In the Danish University Act, ‘significant decisions’ is a key concept in relation to co-determination and involvement. This is where staff and students must be involved. ‘Significant decisions’ include matters of major importance to the entire University or a defined part of the university such as a faculty, a department or an area in the Central Administration. What constitutes ‘significant decisions’ cannot be defined unequivocally or definitively, but in practice there is rarely any doubt as to whether specific decision cases are significant or not.
At SDU, the ambition is that relevant bodies and/or committees are involved sufficiently early and informed in important decisions that they have the opportunity to make a visible impact.
For this to be possible, staff and student representatives on bodies and committees must have sufficient time and information to prepare themselves, and involvement must be sufficiently early to ensure that the views and opinions expressed in discussions and opinions can be genuinely taken into account in the decision-making process. This applies both to ongoing operational matters and to major intra-university decisions.