systems and markets
  • Smart Cities
  • Network for Interdisciplinary Drug Resistance Research (IDRRES)
  • Network of Public Mental Child Health
  • Urban Orders (URO)
  • AUtapwater
  • Platform for coordinated telemedicine

New profile brochure published 

The new profile brochure has been published, and a limited number of copies are now being distributed to all departments, centres and other AU units. If you need more brochures, for example in connection with conferences or for external associates, contact AU Communication at kommunikation@au.dk. 

The intention with the brochure is to provide a comprehensive picture of the university's activities, and it demonstrates Aarhus University’s high ambitions and standards of excellence in all of its activities. 

The brochure invites readers inside – whether they might be interested in collaborating with with Aarhus University, in studying here, exploring the university’s research results or find outing about other activities at the university. The articles from the profile brochure can also be found here. 


ST Vice-Dean to direct partnership for new regulation of agricultural land 

Kurt Nielsen, vice-dean for knowledge exchange at Aarhus University, has been elected chairman of the partnership for a new and targeted regulation of agricultural land.


Danish Innovation Foundation appoints three new members 

The Minister for Higher Education and Science has just appointed the three new members of the board of the Danish Innovation Foundation, with the appointments taking effect from 1 January 2015.

The three new members are:

  • Corinna Cortes, Head of Google Research
  • Anne Skriver, Vice President Innovation Dairy at Chr. Hansen A/S
  • Trine Winterø, CEO of MedTech Innovation Center in Aarhus

The new board will replace the current transitional board, which includes Conni Simonsen, Director of the Aarhus University School of Engineering.


Ambassadors explain the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe 

The acting dean at Arts, Johnny Laursen, is hosting an event which examines the collapse of communism in Eastern and Central Europe at which the four ambassadors to Denmark from Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia will give talks to and have discussions with researchers and students from Aarhus University. 

2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the collapse of the communist governments. Why did it happen? And how is the legacy of communism in these countries affecting today's foreign policy themes? 

These are some of the topics which Aarhus University invites participants to debate at the event, which the university is holding in cooperation with the four ambassadors. The event will take place on Thursday 9 October, 14:00-16:00 in lecture theatre 1, building 1441 (on the corner of Randersvej and Nordre Ringgade). Admission is free, and everybody is welcome. 


Calendar

  • 6 October: Minister for Higher Education and Science Sofie Carsten Nielsen visits AU Herning
  • 10 October: 50th anniversary of the Student House 
  • 10 October: Inauguration of the new Moesgaard Museum
  • 21 October: Memorial conference for Dale T. Mortensen
  • 24 October: Open meetings with the rector, at the faculties and in AU Administration – further information to follow
  • 5 November: Meeting of the University Board 
  • 7 November: Aarhus Symposium