Ideas and enthusiasm are flourishing at SDU Vejle

Dear colleagues,

It has now been just over three months since I took up my role as Campus Dean in Vejle, and I spend time there approximately every other week.

As of 1 October, 166 students had enrolled across the four degree programmes, and last week I had the opportunity to meet two of them at a Campus Council meeting. They were very positive about their first weeks at university and the teaching in general. They mentioned only a few challenges, including accommodation, which had proved somewhat difficult as the student residence near campus was not ready until after the autumn break.

However, they did have one small "complaint": there are no shared breaks in the timetable when students from different programmes can meet. Classes run from early morning until 5 pm, after which 80 students attend Danish language classes.

The students would like some free periods in their timetables to meet in "communities", as many are keen to develop skills beyond those offered by their degree programmes. They have already established communities focused on robotics and cybersecurity, and they have plenty of other ideas.

Many also take part in Techathons, held both locally and nationally. For example, 35 students had signed up for Techathon Jelling over the weekend. It is truly encouraging to meet such an active and enthusiastic group of students.

The Campus Council meeting also gave us valuable insight into how the campus is developing. There are currently 34 members of staff, and by January 2027 we expect this number to rise to 41, including eight PhD students.

It is a highly international environment, so particular attention is being paid to giving new colleagues a warm welcome and fostering a shared sense of academic and social belonging. Initially, all staff could gather around a single lunch table, but as the campus grows, it is becoming more difficult to reach everyone. This makes it necessary to establish more formal structures, as we have at SDU's other locations.

The Campus Council will help ensure dialogue between students, staff and campus management, while several other committees have been established to support collaboration on operations, teaching, research and innovation.

There is also considerable interest among local businesses in collaborating with SDU Vejle. SDU RIO is working to build connections that could lead to both research collaborations and relevant student jobs. A dedicated job app already lists around 120 student jobs, approximately 60 per cent of which are relevant to the students' fields of study.

At the same time, SDU Start-up Station has been involved from the outset, supporting students' and researchers' ideas and their ambition to create something new. A couple of students have already approached the team with their ideas. FabLab is also a major attraction at Spinderihallerne, offering evening opening hours, and one of the students has been employed to help out.

In other words, there is plenty to keep everyone busy in Vejle, both researchers and administrative staff. Tasks range from getting teaching up and running to helping new colleagues settle into Denmark, the faculties and the two departments.

The need to coordinate with colleagues in Odense adds another layer of complexity, particularly for the Faculty of Science, where this way of working is still relatively new compared with the Faculty of Engineering.

Fortunately, the entrepreneurial spirit and desire to create something new are not confined to the students.

The staff in Vejle are equally enterprising and passionate about making SDU Vejle a success.

Marianne Holmer, Dean