Education vision set to strengthen the Triangle Region

International orientation and regional anchoring are in SDU’s DNA. Over the past 25 years, SDU has purposefully built campuses with strong education and research activities in the Region of Southern Denmark.

This ambition for the Triangle Region has already been expressed in the institutional plan that SDU prepared in connection with the political agreement ‘More and better educational opportunities throughout the country’ from June 2021 (https://www.sdu.dk/en/regional) – as well as in the joint declaration of intent that SDU, Vejle Municipality and Dandy Business Park signed on 15 December 2021 (https://www.sdu.dk/en/nyheder/sdu-og-vejle-kommune-i-taet-samarbejde-om-campus) to establish a campus in Vejle, thereby supporting the Triangle Region’s need for well-educated graduates in IT and STEM subjects.

SDU’s desire to strengthen its presence in the Triangle Region is still alive and well – and an application is currently being made to establish a new master’s degree programme in Data Science at SDU Kolding. SDU has also worked on formulating a more concrete vision for how new IT and STEM education and research activities can be realised as expressed in the 2021 declaration of intent. More specifically, the aim is to establish a campus in Vejle. Both of these initiatives will help ensure the continuing development of one of Denmark’s most important industrial regions, with its climate of successful and innovative business.

The prerequisite is financial sustainability

The parties to the agreement have decided to allocate DKK 19 million to the establishment of IT and STEM education programmes in the Triangle Region, which follows the political agreement on the regionalisation of education programmes of March 2022. See the political initiative ‘More and better educational opportunities throughout Denmark’ (https://www.sdu.dk/en/om_sdu/regionalisering/nyheder_regionalisering/aftale-om-regionalisering).

- We believe that our vision for a range of new IT and STEM education programmes in the Triangle Region meets the criteria for implementation of the DKK 19 million. Therefore, we will submit a preliminary outline to the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science on 15 September that details our plans for the area, says Rector Jens Ringsmose.

He emphasises that an establishment grant of DKK 19 million can be released only once any potential education programmes have been pre-qualified. Furthermore, the establishment grant is by no means sufficient to cover the total costs of establishing a new campus in Vejle. A prerequisite for SDU to realise its ambitions is that the project is fully financially sustainable. Therefore, the University is currently working in partnership with Vejle Municipality and other stakeholders in the Region to finalise the overall financing to prevent a new campus from draining SDU’s resources. A further prerequisite for establishing the new campus is that the University can assure the recruitment of international students.

Data Science in Kolding

- The ambition to build a campus in Vejle is not in opposition to a strong SDU Kolding. On the contrary. Both cities will be strengthened with education and research activities that meet the demands of society. For this reason, we are also applying to establish a master’s degree programme in Data Science in Kolding. We are working on an overall plan to ensure that SDU Kolding remains strong in the future. There should be no doubt about our commitment to the entire Triangle Region, nor our natural interest in meeting the demand for well-educated graduates in one of Denmark’s most important industrial regions, says Jens Ringsmose.