By Lea Laursen Pasgaard, AAU Communication. Translated by LeeAnn Iovanni, AAU Communication. Photo: Lasse Møller Badstue, AAU Communication

Ten percent of all Master’s degree programmes are to be shortened from two years to one and a quarter years by 2030. A further 20 percent of Master's degree programmes will be Master's degrees for working professionals where students work alongside their studies by 2034. And starting in 2025, Danish universities will admit eight percent fewer students than they do today.

These are some of the main elements of the political agreement made between the SVM (Social Democratic, Liberal, Moderates) government and the Conservative Party, the Green Left, the Liberal Alliance and the Denmark Democrats.

Focus on quality

Rector Per Michael Johansen is not pleased that shorter Master's degree programmes are now a reality. The Denmark of the future needs more knowledge – not less.

- In my opinion, shorter degree programmes are not the answer to the challenges we face as a society. But the reform is now a reality, and at AAU our focus is on being able to offer high quality Master's degree programmes. We will fight for this as we work on the reform, says Per Michael Johansen.

The rector hopes to become part of the committee to support the reform[LI1]  that Minister for Higher Education and Science Christina Egelund (M) is about to appoint. The committee will be tasked with looking at how the reform can be implemented at Danish universities. The rector’s concern is that there be a sensible and uniform model for the implementation of the new short Master's degree programmes.

- There must be no difference in the length and quality of a particular Master's degree programme, regardless of which university you choose to study at, says the rector.

The rector also sees opportunities in the political agreement now in place. This applies to the prospect of more international students and more Master's degrees for working professionals.

- It is good to have more international students and exciting to have new forms of professionally oriented education. At AAU, students already have the opportunity to test their knowledge and develop solutions for companies. So we are ready for a constructive dialogue and to use our experience in implementing more Master's degree programmes for working professionals, says the rector.

Reform work at AAU

The stage is set for a supplementary agreement to the reform after the summer break, but AAU is already beginning to analyze the financial consequences of the reform and work on a process for implementing the reform at AAU.

The reform will be implemented over a number of years, and Pro-rector Anne-Marie Kanstrup will lead the implementation process at AAU.

- We will do very thorough preparatory work, because it is important that we approach this carefully. With the reform, we have a new framework, and the task will then be to use it to adapt the study programmes at Aalborg University so that we can continue to offer Master's degree programmes of high quality, says the rector.