When the responsibility for the financing of laboratory trainees was transferred to the departments in January, the individual department head also became responsible for assessing how many trainee positions should be advertised.

Head of the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics Erik Østergaard Jensen decided not to re-advertise the trainee positions under the circumstances. As he explains, the background is the department's tough financial situation.

"As long as I’m in such a tough situation I can’t afford to employ trainees. Otherwise I’ll have to dismiss other employees."

His explanation is echoed by his colleague Hans Brix, who is department head at the Department of Bioscience:

"The reason for the decline is the cost reduction process. I don’t think it’s viable to advertise for trainees while firing other employees at the same time."

Trainees a big plus

Both heads of department emphasise that they are very pleased to have trainees in the department.

"It's certainly not because we can’t see the advantages of having them. It’s a big plus here and that’s why we have previously trained as many as six or seven a year. We have also subsequently taken on several of our trainees," says Erik Østergaard Jensen.

"We’re happy to have trainees so it's something that will be prioritised in the future when the financial situation is better," promises Hans Brix.

A matter for the whole university?

Erik Østergaard Jensen thinks that the senior management team has passed on the responsibility for training the laboratory trainees to the departments, but without providing the financing:

"Training laboratory technicians ought to be a matter for the university, just as it is the case for gardeners, office and workshop staff. There should be frameworks in place for the departments who must carry this out."

But according to ST’s Dean Niels Christian Nielsen there is no immediate prospect of this happening, nor of a central pool being re-introduced.

"Our principle is that the departments manage the finances so that funds are prioritised by the academic environments rather than being delimited by allocation in specific pools. Hence it is correct that the Dean’s Office has not allocated funds for trainees or, for that matter, for other activities. I don’t currently see any reason to alter that."

The dean has also noticed the decline in the number of trainees but is not worried as he describes the decline as temporary.

"The decline shouldn’t be seen as meaning we’re not aware of the trainee process in relation to the education of qualified laboratory technicians. This is a task we would very much like to contribute to. The reason for the decline is the financial challenges AU is facing at the moment where both the departments and the deans are under financial pressure. When the financial situation improves the opportunities for employing trainees at the departments will also improve and, like the dean, I am following developments very closely.”

Translated by Peter Lambourne.