Guidance in change – unified student counselling in Student Services

SDU is creating greater coherence and a clearer framework for student counselling. All study and well-being guidance as well as academic guidance, which is currently the responsibility of the faculties, will be organised in a single unit in Student Services at SDU Education.

The aim of the new organisation is to strengthen the quality of counselling through joint prioritisation, better knowledge sharing and a stronger academic community across the university. Until now, guidance tasks have been organised differently at the individual faculties and in SDU Education.

New management structure and building a common foundation

Rikke Winther Revsholm is head of Student Services as a whole, and a manager for the new Student Counselling team has just been appointed. From mid-January, Tine Andersen will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the new team of counsellors.

In the spring, the focus will be on ensuring stable operations while the new Student Counselling team is being set up. Tasks, roles and collaborative interfaces must find their shape in the new organisation, and the work of creating a common image of the future student counselling will be central.

– We need to ensure that everyday life works and at the same time make room to build a common professional foundation. This is a prerequisite for us to be able to unify and strengthen counselling across the organisation, says Rikke Winther Revsholm.

An important part of the work will be to create a common understanding of how student counselling can best support students and which initiatives create the greatest impact. This includes supporting students' ability to make reflective and independent choices throughout their education programme.

Counselling should promote well-being and the development of academic and career-related skills. Team Leader Tine Andersen will play a key role in bringing together the new team of academic advisers, ensuring knowledge sharing and supporting the development of a common academic basis for the work in Student Counselling.

Transition phase in spring 2026

The transition to the new organisation will take place over a longer period. At the beginning of 2026, there will still be counsellors at individual faculties who will carry out tasks as before. At the same time, the new joint unit will be built up gradually, but there will still be close contact between Student Counselling and the individual faculties.

Some faculties will transfer employees to Student Counselling, while others will contribute resources that will be converted into new positions. We expect to advertise several new counselling positions that will be filled in the spring.

Collaboration between Student Counselling and the faculties will be a central part of the new organisation. In Student Counselling, all counsellors will be permanent partners for the faculties. This means that all employees in the team will have a special connection to one faculty.

An important part of the work going forward will be to think about counselling in a more holistic way. The ambition is to identify cross-functional initiatives where solutions in one part of the organisation can support solutions in another.

Thank you for this year

In conclusion, I would like to say thank you for our collaboration in 2025. The decisions made this year and the great work that has already been done provide a solid foundation for the transition phase we are now entering. I look forward to our continued collaboration and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.