AU’s chair of the board and rector thanked politicians at the annual celebration while also making appeals

While hundreds of students at Aarhus University attended Denmark's biggest Friday Bar and sports day in the University Park on Friday, there was a celebration in the Main Hall, where the annual celebration at AU was held. And it was particularly the students who were in focus for AU’s chair of the board, Birgitte Nauntofte, who was among the speakers at the annual celebration.

"The youth may not be very visible here in the Main Hall today, but you only have to go as far as the University Park – even if it's raining – to find the young people right now. That’s where they’re celebrating the annual celebration in their own way, with Sports Day and Denmark's Biggest Friday Bar." The young people have also been the most important to us in developing the Aarhus University's Strategy 2030," Birgitte Nauntofte said, thanking everyone involved in the work on the strategy. 

It is a strategy that will take AU to the next level, as she described it. 

Something less positive is the Master’s reform, which is challenging, the chair of the board pointed out. Just as the development of the strategy has required a lot of work, lots of employees and students have had to dedicate their time to the reform. 

“It is difficult not to highlight the Master’s reform, because it has had a great impact this year. A lot of people here at the university have spent many hours on that work. And I won’t lie – it hasn’t been optimal to develop new university degree programs,” said Birgitte Nauntofte, explaining that the challenge lies in the government’s aim for savings and labour supply. 

Future students must have a high-quality education, regardless of which format of Master's degree they choose, Birgitte Nauntofte said. 

The serious tone was disrupted when the chair of the board accidentally said KU instead of AU. It was a Freudian slip, she pointed out to the laughing audience.

Nauntofte is crossing her fingers for more basic funding

Birgitte Nauntofte thanked the politicians for increasing the basic funding to the universities in 2025. However, at the same time, the chair of the board hopes that the basic funding will also be increased in the years to come, she said. 

"Let me remind you right here that AU is the university in Denmark that receives the least basic funding per employed researcher, and the most external funding relative to the basic funding we are allocated. Keep that in mind," Birgitte Nauntofte said. 

When the chair of the board focused on research in her speech, she had not forgotten Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's (Social Democrats) meeting with the students in the Main Hall in March this year, which was a serious debate on security policy. At the time, the Prime Minister responded to a student who was worried that knowledge was being forgotten after she had told the Chief of Defense to “buy, buy, buy.” Mette Frederiksen said, "If I had said 'analysis, analysis, analysis', then you should be worried because then you might end up speaking Russian at some point in your life." In that context, Birgitte Nauntofte had a message. 

“I’m certain that there are researchers here at AU who are already working on creating the knowledge that will be needed in the future. So I would say to you – and the Prime Minister – research, research, research," Birgitte Nauntofte said. 

Mixed feedback to the minister

Rector Brian Bech Nielsen also had both criticism and praise for the government. There was praise for Minister for Higher Education and Research, Christina Egelund (the Moderates), although the rector pointed out that it was a "somewhat less developed tradition."

“I experience a Minister for Higher Education and Research who speaks and acts with respect for our sector with great veneration. I would also like to acknowledge the universities' basic funding last year - and of course, we now have hope and expectation that the increase will continue in the very near future. And it is to the minister’s credit who stands up for the language subjects. The humanities have been portrayed as a problem for far too long. Our society and we as individuals need the humanities," the rector said. 

However, there was also a single prayer - directed at the minister and her colleagues.

“And yes, I know it's not universally accepted to stand at a university and say prayers, but let's leave it at that. If you look at the proportion of graduates employed here in Denmark five years after their graduation, AU is at the top. Why should AU then have to accept having the lowest proportion of English-language places for students from other EU countries?" Brian Bech Nielsen asked. 

AU is ready to welcome international students, who are also needed by business and industry in the Western parts of Denmark, when they enter the labour market. 

“When it comes to international students, Aarhus University was given a bad deal. Now it’s our time to get a good deal,” the rector said. 

Employees and students with fire in their eyes 

Brian Bech Nielsen also spoke proudly about the university lending its premises for the official opening of the Danish presidency of the Council of the EU. 

“It was a joy and a great honour. "It was an impressive day, and many of Aarhus University's employees deserve much of the credit for this," the rector said. 

He also thanked employees and students for their efforts and the “energy and enthusiasm they always show.”

“Without employees and students with fire in their eyes and curiosity in their souls, we are nothing,” Brian Bech Nielsen said. 

Student speeches: “Education is seen as a commodity to be sold”

In keeping with tradition, the annual party also allows a student to speak at the lectern. This year's student speaker was Bálint Márk Sosovicska, a Master's degree student in classical philology. 

He pointed out that many students at the Arts faculty are frustrated that discussions, for example, about the new Master's degree programmes, the university's didactic profiling, and corporate relations, are often dominated by terminology permeated with business concepts." Education is seen as a commodity sold to students, who are then ‘resold’ as graduates to business and industry, Bálint Márk Sosovicska said. 

“We should consider whether expressions like ‘student involvement in decision-making’ are outdated, and whether they should be replaced with more contemporary concepts that recognise students as a central part of Aarhus University, not merely as people who are occasionally involved through evaluations. We also need to redefine what we mean by innovation and competencies. So they don't become empty buzzwords," the student speaker said. 

The former Novo Nordisk CEO is the distinguished alumnus of the year

This year's distinguished alumnus at Aarhus University is Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, who stepped down as CEO of Novo Nordisk a few months ago. Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen graduated from the former Aarhus School of Business with a Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration in 1991.

From the lectern, the former Novo Nordisk CEO expressed his gratitude for the distinguished alumnus award, which he considers a great honour. The education laid the foundation for his career, and during his time at the university, he encountered lecturers with unique and inspiring approaches to teaching, Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen explained. He also found room to mention the Friday bar at Aarhus BSS, ‘Klubben’ (eng. The Club).

“It is still the most attractive basement I have ever been in,” Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen said.

Each year, the award is given to someone who has made an extraordinary contribution to the national or international community and who has brought positive attention to their field and to the university. 

Awards for researchers and grants for students 

The Else Kai Sass Award, given to a researcher who brings knowledge from AU into society and has distinguished themselves particularly in research communication, was awarded to Michael Svarer, Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics and Business Economics. He received the award for "his many years of work making economics accessible to ordinary Danes, politicians and the business and industry."

The Rigmor and Carl Holst-Knudsen Award for Scientific Research was presented to Professor and Chair Henrik Toft Sørensen, from the Department of Clinical Epidemiology at the Department of Clinical Medicine, who also delivered a celebration address at the annual celebration. The award is described by AU as one of Denmark's oldest and most prestigious science awards. 

In addition, five students received Queen Margrethe II's Travel Grant, the teaching award was presented and this year's five honorary doctors were presented, as Omnibus has previously written about. 

This text is machine translated and post-edited by Lisa Enevoldsen.