By Lea Laursen Pasgaard, AAU Communication and Public Affairs. Translated by LeeAnn Iovanni, AAU Communication and Public Affairs

The smiles were big and the relief almost palpable when a larger group of staff at AAU gathered on Wednesday, 13 March to celebrate the Accreditation Council giving the university a new institutional accreditation. An accreditation is a seal of approval of AAU's quality system and, among other things, means a shorter and less resource-demanding approval process when the university establishes new degree programmes.

"When I think about how big and important an event it is there are simply no words that are too long or too great. Positive institutional accreditation is of enormous importance to AAU. A university without institutional accreditation is like a pub without a licence or a bus without a timetable," Pro-rector Anne Marie Kanstrup said.

Huge team effort

For almost two years, several hundred people at AAU have been involved in the work to secure a new positive institutional accreditation for the university. All levels, from students to staff working on quality, study boards, department management, faculty management, the rectorate and the board have contributed. Either by obtaining documentation, organizing and creating an overview, systematizing or participating in interviews with the external accreditation panel.

The pro-rector invited them all to a reception and celebration of the impressive institutional accreditation that – she emphasized – is the result of strong teamwork:

"In many ways, it has been the university's final exam, and it is absolutely fantastic to stand here with the diploma in hand and an incredibly positive recommendation. Thank you for your tremendous work. This is real proof of what we can do at AAU – collaborate constructively on large, difficult tasks," the pro-rector said.

The positive institutional accreditation is documentation that the university's degree programmes are high quality. According to the recommendation:

"AAU's quality work is systematic, well-structured and well-functioning in practice. There is a clear division of responsibilities in quality work and it is well anchored in the organization."

A statement that the Pro-rector believes everyone at AAU should be proud of:

"We can be proud that we are doing everything we can to ensure the students a good journey from recruitment to degree programme and to transition to the labour market – and with PBL as the core of it all," said Pro-rector.

Institutional accreditation of AAU is valid for six years.