HoD News - 3 July 2020

Dear colleagues,

Despite a turbulent spring semester for all of us, I hope that many of you now can look forward to a well-deserved summer holiday. Hopefully, the summer months will offer some much needed space for refreshing and refocusing before the start of the autumn term.

Autumn schedules and teaching
On Wednesday, the preliminary teaching schedules were published, including information about the teaching format (on-site/online/blended learning). You have all been asked to communicate requests or comments regarding schedules before Sunday 5 July, and on Friday 10 July the schedules will be considered final in terms of time and dates for teaching. However, as you may be aware, there are still ongoing discussions at ministerial and government level about the distance requirements. This means that the format of teaching can change depending on the regulation in force at the time. In fact, I expect that it is highly likely that the teaching format will include more online activities than what is currently the plan. At this point, unfortunately, it is not possible to provide you with information about when to expect a final statement from the Ministry of Higher Education and Science. You will of course be notified of any changes when we have news. For now, I kindly ask you to show patience and be prepared for last minute changes to the teaching format.

As mentioned earlier, Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL/CUL) is currently preparing a “package” of digital tools and resources to accommodate the conditions and qualifications for online teaching. An email with more information about webinars and digital tools will be distributed to all faculty and staff shortly. I hope that these tools will be an effective and helpful element in order to prepare for high quality online teaching next semester and in the future. 

I look forward to welcoming our employees and students, old and new, in the autumn term. The introduction and welcome events for our new students will also be quite different compared to earlier. All relevant parties, directors of studies, student representatives and faculty management, are in the process of planning introduction programmes and social activities that apply to the rules on social distancing and other government guidelines.

Enjoy your summer break and stay safe!

Best regards,

Niels Haldrup