New plan for regionalisation submitted
The plan will state that SDU Science plans to place 2-3 academic postgraduate programs and approx. half of the admission from Data Science in Kolding.
Dear staff
Happy New Year to everyone! I hope that you have entered the new year well, despite the somewhat sad start with high infection rates and many changes to online exams. We have chosen to postpone our New Year's celebration at the Faculty of Science until we can meet physically, but there should be no doubt that the faculty is off to a great start in 2022.
The first online meetings have been held and work in laboratories continues without the cumbersome restrictions from previous shutdowns. I expect that we can get the students back on campus when the semester starts, now that Omicron seems to be less serious than previous variants. It will be good for all parties.
This week, SDU sent its plan for regionalisation, the Institutional Plan, which is also publicly available at sdu.dk/regional.
There will be some information from SDU in the media about the plan and Rector Jens Ringsmose has already commented in several outlets. SDU argues that we should have a discount on the reduction, since we currently admit 21 % of our students in campus cities outside of Odense.
The plan will state that the Faculty of Science plans to place 2-3 1-year Master programmes and approximately half of the Data Science student places in Kolding. The challenge for these programme is that they do not appear in the baseline of 2019. Therefore, we have to relocate them. Otherwise we would have to dramatically reduce the number of student places on the other degree programmes we offer in Odense. If a campus is established in Vejle, we will establish a number of IT programmes there – including a new degree programme in Artificial Intelligence if such a programme is approved by the ministry.
There is great support locally for a campus in Vejle, but a prerequisite is that finances can be found to establish the physical facilities and to build educational and research environments. Both local and national politicians, as well as the local business community, are working to find solutions.
Therefore, I would encourage everyone to stay updated here on SDUnet.dk and in the media in the coming weeks. There is an expectation that there will be a rapid clarification of regionalisation.
I very much hope that the countless contributions in the media from researchers, educators, business and organizations have resonated with politicians so that we can continue to educate graduates in the STEM field to meet society's needs for precisely these competencies.
Marianne Holmer, dean