The government announced its Finance Bill for 2019 on Thursday, 30 August. It was hoped that the government would remove/adjust the 2% savings that were introduced in 2016. Unfortunately, there are no plans to remove that.
Danish businesses must have easier access to international staff. There was broad agreement on this position when Grundfos hosted a panel debate on recruitment of foreign labour on Thursday last week.
Rector Brian Bech Nielsen was on the panel, together with Inger Støjberg, Minister for Immigration, Integration and Housing, as well as with a number of representatives from prominent East Jutland companies.
It was clear that there is a need to separate the debate on foreign labour from the debate on refugees so that business and industry can go on recruiting international employees who make a contribution to Danish growth and competitiveness.
Viewed in the light of the government’s latest initiative regarding rightsizing English-language degree programmes, Rector Brian Bech Nielsen emphasised the need to have no cap on university intakes of international students in fields such as engineering, IT business and languages in particular, where business and industry demand a highly qualified workforce.
The event was organised by a partnership involving Vestas, Grundfos, Business Network Aarhus/International Community and Aarhus University.
On Thursday last week, 250 of the city’s entrepreneurs met up at Dokk1, which hosted the Entrepreneurship Festival for the fourth year in a row together with the Student Incubator. There was overwhelming interest in the event, with more than twice as many attendees as last year – and tickets were sold out in six days.
More than half of the participants were students, and Rector Brian Bech Nielsen was full of praise for the event. He personally took part in a panel debate on the visions for entrepreneurs in Aarhus. He emphasised the major potential that lies in getting students to work together across the university’s many disciplines.
AU is hosting a debate at this year’s educational policy culture festival, the Education Debate, which will be held in Nr. Nissum on 7 and 8 September.
Working on the basis of this year’s theme, which is ‘gender’, AU will work together with VIA University College and the Confederation of Danish Industry to focus on how we can persuade more women to consider STEM degree programmes.
A number of AU researchers will also be taking part in the Education Debate as keynote speakers and panel members.
The Education Debate is free, and all are welcome.
The primary administrative system for the degree programmes, the STADS IT system, has reached its sell-by date. So Denmark’s eight universities, together with the Ministry of Higher Education and Science, have agreed that it is time to replace it. AU will play an active part in the forthcoming national tendering process.
A blog post by University Director Arnold Boon focuses on control versus trust – and sensible use of resources.
Please note that some of the parking areas close to the University Park will not be available for parking to the same extent as usual in the days leading up to the 90th anniversary celebration on 21 September and during the weekend.
rethinkIMPACTS 2017 will be presenting the main results of the European Capital of Culture evaluation on Monday, 10 December 2018. This is the biggest Danish survey to date on the effects and value of major cultural projects. Minister for Culture Mette Bock will be opening the conference.
Anyone who is interested is welcome to attend – researchers, students, local residents, and representatives of business and industry, organisations and institutions.
Registration is now open, and it costs DKK 300 to attend.
Professor Kaj Grønbæk took over as the head of the Department of Computer Science on 1 September. He will be leading the planned expansion of the institute as part of the university’s focus on digitisation.
The senior management team publishes a weekly newsletter This includes details on decisions and initiatives from the university’s senior management team plus current activities and discussions. You can register for the newsletter at http://info.au.dk/medarbbreve, and you will then receive an email every time the newsletter is published.
You will find previous newsletters from the senior management team at http://www.au.dk/om/uni/universitetsledelsen/nyhedsbrevuniled/2017.
If you would like to register for the English version of the news from the senior management team, you can do so at http://info.au.dk/medarbbreve/index.asp