The Dean’s column

The merger is on everybody’s lips. According to the latest developments, LIFE will form part of a merger with both the Faculty of Science and the new Faculty of Medicine.

The proposed plan involves the departments at LIFE that work with food and natural resources merging with the Faculty of Science, thereby together forming a new SCIENCE-LIFE Faculty (working title). The veterinary medicine departments from LIFE will be merging with the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science and together form the new Faculty of Medicine.

 

Last week’s big news about the coming merger for understandable reasons raises a large number of questions. What will be the consequences for LIFE’s study programmes, for the public-sector services we provide, what happens to our research environments - and can we all stay at Frederiksberg Campus? Many questions must remain unanswered for some time yet. Others I will try to answer here.

 

Let me briefly outline the process we are involved in right now.

Working groups for each of the proposed new departments have been set up. The working groups consist of the present heads of department. Heads of research groups, members of staff and students will be involved in the discussions which are to lead to concrete inputs to the faculty managements of SCIENCE and LIFE on 10 October.

 

We are also collecting input at faculty level to the proposals made to new departments, new study board structures, organisation of study programmes, etc. This takes place through a number of meetings that are being held with students, heads of department, directors of study and other relevant persons inside and outside the university in order to have their contribution to the coming organisation. At our meetings, we are focusing on the organisation of research areas as well as ways in which we can create synergies in the study programmes and strengthen cooperation with private and public companies in the future.

 

Weeks 42 and 43 have been reserved to receiving input from staff and students to an overall proposal made on the basis of contributions from departments and at faculty level.

 

As to the organisation of the new Faculty of Medicine which the veterinary area will become part of, workshops are held for the first time on 30 September

(link to workshops at KUnet: http://sund.ku.dk/medfak-workshop).

 

On 28 October, the faculty managements will submit an overall proposed plan to the rectorate from SCIENCE-LIFE and the new Faculty of Medicine, respectively.

It is important to note that the present LIFE departments will continue until the new departments are ready in the course of 2012 with an expected formal establishment on 1 January 2013 at the latest.

 

University of Copenhagen and the new SCIENCE-LIFE faculty will fully meet agreements made in relation to public sector services. It has been decided that an associate dean will be appointed for public sector services and business affairs, and the new faculty will give greater priority to services to the public sector.

 

You can follow the latest news about the merger at KUnet where we will also try to answer the questions you send us.

 

Kind regards

 

Per Holten-Andersen

Dean at LIFE