Status: The faculty's 2025 strategy is replaced by the 2030 strategy

When Dean Marianne Holmer looks back on five years with a 2025 strategy, it is with a certain degree of satisfaction.

Much has been achieved. The faculty is in a good place - and if you look ahead, there are signs that hint an even better future.

- In just a few years, we have gone from taking home 150 million kroner a year in external funding to taking home over 300 million last year. We are already looking at reaching 400 million in 2025, says Marianne Holmer.

It is a significant growth. But for the dean, the underlying aspects are just as interesting.

The research strategy

- It is that we have created focus on certain things where we need the faculty to move forward. That is what we want with the strategy. We have set some frameworks that invite ideas and initiatives from the employees, she says.

Together, the faculty's management group has found a common focus and prioritized developing the faculty from the bottom up. By focusing on the important goals, you can mobilize the right people and support initiatives so that they can succeed.

- At the same time, we are increasingly oriented towards the outside world. We have done this without compromising the deep professionalism required to be able to further develop the expertise and excellence that is present in our research environments, says Marianne Holmer.

This has led to internal and external collaboration via SCC, flagship projects with OUH, a Cancer Hub, a Quantum Hub, Life Science Funen and closer dialogue with foundations such as the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

- We are in the process of cultivating a strategic mindset in our research environments, which has meant that we can now attract more funding and more excellent researchers, says Marianne Holmer.

Here, it is particularly worth noting that the faculty is experiencing progress in receiving ERC funds and an increasing number of recruitment grants.

At the same time, the faculty has built up an External Relations Team, the faculty's research support unit, which creates value. Both in pre-award and application support, but also with the team's project managers, who help to ensure that more and larger projects can be handled.

Likewise, the management of the departments' research groups and sections has been strengthened through a clearer division of responsibility between department heads and research leaders. This has contributed to working in strong and good teams that support retention and provide space to cultivate the expertise and excellence that make it attractive to be part of the faculty.

- It is also part of what makes me most proud of our faculty. We are generally a good workplace. And it is a good place to be employed while we grow. The stress level has decreased and well-being has increased in the most recent APV, even though it has been 5 busy years of growth and development. This is something we must hold on to when we look forward to 2030, says Marianne Holmer.

- And then we must hold on to orienting ourselves more towards the outside world. When I look forward to 2030, we must be a place where our research has even more impact and relevance. We must become even better at communicating the value creation for society that scientific research entails.

The education strategy

The faculty's educational strategy has also left important traces - especially with a new pedagogical framework and a focus on the students' competencies and their awareness of their own strengths.

The new pedagogical framework is an important part of the faculty's educational strategy, which is to strengthen the quality of teaching and at the same time ensure that the faculty uses its resources in the best possible way.

- The framework is our approach to students and their involvement in teaching. We have updated our pedagogical principles so that they are more in line with the times, and we have embarked on a new way of thinking about teaching, says Vice-Dean for Education Poul Nielsen.

The efforts have only just begun, and therefore the benefits have not yet been fully reaped. But it is a movement that has created fertile ground for both dialogue and engagement among the teachers.

- It is a long, tough process. But it resonates with the teachers, and that is the most important thing. We have embarked on something that can lead to many derivative effects – both in the form of better teaching and in the way we collaborate, he says.

An important piece of this work will be the Science Education Hub – a collaboration between NAT, the SDU Centre for Teaching and Learning, and researchers within university didactics. The hub will be kick-started in the autumn as a forum where we systematically work to disseminate the pedagogical principles and get them anchored among both teachers and managers.

- It leads to a whole lot of dialogue, also with our VIPs, and that is important. The pedagogical framework should not be something we force teachers to use, but something we develop together, says Poul Nielsen.

At the same time, the faculty's approach to innovation is changing. The teaching should reflect reality to a greater extent and stimulate the students' ability to think new things.

- We are working to ensure that innovation is not just an addition but a natural part of our way of teaching and thinking, he says.

It should also better equip the faculty's students for the job market they are entering. A general need for the students themselves and also one of the major reasons for the faculty's efforts with students' competencies and awareness of this.

- It is not only about knowledge, but also about being able to put your competencies into words and understand how they can be used in practice, says Poul Nielsen.

This work has led, among other things, to the development of a competency portfolio - a project that has grown significantly and is now supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

- It is a process that we have only just begun, and we are not finished with the students yet. It is difficult to reflect on your own competencies - especially if you are not helped along the way, says Poul Nielsen. That is why we have gathered a group of teachers who are now being trained to incorporate competency work into their teaching.

The goal is that competence work should no longer be something that lies outside of teaching, but an integrated part of it. That is why the faculty is working to equip teachers so that they can function as ambassadors and role models – both towards students and each other.

- It takes time and persistence to change the way we have traditionally thought about teaching in academia. But it is necessary if we want to make our education even more relevant and application-oriented, says Poul Nielsen.

At the same time, the faculty is working to strengthen the link between theory and practice. Not only through company projects, but also by rethinking how research and practice integration can take place throughout the education process.

- We have found that the thesis is actually the most obvious place to collaborate with companies. But this requires that students are better prepared for that opportunity and meet companies early in the education. This preparation will be a focus point in the 2030 strategy, says Poul Nielsen.

Organization and people

An important track in the faculty's strategy is about everything that is not necessarily in course descriptions or research applications, but still helps shape everyday life. It is about good university life.

– Good university life can take many forms and look different from environment to environment. But we are continuously working to facilitate some good and important discussions about what it means and how we can promote it, says Head of Secretariat Niels Kring.

The work on well-being takes place locally and is promoted through, among other things, APV processes and working environment groups, where space is created for reflection and development.

– It is important that we keep talking about it. Not only when there are problems, but as a natural part of a developing workplace. It is about creating motivation and finding out what characterizes a good working life, he says.

In August, the depeche will be picked up under the auspices of the working environment organization. Here, the focus should be on how to work constructively and forward-looking with well-being and job satisfaction.

At the same time, the faculty has strengthened its focus on digitalization. A digitalization committee has been established and functions as a platform for coordination and knowledge sharing across the organization.

– We have created a structure with regular meetings and a formal organization where we can talk about the digital changes that will continue to come and how we approach them. What should super users be able to do, and what is the role of change agents? We must ensure that we move with development in a sustainable and appropriate way, says Niels Kring.

- Therefore, in the future, we will integrate the administrative processes with the digital supports and work with SDU's improvement model in a way that suits our situation at the faculty, he says.

The committee has already had an impact – for example, in connection with the transition to Workzone, where one participant had extensive experience and was able to qualify the process.

– It shows that we have the skills at the faculty, but also that we need to get better at identifying them and using them correctly, he says.

In the future, the digitalization committee, which stems from the 2025 strategy, will become operational. Here, the Faculty Secretariat will take the lead in driving both the digital development and the work on co-creation in close collaboration with the departments.