New study administration with a good working environment and a safe transition

Discussions will now begin with the affected employees and managers about the relocation of tasks and employees. The intention is that the final organisational placement of employees can be announced by December at the latest and that the new organisation will enter into force on 1 January 2026.

SDU's future study administration

The new organisation of the study administration will make SDU better able to meet future demands for a changing educational landscape, new systems and efficient administration.

Inspired by the positive experiences from the collaboration between departments, faculties and SDU Education in Kolding, Esbjerg, Sønderborg and Slagelse, SDU's future study administration will be characterised by tasks and employees being gathered in fewer organisational units.

This will create robustness, professional communities and the opportunity to streamline processes. At the same time, there will be a strong focus on ensuring continued good service to lecturers and students.

The new organisation has three key characteristics that will create a clearer and more coherent organisation:

• Clear division between policy and operations. Policy tasks are organised close to the programme management at the faculties to support strategic coherence and professional anchoring, while operational tasks are gathered in the Central Administration.
• Two organisational levels instead of three. The future study administration will be organised on two levels – faculty and Central Administration. This will contribute to fewer interfaces and a better user experience.
• Focus on coherence and collaboration so that both students and lecturers encounter a clear and user-friendly administration with a single point of entry.

A prerequisite for successfully realising SDU's ambitions in this area is a study administration that is geared for the future and is perceived as simple and accessible by both students and lecturers. The transition must free up energy to ensure the best organisational framework, efficient workflows and coherence across the organisation.

Focus on employees and a good working environment

The future study administration will also have a strong focus on creating attractive study administration environments where employee skills and well-being are highly prioritised.

– Today, SDU has skilled programme administration employees who perform their tasks with great dedication. The new organisation should not be seen as a criticism of the employees. However, considering major changes and a continued focus on delivering education administration tasks and services efficiently and with high quality, the executive board has decided to change the organisation. For us to succeed, we will focus on taking care of the employees and creating a good and motivating working environment, says Thomas Buchvald Vind, University Director. He continues:

– And we would like to thank the liaison committees and councils for their input in recent weeks. The dialogue has given us valuable perspectives on both challenges and opportunities and has helped to qualify the basis for decision-making and ensure that we achieve the best possible outcome with the new organisation.

Security and safe operations in the beginning

When the organisation comes into effect on 1 January 2026, the first three months will be a transition with a focus on safe operations and stability.

During this period, the affected employees will remain in the same physical location and perform tasks within the known framework, although there may be a new organisational affiliation and a new manager. The physical relocation will take place gradually after 1 April and throughout 2026.

– During the first three months, we will first and foremost focus on the working environment. This is an important prerequisite for stable operations. Next, we need to create an overview of the final tasks in relation to new tasks and handling the tasks that remain at the faculties. It's important for us that employees feel welcome and have time to settle into their new teams before we start developing the tasks together, says Stinne Hørup Hansen, deputy director of studies.

See new background material – including a memo on the future of study administration and a presentation on the transition – on the transition information page, where you will also find new answers to questions in the FAQ.