Strategic direction
The University of Southern Denmark adopts new strategy
The Board of SDU has just approved a new strategy that details how the University will tackle the major challenges and seize the great opportunities that lie ahead towards 2030.
Declining youth cohorts. Labour shortages. Rising prices. Relocation of education programmes. Proposals for 1-year master’s degree programmes and many more master’s programmes for working professionals. Growing need for further and continuing education. Significant changes in the funding landscape. Major global societal challenges and technological quantum leaps.
Rapid changes in society are affecting the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) and the University’s framework conditions in recent years.
Therefore, alongside the handling of the University’s challenging financial situation, an inclusive strategy process has been carried out at SDU. Read more about the proces
”The work on the new strategy has been a very good and inclusive process. I would like to thank the many great and constructive input from staff and students, which have really helped shape the form and content of the strategy.
It is the result of this process that has now been approved by the Board.
- As SDU’s management, we take the major changes in the education and funding landscape very seriously, which is why it has been necessary to renew the University’s strategic foundation and lay the tracks for the university of the future, allowing the University of Southern Denmark to maintain and expand its national and international positions of strength, says Rector Jens Ringsmose and elaborates:
- The work on the new strategy has been a very good and inclusive process. I would like to thank the many great and constructive input from staff and students, which have really helped shape the form and content of the strategy.
The strategy is about people
The new strategy provides answers to how SDU can tackle the major challenges and seize the major opportunities facing the University. Its primary focus is the core areas of research, education, collaboration and organisation.
The overall concept of the strategy is: Talented people in outstanding environments create high quality and value.
Because the University’s new strategy is first and foremost about people.
- High quality is the answer to solving our educational revenue challenges and seizing new opportunities in the funding landscape. This is the starting point for the University of Southern Denmark to continue to create value for and with society, also in 2030, and to deliver research, education programmes and collaborations of the highest international quality,’ says Rector Jens Ringsmose and elaborates:
”The strategy has a strong focus on retaining and developing the University’s population of talented people and creating excellent environments. It is in the interaction between individuals and collectives that we succeed as a university.
- The University’s researchers, lecturers, students, managers and technical and administrative staff are imperative for the University of Southern Denmark to deliver high quality. Therefore, the strategy has a strong focus on retaining and developing the University’s population of talented people and creating excellent environments. It is in the interaction between individuals and collectives that we succeed as a university.
The University of Southern Denmark in 2030
Thanks to the new strategic direction, in 2030 the University of Southern Denmark will still be an interdisciplinary university of international class with strong roots in Southern Denmark. And a university that delivers excellent research, outstanding graduates and innovation and collaboration that create movement and development in society.
It is also a transformed university in its changed emphasis on education and research.
- If we succeed with the strategy, there will be a shift in emphasis from education towards research. We will most likely become smaller in terms of student numbers – due to, among other things, a significant demographic development and political reforms – but we will also become even more of a research heavyweight, says Rector Jens Ringsmose and elaborates:
- However, if we succeed with the strategy, we will also have an even stronger student population and we will educate first-class graduates for the labour market of the future, where we must meet the need for new skills and lifelong learning. An increasing amount of our research is externally funded and our researchers are attracting more elite funding.
Finally, it should be emphasised that:
- The University of Southern Denmark is a strong university, and our new strategy will allow us to create even more value.
Implementation in the autumn
The next phase of the strategy process focuses on implementing the new strategy. Therefore, from autumn 2023, an inclusive process will be carried out with a focus on developing specific sub-strategies and initiatives for implementation in the individual areas and units.