By Morten Appel, Communication and Public Affairs
Illustration: Julie Nete Nielsen

Good governance is crucial if Aalborg University is to live up to its ambition of being a mission-oriented university in a world constantly in motion. 

The Executive Management at AAU therefore decided to embark on a number of initiatives to strengthen internal leadership development at the university.

"We have many talented managers at Aalborg University, but it is not certain that they have always received help with the competence development and continuing education required to be a successful leader at a university today," says Rector Per Michael Johansen.

"Good governance is essential for well-being, development and the university's ability to create results in the society around us, and this places demands on our managers. So, I am pleased that we can now offer development courses internally for AAU managers," he adds.

Managers are tasked with, among other things, creating coherence between AAU's overall strategy, Knowledge for the World, the university's many activities and the individual staff member. This requires a shared understanding of what good governance is at AAU and a common language for it. 

"Governance is an area that requires very special skills on equal footing with all the other areas of expertise at the university. Managers must therefore also have the opportunity to improve their skills in the specific and specialized area that governance is, i.e. leadership and management," says Per Michael Johansen.

The greater focus on governance at AAU must be viewed in the light of the many changes that have characterized education in recent years where extensive political reforms have placed great demands on management and staff. Given that a manager's primary task is to create the framework for staff to best be able to do their work in a day-to-day life that is constantly changing, good governance is crucial for both staff well-being and for creating community around the organization's development, says Per Michael Johansen.

"Our staff members are our most important resource at the university. If staff members are not thriving or do not feel they can excel then the organization cannot excel either. This affects research, teaching and ultimately the students, and our ability to make a difference in society," he says.

As a mission-oriented university, AAU is dependent on partnerships with the wider world. A world that expects the university to deliver research and education at a high international level, and to be able to collaborate on solving the challenges we face.

"At Aalborg University, we have a philosophy that academic challenges are best solved together, so it is clear that the same applies to management. Perhaps some managers at Aalborg University have felt alone in their leadership challenges," says rector.

Therefore, an ambition of the new leadership development programmes is to create a common space where managers can discuss current challenges and get advice and feedback. By creating a shared understanding of governance across the university, Per Michael Johansen hopes to create robust decision-making chains where knowledge is collected and shared.

"A university has a rather special management structure, and since we are subject to political framework conditions that make for a reality that can change quite quickly, it is important that there is no uncertainty about the decision-making competences between the various management groups. Thus, management of staff members is an important competence, but management of managers, in an organization like ours, is at least as important," says Per Michael Johansen, who is pleased that the view of and requirements for good governance in academia have changed significantly in recent decades. 

"Twenty years ago, when I started participating in various management courses, it was clearly my experience that this was a type of competence we could not discuss.  In the research world, management was seen as something you had to do when you had the time. Fortunately, this is no longer the case," he adds.

"Management has become crucial for creating a good culture and well-being among staff and, in essence, running an institution that can both stand up to and create results out in the world," says Per Michael Johansen. 

HR Well-being and Development is responsible for the initiatives and may be contacted at: trivselogudvikling@adm.aau.dk