By Susanne Clement Justesen, AAU Communication and Public Affairs. Translated by LeeAnn Iovanni, AAU Communication and Public Affairs
Photo: AAU

How do we create a strong, professional and cohesive administration? How do we use our resources wisely so that we support the university's core tasks? And how do we succeed in managing the strategic changes that the development of the Administration of the Future calls for?

These were some of the questions that brought together 130 managers from AAU in Himmerland for the annual Management Day on 19 November.

With Knowledge for the World 2022-26, AAU has formulated a strategic ambition for a unified administrative organization. AAU has invested heavily in the digitalization of the administrative area, and continues to do so, with the aim of increasing professionalism and service. The Management Day was the first step to identifying further development potentials for advancing administration at AAU. This was the background for the discussions on the Administration of the Future at this year's Management Day.

Management across organizational boundaries

Since the first Management Day in 2017, the purpose of bringing together the university's managers has been to create space for management in context, as managing a large and complex organization like AAU is difficult to succeed with alone. Therefore, all managers from levels 1 to 4 were invited to a discussion on what the Administration of the Future should be at AAU. Management Day 2024 was designed to focus on conversation between managers across organizational boundaries. 

"To ensure a smooth and efficient administration in the future, it is crucial that we continue to create synergy between strong administrative professionalism and the academic staff organization's deep insight into what is necessary if AAU is to effectively deliver on its core tasks. We must take the necessary decisions at a pace that is in step with the dynamics of the wider world, while at the same time maintaining a deep anchoring in our common knowledge and experience," says Søren Lind Christiansen.

Proximity and accessibility

The Administrative Management Forum over the past year has contributed to the work of preparing for this year's Management Day. In this process, four themes were identified as central when the overall AAU management has to make decisions about what the future administration at AAU should look like. One of the themes was "Proximity and accessibility" that resulted in conversations centred on the question: How do we create an administration that is both close and accessible locally, ​while taking advantage of the benefits ​of joint solutions from a distance?​

At AAU, some administrative tasks can be solved by Shared Services where specialization and resource efficiency can reap great benefits. Other tasks will create the greatest value when they are locally anchored and adapted to specific needs where proximity and local accessibility are essential.

"It's not about choosing between joint or local structures, but about finding the right balance that creates value across the organization. Proximity is not necessarily just about physical presence, but also about ensuring that relationships, knowledge and collaboration are strongly anchored, even when certain functions are placed centrally. At the same time, accessibility is an important factor so that administrative functions, even when they are located remotely, remain easily accessible and support local needs in an efficient way," says Søren Lind Christiansen. ​

In your opinion, what was the most important learning from the event?

Trine: The dialogue across the organization showed that we have very different needs and challenges, even though we basically have the same core tasks around research and education. The complexity is enormous, so it's all about finding the right balance. By balance, I mean that decisions are made on an informed basis, such as by involving the users of the administrative solutions. Sometimes the joint administrative solutions seem to be unnecessarily heavy and complicated because they contain so many details and considerations. Involving users will help identify where it’s possible to reduce complexity without compromising flexibility so that joint administrative solutions do not end up being too simple and rigid.

Keld: The event was fundamentally useful because it gave rise to discussions with management colleagues from other units and faculties. It provides a good picture of not only the things we have in common, but also the differences that may exist in relation to work procedures and practices. Insight into this is a prerequisite for us to be able to further develop good collaboration across the administrative functions. It also reflected an ambitious approach to the development of our administration. I think this spirit is important in light of the fact that so much is happening in research, education and knowledge collaboration that requires us to continuously adapt and adjust administrative support.

Jens: The most important thing is that there is a strong focus on ensuring a professional and efficient administration that considers the university and its processes as a whole. That we think things through from start to finish. I also see it as a positive that we are involved in the work of finding the right solutions. Management Day was a really interesting day with a lot of good discussions about how we ensure an efficient, professional and holistic administration at the university.

What will it mean in concrete terms at your department?

Trine: My own department, given its size, has always made use of cooperation on certain administrative solutions. For example, we collaborate on specialized services in project finances, funding, HR, etc. through a service agreement with AAUBS (Aalborg University Business School). When it comes to other administrative areas, such as our study administration and quality assurance, we are close to both students and researchers. So the department is well-acquainted with thinking in terms of joint and specialized solutions as long as they meet the department's needs and are perceived as value-generating and meaningful. We are continuously developing our cooperation in the administrative area, and we are happy to share our experiences. 
On Management Day, we also discussed the new opportunities in AI/digitalization. This is a very specific area that needs competence development – both in my own department and throughout the university.

Keld: The goal of the event was to get closer to some benchmarks for the administrative area. This led to discussions about what we actually mean by concepts like proximity, accessibility, standardization, specialization, domain knowledge, involvement and mandate. The qualification of these concepts provides a good basis for cooperation on developing administrative work procedures and processes.

Jens: I find it difficult to give a clear answer as to what this will mean in more concrete terms, but some things will probably have to be done differently due to standardization across the university. I believe that standardization should be seen as something positive, as it will make it possible to support each other to a much greater extent in the administrative work across the university.

See pictures from the day here: