From university in Odense to university in all of Southern Denmark

During its 60-year history, the University of Southern Denmark has expanded beyond Odense’s city limits and has brought together existing research and education environments across the Region.

With the opening of SDU Vejle in the University’s anniversary year of 2026, another location will be added to the map. In doing so, SDU will take another step in a development that, since the late 1990s in particular, has anchored the University more and more firmly in Southern Denmark.

1966: A university is born

In 1962, the Danish Parliament decided to establish a faculty of medicine in Odense. The plans quickly grew into an entire university, and four years later Denmark’s third university was founded.

The first years were characterised by temporariness. At first, the University rented rooms at Odense Teknikum’s premises, and later on it was housed in temporary buildings during the construction of the permanent university buildings at the far end of Niels Bohrs Allé. In the mid-1970s, the University moved into the buildings on Campusvej. Here, the University grew both in size and academic breadth.

The 1970s and 1980s: New environments springing up to the south and west

While Odense University was growing on Funen, other environments of higher education and research emerged and developed in the southern part of Denmark.

Syddansk Universitetscenter was founded in Esbjerg in 1973, and from 1984 Handelshøjskole Syd became a hub for activities in places such as Esbjerg, Varde and Kolding. In Sønderborg, Ingeniørhøjskolen Sønderborg, which had existed since 1963, merged with Handelshøjskole Syd in 1997.

At this time, the institutions were still independent. However, these environments would soon become characters in the larger narrative of the university in Southern Denmark.

1998: Odense University becomes the University of Southern Denmark

The decisive geographical and institutional leap took place in 1998.

Odense University merged with Handelshøjskole Syd, Ingeniørhøjskole Syd and Sydjysk Universitetscenter. On 18 September, the statute for the new University was signed, and four days later it was renamed the University of Southern Denmark.

The merger entailed more than a new name. Until the merger, the University’s history had primarily been bound up with Odense; but now, research and education environments in Odense, Esbjerg, Kolding and Sønderborg were brought together to form one University.

This laid the foundation for the multi-campus structure which has been a special characteristic of SDU ever since. At the same time, the merger was an important step towards bringing together the higher education environments in Southern Denmark.

2004–2007: The University continues to grow through mergers

The formation of SDU in 1998 was not the last merger in the University’s history.

In 2004, the Institut for Grænseregionsforskning (Institute of Border Region Research) in Sønderborg became part of the University. And in 2006, an old acquaintance joined the family: Ingeniørhøjskolen Odense Teknikum merged with SDU and became the Faculty of Engineering.

In this way, a special historical circle was closed: 40 years earlier, Odense University had rented its very first premises from Odense Teknikum.

In 2007, the University was further expanded as Handelshøjskolecentret in Slagelse and the National Institute of Public Health in Copenhagen became part of SDU.

2007–2024: The campuses take shape

After the major mergers, a period followed during which the University’s geographical presence was consolidated.

In Sønderborg, the activities were gathered in Alsion, and in 2014 Kolding got a distinctive new university building in the centre of the city. At the same time, an opposite geographical movement was taking place in Odense: more and more of the University’s activities were gathered at Campusvej.

The Faculty of Engineering moved to Campusvej, and with the construction of the new SUND building, the Faculty of Health Sciences was also merged with the other faculties. Today, all five faculties are represented at the main campus in Odense.

This development shows two sides of the same story: over the decades, SDU has become increasingly geographically anchored in Southern Denmark, and at the same time the University’s largest campus in Odense has become increasingly unified.

2026: Vejle is the newest university city

60 years after its beginning in Odense, yet another significant location will be added to map of the University.

In 2026, SDU Vejle will welcome the first students to its new bachelor’s degree programmes. For the first few years, the University will be located in the historic industrial buildings in Spinderihallerne. A new permanent campus building will be ready on Nordkajen in 2030.

In addition, Vejle marks a new chapter in the University’s geographical development. Whereas several of SDU’s other campuses have become part of the University through mergers, the new research and education environment in Vejle has been developed by SDU.

The location is also no coincidence. Vejle is located in the centre of the Triangle Region, and the new campus has been developed with a focus on the interaction with the businesses in the area and on education and research in advanced IT.

With the campus in Vejle, SDU will strengthen its presence in a geographical part of the Region that is located between the University’s existing campuses in Odense, Kolding, Esbjerg and Sønderborg.

In this way, the history of SDU’s campuses is also the story of a University that has gradually expanded its geographical reach over the past 60 years and which has at the same time consolidated its role in Southern Denmark.

In 1966, the story began locally on the outskirts of Odense.

In 2026, it has expanded across the Region of Southern Denmark.