The final proposed merger plan from LIFE and SCIENCE

On Friday 25 November, the managements at LIFE, SCIENCE, SUND and PHARMA submitted their decision making basis to the Rectorate. This was done after a hearing round with many constructive inputs from staff, councils, boards and committees.

The two deans sent the following mail to all staff and students on 25 November:

 

Dear staff and students

Today the managements at LIFE, SCIENCE, SUND and PHARMA submit their proposed decision-making bases to the Rectorate. This is done after a hearing round where we at SCIENCE and LIFE have received many constructive inputs from staff, councils, boards and committees since 3 November. The revised proposed merger plan including written responses to the hearing will be published (in Danish) at KUnet on Monday 28 November. In this letter, we would like to focus on the main features related to the formation of the new SCIENCE.

The intense discussions over the last few months have confirmed that the establishment of the new SCIENCE faculty at KU holds some exciting and long-term perspectives. At the same time, it is clear that very considerable work lies ahead in making the integration a success and realizing synergies and benefits. Not least in the environments where things are to be joined together in new ways. In the hearing phase, we have received several comments that contain general reflections on the academic motivation for the merger and the expected effect, the time pressure of the process, the rough outline and a number of concrete matters, for instance related to location, finances and the day-to-day work and study environment.

In the decision-making basis we have merely stated the outlines, perspectives and ambitions related to the establishment of the new SCIENCE. The actual work will naturally only start if the Board decides to establish the two new wet faculties on 15 December. The creation of the new SCIENCE is a long-term project where two strong cultures and academic environments will be joined to form an even stronger environment that will be among the global leaders and that will contribute to solving the challenges that society is facing. 

In the short term, there is a number of questions that we need to address. We must work towards establishing common financial management models, we must establish co-operation committees, and all members of staff must find their place in the new organisations - and much more. We will set to work on this together with your already from the start of the new year.

One of the themes that have been pivotal during the discussions of the hearing phase is the departmental structure of the new faculty. We have wanted to create new departments where SCIENCE and LIFE environments have been mixed as far as possible and which provide clear academic synergies. It has been crucial to us to be able to create an operational management, and therefore we have endeavoured to create a departmental structure consisting of around ten departments. 

During the input and hearing phase there have been many comments that address an alternative placing of individual sections/research groups in relation to the rough outline. Some of these proposals have been considered in the revised merger plan whereas others will be clarified in the reconstruction year 2012 in dialogue with the environments affected.
Compared with the rough outline previously presented, we have made a number of changes to the revised merger plan. 

The academic synergies we are aiming for will probably not emerge by themselves. To provide incentives for a positive development we will start a process that support cross-disciplinary projects within and across the new departments. 

The dialogue related to the departmental structure has been intense for Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, Department of Geoscience, Natural Resources and Planning and Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports. 

These three new departments are facing a number of challenges that need to be addressed before they become the strong units they have the potential to be. These departments will therefore continue to have our intense attention, and we will support the establishment of strong multidisciplinary centres which will help the academic integration and for the establishment of exciting activities in the fields of research and education. We will aim to co-locate the new departments over time. In the merger plan (published Monday), a number of reasons for the chosen departmental structure have been stated.
The study board structure has been another central theme. On the basis of the hearing, we propose a study board structure with five study boards as well as the establishment of a coordination forum across the study boards.

All responses to the hearing form the basis for a focus and prioritisation list that will be used in the further dialogue with collaboration committees, students, academic councils, etc . Just as the decision-making basis, the responses to the hearing will be published at KUnet on Monday.

The decision-making basis provides a good starting point for a process in which we create a new common culture. The process will support the development of common values in management culture, study environment, internationalization, communication and cooperation with the surrounding world. 

We would like to thank you for the many good inputs you have given us during the hearing phase, and we look forward to continuing our work with the creation of a new SCIENCE faculty.


Kind regards
Per Holten-Andersen and Nils O. Andersen

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The revised decision making basis (fusionsoplæg fra LIFE og NAT inkl. bilag og følgebrev) can be read in Danish at KUnet.