On Monday, the Danish government's Expert Committee on Quality in Higher Education published Report II on quality in higher education and the relevance of degree programmes.? The title of the report is 'Ambitious goals: teaching excellence in higher education'.
The committee focuses on, among other things, the universities' autonomy, the students' working hours and learning, teaching development and admission models.
The report will be presented and discussed at a conference on Wednesday, 26 November at Aarhus University, where members of the Quality Committee, representatives of the institutions of higher education and students will share their views on teaching quality.??
Registration is closed; to join the waiting list, contact kvalitetsudvalget@uds.dk
The position of dean of the Faculty of Arts will be advertised in the spring. Rector Brian Bech Nielsen has decided to extend Johnny Laursen's appointment as acting dean until the current process of reviewing and adjusting the faculty structure has been completed. The process is expected to be completed in March or April next year, after which the position of dean will be advertised.
The faculty management team at Arts has just submitted a proposal for consultation. The proposal is a follow-up on the internal review at Arts. The proposal has been submitted to the faculty's central and decentral bodies for consultation during the period up until 5 December 2014.
On Monday, the senior management team sent an open letter to the students behind the 'Et andet universitet' (Another university) protest, asking them to end the blockade in Building 1430 immediately to allow employees free access to their workplaces again.
The students have been staging a blockade of the meeting rooms and offices in Building 1430 since Wednesday, 19 November. The reason for the blockade is general dissatisfaction with several government reforms of the university sector, including the study progress reform and the degree programme resizing model.
The students are still welcome to express their views in and around the building, as long as this is done without inconveniencing guests, staff and students.
Deputy department head for research Claus Holm PhD has been appointed acting department head of the Department of Education. He replaces Department Head Hanne Løngreen, who is leaving her position at AU on 30 November to take up a position at Roskilde University (RUC) as head of the Department of Communication, Business and Information Technologies.
Moreover, a new sub-departmental structure has been introduced at EDU. The process of establishing a sub-departmental structure at EDU started last spring. The process has been continued by Acting Dean Johnny Laursen, and the agreements with the seven new heads of the new sub-departmental units have been finalised by acting department head Claus Holm.
The senior management team is meeting this week with members of the academic councils to discusses the management's decision to ensure that the academic councils are more involved in decision-making.
At the seminar, the members of the academic councils from the four faculties will discuss their local decisions and ideas on:
In addition, the academic councils will discuss quality at AU, including quality in both education and research. The new report from the Quality Commission will also be discussed.
At the seminar, the senior management team will receive recommendations from the council members on how AU can follow up on the quality debate, with particular focus on the new report.
Terms of reference have now been adopted for the two interdisciplinary committees: the Education Committee and the Committee for Research and External Cooperation. The members of the two committees are the vice-deans of the four faculties, the pro-rector and the rector.
The purpose of the two committees is to identify and develop interdisciplinary initiatives which underpin the university's joint strategy for education, research, talent development and external cooperation and which can support and supplement the faculties' own initiatives.
Each committee has a budget of DKK 5 million a year for specific initiatives. The committees are also to coordinate and share knowledge across the faculties and work to improve the university's framework conditions through interaction with regional, national and international decision-makers.
The committees will meet every three weeks. Agendas, minutes and meeting schedules are available on the committees' websites. If you have input or suggestions regarding issues which you would like the committees to address, please contact the secretariat or one of the vice-deans. Read more about the committees and find information about meeting documents, members and contacts:
In the near future, a decision will also be made about the future of the four interdisciplinary forums (in Danish) which are made up of employees appointed by the academic councils and the senior management team. The four forums have an advisory function in relation to the cross-disciplinary committees and the senior management team.
Professor Rubina Raja, Department of Culture and Society, Arts, has received the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters' silver medal and prize for her outstanding research in the field of classical archaeology. The silver medal comes with a prize of DKK 100,000 for the recipient's research.
Each year, the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters awards a silver medal to a young Danish scientist for an outstanding performance in basic research.
Per Dahl, senior union representative for the academic staff at Aarhus University, has just been named union representative of the year by the Danish Association of Masters and PhDs.
Per Dahl, who has been an elected union representative at AU for 10 years, received a total of 29 nominations, and is praised, among other things, for his efforts in connection with the cutbacks implemented at AU in the spring.
Per Dahl is the third winner of the union representative of the year award (Tillidsprisen), which comes with a prize of DKK 25,000 .
The MBA programme at BSS has just received the British AMBA accreditation. BSS now holds three international accreditations – EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA, the so-called triple crown.
Today, only one per cent of business schools worldwide have a Triple Crown accreditation.
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.