Last week, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced that the physical shutdown of the universities will be extended by a further 14 days up to and including 13 April. All parts of the university are working hard to continue the university's activities at a distance. It is challenging, but nonetheless it seems that generally both staff and students are maintaining an impressively high level of activity in teaching, research and study programmes.
A new agreement has just been made for public-sector employees who are unable to work from home. They will be asked to take up to five days of holiday or time off in lieu before 14 April. The agreement has been negotiated between the public sector employers, unions and the government, and it will also affect some employee groups at Aarhus University. Managers of staff affected by the agreement will let them know about the consequences. This only involves groups of employees who are not able to perform their work remotely or employees whose tasks have been significantly reduced in scope.
You can still keep up to date on the AU corona site.
Aarhus University now has the final figures on the distribution of quota 2 applications for the university's degree programmes. A total of 15,732 applications have been received via quota 2, of which 5,852 have Aarhus University as first priority. The final figures show a clear increase on last year of 5 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively.
The increase is evident across all five faculties. IT degree programmes have shown particularly strong increases. Applications have also risen for economics, public health and classical language programmes, for example.
Preparations for moving Aarhus BSS to the University City are taking shape. The steering committee for AU’s physical campus development has just approved the tender documents for the project, describing the faculty’s needs and wishes for the future areas. The next step is to find a team of contractors before the work can begin.
Moving Aarhus BSS’ activities at Fuglesangs Allé to the new University City is part of the university’s vision of a more unified, strong and well-integrated Campus 2.0. And with Aarhus BSS’ approved tender documents, the university is now one important step closer to the vision.
The team of contractors for the project is expected to be announced at the end of March 2021, after which work on developing the campus of the future can begin in earnest.
Take a virtual tour of the University City by downloading the “University City” app. Read more and download the app here.
Narcis Adrian Petriman, Ronja Driller and Jan Heiner Driller from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics have received the prestigious Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship. The aim of the fellowship is to support career development for the best and most promising researchers within their field. All three AU researchers are from the Section for Structural Biology, and the three fellowships also reflect solid international recognition of the high quality of research at the section.
Clinical Professor Hans Erik Bøtker will take up the position as Vice-dean for Research at the Faculty of Health in August. He brings with him 37 years of experience as a medical doctor and researcher in cardiology as well as a solid international network.
Professor with special responsibilities Lars Ditlev Mørk Ottosen will take up his position as acting department head at the Department of Engineering on 1 May. He replaces Head of Department Thomas Toftegaard, who has accepted another, as yet undisclosed position.
Aarhus University is closed physically, but research and teaching are largely continuing unabated at a distance - as is communication. The university's researchers often contribute their expert knowledge to the media, but several of them have also found new ways of communicating knowledge when many people are cooped up at home.