Greetings from SDU's Executive Board

Dear staff,

Welcome back from the summer break!

We hope you’ve had a lovely and eventful summer with time for relaxation and that you are full of energy for a new semester. We’re pleased that this semester offers a fully open university for all staff and students without any COVID-19 restrictions.

Political agreements

The summer holidays began against a backdrop of two major political agreements entered into by the government and a majority of the parliamentary parties.

On 25 June, on the basis of the government's education policy initiative ‘Stronger communities and 25 new course of study outside the largest cities’, a political agreement was reached to create more regional education offers and limit the admission of students in the largest cities, as well as Roskilde, until 2030.

The government and the parliamentary parties also agreed on an agreement that limits expenses related to the State Education Grant and Loan Scheme (SU) paid out to EU students from outside Denmark. Consequently, the agreement also means a number of English-language student places will be closed down.

Process in the autumn

This autumn, each higher education institution will prepare a plan for the development in the admission of students towards 2030. SDU is currently in close dialogue with the Ministry of Higher Education and Science with a view to organising a process that will create clarity about the impact of the agreements on our own university.

The goal is that SDU at the turn of the year, based on a close and inclusive collaboration with the Central Liaison Committee (HSU), the University Council and De Studerende i Centrum (DSiC), can present a 2030 plan for which programme activities will be prioritised decentrally at the campuses and which activities will be prioritised in Odense in the future.

Fortunately, SDU is in a good position in this process, as we are already strongly based regionally with our successful education campuses in Esbjerg, Kolding, Sønderborg and Slagelse.

Law degree programme in Esbjerg

The political agreement states that a law degree programme is to be established in Esbjerg. The deadline for submitting an application for pre-qualification of new programmes to the Ministry of Higher Education and Science is 15 September and SDU is currently in the process of preparatory work which will result in an application.

English-language student places

The agreement on international dimensioning states that the parties to the agreement agreed that SU expenses should be reduced by either closing down English-language business academy and professional bachelor’s degree programmes or by offering them in Danish with effect as from the 2022 summer admissions.

This is also affects the professional bachelor’s degree programme of Bachelor of Engineering in Global Management and Manufacturing at the Faculty of Engineering in Odense. The Faculty has initiated a process that will result in the programme being converted into Danish, so that we can continue to admit students to all available student places in the future.

The programmes offered by the Faculty of Engineering in Sønderborg are specifically exempt from the agreement on international dimensioning and are thus unaffected.

The Executive Board is the process of positioning SDU in the best possible way to accommodate the various political agreements. We will get back to you with more information on this when something tangible is available.

Autumn semester

Please accept our best wishes for a great autumn semester where we can look forward to campuses filled with people and activities as we know it from before the pandemic hit us.

 Best regards,

Ole Skøtt, Rector (interim)

Sebastian Mernild, Pro-Rector

Thomas Buchvald Vind, University Director

Simon Torp, Dean, the Faculty of Humanities

Marianne Holmer, Dean, the Faculty of Science

Jens Ringsmose, Dean, the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences

Uffe Holmskov, Dean (interim), the Faculty of Health Sciences

Henrik Bindslev, Dean, the Faculty of Engineering