The AU website section on OK18 provides information on developments for AU employees and matters such as who is covered by the Agency for the Modernisation of Public Administration's lockout notification. It also provides information on the consequences of a lockout on staff affected by the labour dispute.
Work is currently in progress on a solution for teaching activities, submission of assignments and any final exams in the event of a lockout. The parties have until 4 April to agree on a collective bargaining agreement.
Figures for this year show that Aarhus University is again seeing an increase in the number of second-round applicants, with a particular increase in the number of people listing Aarhus University as their first choice. These are preliminary figures.
Last week, Bedre Universitetsuddannelser (the Better University Studies Committee) presented the government with 37 recommendations. The recommendations relate to factors such as quality of education, the educational landscape, study programme flexibility and the use of technology.
Aarhus University aligns itself with Universities Denmark, which is supporting expansion of the legal right of admission and abolition of the current quick start bonus. Like Universities Denmark, Aarhus University is not in agreement with all the recommendations. These include the recommendations involving employment of full-time teaching staff without research commitments, the development of broader Bachelor's degree programmes and changes in the powers of the boards of studies.
In an Altinget article, Rector Brian Bech Nielsen points out that Aarhus University collaborates closely and regularly with employers to revise the degree programmes that it offers, and he calls attention to the fact that Aarhus University has seen a 10 per cent reduction in the number of Bachelor's degree programmes since 2012.
Aarhus University will be engaging in discussions with the ministry in the near future with regard to the specific content of the committee's recommendations.
Five research-driven projects aim to address gender bias challenges in research at AU. The Committee for Research and External Cooperation has granted a total of DKK 650,000 to the five projects as part of the implementation of AU's action plan for women in research from 2016.
Rector Brian Bech Nielsen focuses on research freedom in an article appearing in Altinget on 13 March. Based on the recent debate on universities' public sector consultancy, he encourages politicians, government officials and interest groups to share responsibility for protecting the fundamental trust in researchers' integrity and the knowledge they create. He also points out that a robust funding model with basic funds would be one way of stamping out speculation and denigration.
Aarhus BSS at Aarhus University will be opening a new research centre for public leadership on 26 May to mark the 50th birthday of HRH Crown Prince Frederik. On 23 May, The Crown Prince himself will inaugurate the new centre, which has been named the Crown Prince Frederik Center for Public Leadership.
More flexibility for students, more time for discussion and reflection during teaching sessions, students who are better prepared. These were just some of the significant advantages which were repeatedly stressed when some 100 members of teaching staff and other people working with teaching technology gathered on Tuesday, 13 March for the official launch of Aarhus University's EDU IT initiative.
Lars Bo Nielsen, Dean of the Faculty of Health, argues that researchers are obliged to publish their findings, even if there is a risk of drawing the wrong conclusions. He thus urges people to take a more balanced position with regard to the recent criticism of research results that have been published but cannot be recreated. At the same time, Lars Bo Nielsen calls on researchers to initiate a debate on the race to publish.
All employees can now register for the 2018 DHL Relay Race. Aarhus University will participate in the relay races in Aarhus, Odense and Copenhagen. The deadline for registration is 4 May 2018.
The senior management team publishes a weekly newsletter Here, we provide information about decisions and initiatives from the senior management team, as well as 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