Strategy Statement for the University of Southern Denmark
Foreword 3 ON COURSE FOR 2020 In 2012 SDU embarked on the development of an overall strategy capable of embracing the university as a whole. The result is the present Strategy Statement, which aims to map out a course and an action plan for the university between now and 2020. Through their commitment and through their many useful suggestions submitted during the consultation process, staff and students have made a significant contribution to this Strategy Statement. It is vital that all of us staff and students alike can identify with the university s strategy. I would, therefore, like to encourage continuing dialogue and debate on the shared future of the university. Only by working together can we make our plans become a reality and achieve our goals for 2020. The hallmarks of the university are the quality of its research, its strong regional links, its international outlook and, not least, the thousands of ambitious and committed students and staff working here. These fundamental features of the university, described overleaf, will not be up for revision but constitute a foundation that will carry the same weight and the same value in 2020 as it does today. This is the base from which we launch the changes that will ensure an even stronger university in 2020. These changes, which form the focus of most of the pages that follow, all point in the same direction outwards at the world around us. The key to the continued development and success of SDU lies in our ability to shape and adapt to the opportunities and challenges offered by the global context in which we operate. This Strategy Statement charts the course that the University of Denmark intends to pursue. Jens Oddershede Vice-Chancellor
4 Core narrative THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN DENMARK - A RESEARCH UNIVERSITY FOCUSING ON THE STUDENTS If the global challenges of the future are to be met, more young people must acquire academic qualifications. Research and innovation create development, growth and welfare in a global knowledge society. The aim of the University of Southern Denmark, then, is to offer as many young people as possible a research-based degree at the highest academic level and with an international outlook. The university has to provide top-class international research if it is to be considered attractive by students, staff and partners. Research aims to create new knowledge and, in collaboration with Danish and international partners, to contribute to meeting the challenges that face our society. We are holistic in our approach and collaborate across academic disciplines to generate new research results and to offer attractive degree programmes. All students enrolling at SDU are offered equal opportunities to take an academic degree at the highest level. Talent can be found everywhere, and diversity is a strength. The university attracts many international students, and welcomes many who will be their family s first academic. Through active learning and activating teaching in a stimulating study environment, SDU supports its students throughout their study, from their enrolment to their first employment after graduation, ensuring that they complete their courses successfully. Our prominent regional presence, with campuses in six major urban centres, means that more people can take an academic degree and that we can generate knowledge in close collaboration with our partners.
A RESEARCH UNIVERSITY FOCUSING ON THE STUDENTS
6 Strategy Statement
Strategy Statement 7 THE WORLD BECKONS Society at large has greater need for the university than ever before. This is a global need, as increasingly urgent challenges in areas such as health, climate change, security and the economy call for inter-disciplinary knowledge of the highest quality. And this also applies to the world at our backdoor, where new knowledge and competent graduates are in demand as a driving force for growth and development. At the same time SDU has greater need than ever for the world around us. The scientific advances of the future will come about in close and transparent collaboration with other universities, companies and organisations at home and abroad. As a university we have to attract and develop talented people from every walk of life and from every part of the world if we are to meet society s need for a qualified, innovative workforce. AND WE ARE COMING CLOSER For these reasons, our Strategy Statement charts a clear course for the entire University of Southern Denmark on its way towards 2020. We are already an innovative and outward-looking university, but to meet the demands that will be made on us in the years ahead, we will build even closer ties with the world around us closer to the challenges posed by society, to our partners at home and abroad, and to the many talented people with the potential to complete a course of studies at the highest level. TOGETHER Our staff make up the cornerstone of this strategy. They are the people who will make this strategy reality so that its aims can be achieved by our joint efforts. We cannot accomplish the tasks that face us without the tremendous enthusiasm and ability of our staff. This means that SDU has to be an attractive workplace, where all employees are consulted, develop their skills and are offered a good and healthy working environment.
8 Strategic Themes STRATEGIC THEMES The Strategy Statement includes four themes, each of which contributes in its own way to realising the ambitions of the university: Degree programmes It is the students abilities and efforts and not any prior knowledge they may have of the structure or the cultural codes of the university that will determine their opportunities for success. This means that we must develop our framework for learning and student life in order to meet the needs of the students and support the development of their potential. Research We will deliver research at the highest international level and make the greatest possible contribution to meeting the challenges facing the world. On the one hand, this means sharpening our focus on those areas in which we can provide unique contributions to science, and on the other it means strengthening interdisciplinary cooperation at the university. Internationalisation Globalisation makes ever-increasing demands on our students and staff being able to navigate and collaborate in an international context. The university has a large number of international students and staff, and we will extend our already high level of internationalisation by aiming to increase the number of students and staff spending time abroad and by attracting more students and researchers from other countries. Outreach Rooted broadly as we are in the south of Denmark, we have unique opportunities to generate growth and wealth in close collaboration with local players. We must make even better use of these opportunities than is the case today. We will aim to ensure that our students are already equipped for employment on graduation, and we will actively explore opportunities to transfer our knowledge to the benefit of society, both globally and locally.
9 THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN DENMARK - A research university focusing on the students DEGREE PROGRAMME RESEARCH OUTREACH INTERNATIONALISATION
10 Degree Programmes DEGREE PROGRAMMES The ambition of SDU is to attract talented students with the greatest academic potential. By maintaining research areas on all campuses and by working systematically to retain and develop quality in its teaching, the university offers them a research-based programme at the highest level. Talented people are to be found at all levels of society, but until now by no means all of them have had the chance to exploit their potential. Those people with no prior knowledge of the university environment in advance can experience difficulties in starting out as a student. Some drop out, others do not even apply for a university, despite having the ability to reach the highest academic level. SDU aims to develop its students full potential by following their progress before, during and after their programme. We will offer them a rich student life and allow them to experience activating forms of teaching during their studies, without compromising academic excellence. This can be done by ensuring that all staff are in close contact with students, whether as teachers, as counsellors or as service staff.
Strategy Statement 11 Initiative 1: Attractive study programmes Actions To develop and deliver programmes in collaboration with the labour market To develop interdisciplinary programmes To develop programmes that ensure cohesion in the educational system To further develop the university s PhD courses Initiative 2: Differentiated forms of learning Actions To increase the use of active learning and activating teaching To develop incentives for excellent teaching To increase the choice of specific talent programmes for students Initiative 3: Attractive student life Actions To develop opportunities for sports and other cultural and social activities To contribute to the procurement of jobs relevant to university study Key goals In 2020 the drop-out rate for the first year bachelor programme will be max. 12% In 2020 the average duration of a completed programme will be reduced by at least 3.1 months from 2011 levels In 2020 SDU will take at least 15% of first priority applicants
12 Research RESEARCH Global challenges are becoming ever more complex, and there is increasingly tough competition for the most sought-after researchers and international research funding. The aim of SDU is to make the greatest possible contribution to the scientific understanding and management of global challenges. For this reason we will sharpen the priorities governing our research activities and strengthen our focus on those areas in which we can deliver exceptional results at the highest level. In many cases such results are achieved at the interface between two traditional subject areas. This means that we will also increase interdisciplinary collaboration both in solving specific problems and in defining new concepts and methods. If we are to achieve these aims, our academic personnel need to be solidly anchored in their academic specialisms and to have the ability and the desire to cross the traditional boundaries of their subjects. We also need our research and academic personnel to be supported by efficient service of high quality by technical and administrative staff.
Strategy Statement 13 Initiative 4: Elite research in selected areas Actions To prioritise selected research areas To set up an top research programme To set up a research talent programme Initiative 5: Interdisciplinary research Actions To further develop interdisciplinary research To strengthen the infrastructural framework for interdisciplinary research in close collaboration with our partners Key goals In 2020 external funding will have increased by 50% from 2013 levels During the period 2014-2020 the university s total funding from EU sources will be at least DKK 700m. In 2020 SDU will be among the top 150 on Leiden world ranking list
14 Internationalisation INTERNATIONALISATION For SDU, globalisation brings both new demands and new opportunities. International considerations play an ever more important role in the academic issues that concern us. Knowledge is increasingly generated through international networks and with funding from international sources, and the Danish business community are looking for ever greater numbers of graduates with an international outlook. SDU is a university with strong international working partnerships and with students and staff from the all over the world. The university will extend this already high level of internationalisation by ensuring that larger numbers of students and staff spend time abroad and develop competences that will make them even more valuable both for their academic profession and for society s international competitive potential. And the university aims to attract more students and researchers from abroad. This means that is important that all the university s staff and students have the skills necessary to handle cultural and linguistic diversity.
Strategy Statement 15 Initiative 6: An international study environment Actions To integrate periods of study abroad into curricula To create a framework for foreign students that provides attractive conditions for study To increase the number of bachelor and masters degrees taught in English Initiative 7: An international workplace Actions To increase the recruitment of international staff To offer opportunities for developing language skills To increase collaboration with selected foreign universities Key goals In 2020 the number of students with periods of study abroad will have increased by 50% over 2013 levels In 2020 at least 60% of the university s publications will be international collaborative productions In 2020 at least 20% of the university s full-time staff will be from abroad In 2020 at least 25% of the university s academic staff will be from abroad
16 Outreach OUTREACH One of the most significant strengths of SDU is its broad social involvement. This creates the special conditions necessary for us to generate positive value in close collaboration with local companies, organisations and public institutions, including the health sector. Our ambition to ensure that the knowledge and the graduates we send out will create value for society at large is deeply embedded in our vision and our mission, but that transfer of value does not always happen by itself. It may be difficult, for example, for a smaller company to see the value of appointing its first academic. We must, therefore, make an even greater effort in the future to root our services in our social context. We will aim to ensure that our graduates are equipped to enter employment as soon as they leave the university, and that a number of them set up their own business. We will do our best to make sure that a greater proportion of our research is applied and creates value outside the academic world. And we will strive to market our knowledge and our graduates more actively and aggressively to our social environment. It is important that the university s staff are involved in their social environment through the exchange and transmission of knowledge and through collaboration and partnership.
Strategy Statement 17 Initiative 8: Services to fulfil the needs of society Actions To increase the commercialisation and applicability of research To offer relevant and attractive post-graduate and in-service programmes To increase our participation in public debate and our transmission of knowledge, including research-based services to public authorities Initiative 9: Regional roots Actions A clear and updated profile for research and degree programmes for campuses outside Odense To increase collaboration with Odense University Hospital and the other regional health authorities To set up collaborations with business in urban centres around each campus Key goals In 2020 the proportion of academics in employment in the regions of Southern Denmark and Zealand will have doubled against 2013 levels In 2020 the number of collaborative agreements between researchers and public organisations will have increased by 50% against 2013 levels
18 THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN DENMARK - A RESEARCH UNIVERSITY FOCUSING ON THE STUDENTS STRATEGIC THEMES: Degree programme Research Internationalisation Outreach AIMS: We must develop our framework for learning and student life in order to meet the needs of the students and support the development of their potential. We will deliver research at the highest international level and make the greatest possible contribution to meeting the challenges facing the world. We will extend our already high level of internationalisation by aiming to increase the number of students and staff spending time abroad and by attracting more students and researchers from other countries. We will aim to ensure that our students are already equipped for employment on graduation, and we will actively explore opportunities to transfer our knowledge to the benefit of society, both globally and locally. INITIATIVES: Attractive degree programmes Elite research in selected areas An international study environment Services to fulfil the needs of society Differentiated forms of teaching Interdisciplinary research An international workplace Regional roots Attractive student life KEY GOALS: In 2020 the dropout rate for the first year bachelor programme will be max. 12% In 2020 the average duration of a completed programme will be reduced by at least 3.1 months from 2011 levels In 2020 SDU will take at least 15% of first priority applicants In 2020 external funding will have increased by 50% from 2013 levels During the period 2014-2020 the university s total funding from EU sources will be at least DKK 700m. In 2020 SDU will be among the top 150 on Leiden world ranking list In 2020 the number of students with periods of study abroad will have increased by 50% over 2013 levels In 2020 at least 60% of the university s publications will be international collaborative productions In 2020 at least 20% of the university s full-time staff will be from abroad In 2020 at least 25% of the university s academic staff will be from abroad In 2020 the proportion of academics in employment in the regions of Southern Denmark and Zealand will have doubled against 2013 levels In 2020 the number of collaborative agreements between researchers and public organisations will have increased by 50% against 2013 levels
Strategy Statement 19 Facts Staff: 5,400 Academic: 2,400 Ph.D. students: 900 Administrative: 2,100 Turnover: DKK 2.8b Students: 29,000 The Faculty of Health Sciences The Faculty of Engineering 4,500 international students 14 % 15 % 10 % 28 % The Faculty of Humanities 40 % 7 % The Faculty of Business and Social Sciences The Faculty of Science Presence on six campuses: Esbjerg Kolding København Odense Slagelse Sønderborg 2013 figures
University of Southern Denmark Campusvej 55 DK-5230 Odense M www.sdu.dk Syddansk Universitet, December 2013 Layout and graphics: Corporate Communication, SDU Photographer: page 2: Claus Thorsted, page 5: David Trood, page 6: Hung Tien Vu