By Lea Laursen Pasgaard, AAU Communication. Translated by LeeAnn Iovanni, AAU Communication. Photo: Lars Horn

Internal democracy and researchers' freedom of expression are challenged. So are the universities' finances as well as the frameworks and roles of university management. These are some of the main conclusions of the reports published by the Danish Council for Research and Innovation Policy and the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the reform of the University Act.

The act ushered in significant changes in the university sector's funding, governance and management structures, and the reports highlight the framework that universities are subject to today – and the challenges it presents. At the same time, Think Tank DEA has also published a report showing that the growing focus on external research funding creates increased pressure on universities.

Internal discussions underway

The Executive Management of AAU has discussed the conclusions of the three reports and agrees that the issues raised require that we spend time considering and discussing the conclusions, both in the sector and locally at AAU.

- The reports point to some issues that we also need to work on here at AAU. The Executive Management naturally takes the conclusions seriously and has made a plan for how we can involve staff in a dialogue about whether changes or adjustments to the framework for running a university are needed, says Rector Per Michael Johansen.

In order to have a dialogue with the staff, the Executive Management has made the reports a discussion item in department councils, the academic councils and among the heads of department.