Per Andersen is the new campus manager at SDU Esbjerg

"I am really happy about the offer to take over the baton as campus manager, because it is a super exciting job. This means that I have to "design the store" externally and at the same time work to strengthen the organization on campus internally," says Per Andersen.

He continues: "And I'm very much looking forward to that, because we're already a strong organization. But we are also an organisation that is undergoing change, as SDU is moving more and more westwards with more and more degree programmes and therefore also needs to cultivate or strengthen the research environments here. And for that reason, we at Campus Esbjerg want to stand even stronger and be even more visible in the eyes of our surroundings."

Focus on continuing the good cooperation with the city

Per is affiliated with the Department of Law at SDU in Odense, but he works at SDU in Esbjerg. Here, he has helped start SDU's law programme in Esbjerg, where the first class of students began back in September 2023.

When the programme was to be established, the Department of Law had a strong focus on the teachers and future students continuously interacting with the local area, just like the existing programmes at SDU in Esbjerg.

"Both prior to the start of the law programme over here and here in the first three semesters, we have only had good experiences with our many different external partners. We are experiencing enormous goodwill and support from the local community – for example from politicians, law firms, government agencies and private companies."

In the same way, SUND's degree programmes in medicine, public health science and the future degree programme in psychology have and will have a very close interaction with South Jutland, i.e. hospitals, psychiatry, companies and public institutions.

"Esbjerg offers the students something very special"

In connection with his new role as campus director, he is looking forward to working with both the internal organisation and coordination as well as the outward-oriented communication.

"In relation to outward communication, we need to draw more attention to what we can do and what we offer. A recent study has shown that only half of the young people in Esbjerg and the surrounding area, i.e. those we primarily want to recruit as students, do not know that you can study at the University of Esbjerg – and of course that is not good enough," says Per Andersen.

"We have a task to become more visible there, because we have some strong programmes and can do something different from the programmes in the larger cities in terms of pedagogy and study environment. And then Esbjerg has something that I know is not seen in other student cities, namely the organization called Education Esbjerg. They work to make the city an attractive educational and study city that offers students a wealth of social and professional activities, and this combination of the city's great efforts to be an attractive student city and our educational opportunities play very well together."