Management seminar and People's Meeting on Bornholm
In the days leading up to the People's Meeting, the management group had the opportunity to go in depth with a number of themes, before focusing on networking, debate and the candidate reform
Dear staff
Summer is upon us and it's busy leading up to the holidays. The management group braved the rush, took four days out of the calendar and traveled to Bornholm: first to hold the annual management seminar and then to participate in Folkemødet.
On the first day of the management seminar, we worked with the objective from the strategy We want to offer a unique research environment and unfold the faculty's full potential.
IS IT A BIRD gave us an inspirational presentation on the recruitment of international employees and on diversity in research groups. It was supplemented with experiences from the heads of department and led to many good discussions, some of which result in direct actions, while others are for more long-term use.
The following day we became more concrete in discussions of study administrative processes, new budget model, new round of DIAS assistant professors and a general management meeting.
We were blessed with fantastic summer weather and, in addition to the concrete discussions, it was at least as important to take care of the informal conversations, which are important for the cooperation in the group and across the faculty.
Then it was time for Folkemødet – and it was a great experience. There were many important debates and exciting presentations (2800 events in total!), but it was at least as important to cultivate the networks. For me, it turned into a series of informal meetings with foundations and colleagues from the other universities.
The funniest part was standing at the bar with deans and foundations in the tent of the University of Copenhagen on Friday evening, where I learned how to make a proper Mojito. I can highly recommend participation in Folkemødet if you want to contribute to the public debate, engage in dialogue with decision-makers and at the same time nurture the Danish networks.
The minister – Christina Egelund – was present a Folkemødet and took part in several debates, but she was not willing to discuss the Master's degree reform, even though it was lively debated – and shot down from all sides.
On Tuesday this week, a political framework agreement on a reform of Master's degree programmes was made, and fortunately it has been adjusted quite a bit since the first drafts.
The reform consists of several sub-elements. 10 % of the student places on Master's degree programmes must be converted into 1 ¼-year programmes, and another 20 % of the student places must be converted into part-time programmes for working professionals. The Bachelor's degree programmes are to have their number of student places reduced by 8 % compared to the baseline 2018-2022 and the current youth cohort.
Finally, more international students can be admitted.
Now the political parties must work together on the implementation of these measures, and it is therefore very difficult to assess how hard it will hit the University of Southern Denmark in general and our faculty in particular.
Fortunately, it looks much more promising than the first announcements.
Wishing you all a very good summer.
Marianne Holmer, dean