Newsletter from the Rectorate October 2011 · 28. October 2011
Status of Amendments to University Regulations
Following a hearing procedure in the main areas, the Student Society, HAMiU (Main Working Environment Committee) and HSU (Main Joint Consultation Committee) as well as a staff seminar where staff were invited to give their opinion, the rectorate have received a number of qualified responses which will be included in our further work towards the adoption of new regulations for AAU. Initially, the responses will result in further negotiations on the board on 24 October, subsequently, after adaption and adjustments of models etc., the material will form the basis of a final draft version of the regulations to be presented for approval by the board at their meeting on 5 December 2011.
Sports centre and study hall for students
As a result of a collaborative process with the local authorities in Aalborg, AAU students may now look forward to being able to use sports centre facilities in Gigantium. The Aalborg mayor Henning G. Jensen has offered the students free access to a minor sports gym in Gigantium, where sports activities will be managed by the students themselves. At the moment, a more specific description of this option is being prepared.
Together with the Aalborg local authorities AAU is also looking into the possibility of establishing a study hall for university students in the Aalborg city centre. In more specific terms, we are considering the main public library/community centre as an obvious possible location.
Nordjysk Elitesport (North Jutland Elitist Sports) joins the struggle for encouraging more students to enrol at educational institutions
Nordjysk Elitesport, which at the moment supports 113 elitist athletes in combining their sports careers with their studies at AAU and UCN has launched a video campaign, entitled “Tag tingene I egen hand” [Take matters into your own hands]. In the video, three well-known elitist athletes, who are also students, encourage young people to enrol for further studies. In this way, the athletes act as role models. Nordjysk Elitesport has entered into an agreement with a number of North Jutland sports clubs to show the video at stadiums, in sports centres and VIP rooms. The video visualises Nordjysk Elitesport partners, and prior to the deadline for enrolment for the study placement scheme, the clubs ran a special version advertising this scheme. See the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yE7pt45FBQ
AAU assisting upper secondary teachers in their continuing and further education
GymnasielærerFLEX [Upper Secondary Teacher FLEX] is a new scheme by which AAU offers flexible continuing and further education to upper secondary teachers. 20 upper secondary teachers have already joined the scheme, which combines studies at AAU with the teachers’ own teaching activities at their upper secondary schools. With this scheme, AAU has wished to offer upper secondary teachers and headmasters one visible access to AAU, as the headmasters have indicated that “finding one’s way” to the right person at AAU may be a limiting factor. In GymnasielærerFLEX the study coordinator will provide counselling to teachers as regards the planning of flexible courses and flexible conditions on the basis of “the art of the possible”, and by applying AAU’s existing study opportunities. Experience from Nordjysk Elitesport forms the basis of the establishment of GymnasielærerFLEX. The scheme is one of a number of initiatives which have been taken to ensure stronger collaboration between AAU and the upper secondary school sector. More information about the offer for upper secondary teachers is available at www.gymnasielærerflex.dk
Esbjerg University Award
On 7 October 2011, the Esbjerg University Award was given for the 13th time. Danske Bank and Esbjerg Erhvervsudvikling [industrial development body] donate DKK 40,000 towards the award, which is intended to promote business related research within innovation, competence and internationalisation and is given to persons who have skilfully and diligently completed or are about to complete a major task.
23-year-old Henrik Tækker Madsen, a graduated chemical engineer who has just embarked on his PhD studies at Aalborg University Esbjerg, won the Esbjerg University Award together with to students from the University of Southern Denmark. In his PhD project, Henrik will work to help ensure that we can continue to drink water safely direct from the tap. He intends to spend the money awarded towards a conference in Singapore next year.
Project job strategy
With the Careers Centre as a driving force, Aalborg University has launched a “Project Job Strategy”, which will contribute to creating more growth in North Jutland.
The project aims to extend the academic job market in North Jutland by motivating enterprises as well as students and newly unemployed to focus on job opportunities in the region, particularly among small and medium-sized enterprises. In addition, the project will focus on competence development for the students and the newly unemployed, so that they can make a better and more conscious effort at “selling themselves” to the enterprises and provide these with the knowledge and competences they require.
Project activities will include:
- Increased knowledge level in the enterprises as regards value creation and innovation opportunities provided by the academic workforce, including a presentation of the opportunities related to the implementation of special wage subsidy schemes such as the Knowledge Pilot Scheme (Videnpilotordningen), etc.
- Increased focus among students and newly unemployed on job possibilities in the North Jutland job market, so that a larger number of graduates will wish to live and work in this region
- Increased focus on job application and career planning among students and graduates.
Through these activities, the project will ensure that more North Jutland enterprises experience a competence boost with a view to achieving increased value growth in the individual enterprise as well as in the North Jutland region.
Additional information is available at : http://www.karriere.aau.dk/igangvaerende-projekter/jobstrategi/
Institutional Accreditation
In January 2011, the then minister of science Charlotte Sahl Madsen presented a draft model for institutional accreditation of the universities – to replace the present programme accreditation system. In February a draft for institutional accreditation criteria was issued by the ministry. On the background of the future changes in the accreditation method as well as an internal inspection of the present quality assurance procedures at the university, the rectorate decided to launch a revision procedure of the university’s quality assurance system. This revision procedure was launched to maintain a focus on the continuous development of the university’s quality culture, in order to boost the participation of both staff and students in the selection of quality tools which may provide useful and applicable information and contribute to quality development to ensure that the university meets The European Standards and Guidelines within the field of quality assurance.
In this internal process with revision of the present quality assurance system, a steering committee has been appointed to gather the threads for the management. A quality assurance committee has been appointed, and regular meetings are being held with heads of schools and study board chairpersons. Great importance is attached to including staff and students in the steering committee, the quality assurance committee, dialogue meetings and current ad hoc groups etc. in the field. Up till now, three meetings have been held in the steering committee, four meetings in the quality assurance group, and two meetings with heads of schools/study board chairpersons, and a number of meetings in ad hoc groups.
So far, the following topics have been discussed in the process:
- The university’s quality assurance policy
- Aalborg University’s future quality assurance organisation
- Information systems and follow-up procedures (teaching evaluation, programme evaluation, student environment evaluation, graduate survey, key figures, etc.)
- Joint study regulations template and semester description
- Pedagogical competence development of teaching staff
- Ad hoc groups appointed with a focus on evaluation (method, teaching evaluation, programme evaluation etc.) andstudent counselling throughout the organisation.
Following the general election, a new minister has been appointed, and it is still uncertain what Morten Østergaard, Minister for Science, Innovation and Higher Education is planning within the area of accreditation. However, we will continue our work to quality assure AAU. Not meticulously as regards the previous draft for institutional accreditation criteria in the quality work, since we do not know if the criteria will be identical, but because the rectorate considers it to be profitable for the organisation to revise the present quality assurance system, regardless of the final decision from the ministry. The internal process is expected to proceed during the major part of 2012.
Financial Status
The second period of the financial follow-up procedure – which runs until August – showed a surplus so far of DKK 47 million, which is DKK 32 million above the budgeted figures up till now. The estimated annual result is in the range of DKK 65-79 mission, which must be compared to a budgeted result of – DKK 12 million.
The large estimated budget surplus is mainly due to the fact that it is not possible to employ qualified staff at the speed reflected in the budget. Therefore, staff expenses will be lower than expected. The university’s below-budget result for the period does not indicate, however, that the university is not experiencing growth. During the past four years, staff expenses have increased by 30%, which reflects continuous growth at the university year after year.
STÅ [student full-time equivalent] earnings account for approx. DKK 700 million, and are the university’s largest income source. 1 October calculations in the student area showed that in 2011, the university produced 9,739 STÅ, which is just 0.2% below the budgeted figure. Compared to last year, this is an increase in STÅ of about 900.
Mulled wine and Danish doughnuts for all AAU staff
According to tradition, the rectorate invite all staff to December meetings where an AAU news briefing by the rectorate will be followed by mulled wine and Danish doughnuts for all who attend.
These staff meetings will be held on the following dates:
- 20 December in Aalborg (hosted by rector and pro-rector)
- 21 December in Ballerup (hosted by rector) and Esbjerg (hosted by pro-rector)
The rectorate are hoping for a high turnout.
Best regards
Finn Kjærsdam and Inger Askehave
