Master’s programme reform: The draft of the future programme landscape at AAU

By Lea Laursen Pasgaard, AAU Communication and Public Affairs
File Photo: William Brændstrup

What will the programme landscape look like at AAU when the Master's programme reform is rolled out in practice? This is the big question that many at AAU are occupied with these days as the universities' deadline for submitting their institutional plans to the Ministry of Higher Education and Science is approaching.

In recent months, the AAU faculties have worked intensively to formulate their recommendations for which degree programmes the university should convert to a new type of Master's programme for working professionals or a 75-ECTS credit Master's programme. Based on the faculties' recommendations and cross-cutting considerations, the Executive Management now has a draft of an overall institutional plan. 

"It's no secret that the reform of the Master’s programmes is a large and difficult task, and I'm pleased that we now have a well-prepared draft of an institutional plan that meets the political requirements, is coordinated with the other universities, and at the same time is based on thorough considerations and input from the academic environments. They have really worked hard on the enormous task of assessing what can be converted, how the degree programmes can be transformed and which completely new programmes are relevant for the labour market," says Pro-rector Anne Marie Kanstrup. 

The Executive Management's proposal for the final institutional plan is based on the framework established by the Ministry of Higher Education and Science. This applies both to how many students AAU will admit to the different types of Master's programmes going forward, as well as the distribution between the main areas. 

The proposal is also based on the following principles for restructuring the programmes adopted by the Executive Management:

• All engineering programmes are offered partly as 1+2 Master's programmes for working professionals (one full academic year at the university with state education grant, SU, followed by two years working at a company)
• All MSc (Tech) programmes are converted to 75-ECTS credit programmes 
• Dual-subject programmes for upper secondary school teachers will continue to be offered as 120-ECTS credit programmes 
• The plan for growth at AAU's Copenhagen campus is retained

The Executive Management's proposal for the overall institutional plan meets the political requirement that by 2028 the university must not admit more than 2,560 students to a Master's degree programme with the classic 120-ECTS credits as we know it today. Divided into main areas, the proposal sets out that the areas in the Humanities, the Social Sciences and the Natural Sciences will have fewer 120-ECTS credit places than the ministry's guidelines allow, while the health sciences and technical areas will have more. 

"The deviations between the main areas are primarily due to the closure of degree programmes at the Humanities and the Social Sciences as a result of the relocation reform. In addition, we have received extra places for the medical programme, and have chosen to stick to our prioritizing the development of the Copenhagen campus within IT and sustainability," says the pro-rector.

With the Master's programme reform, the country's universities will have to convert 10 percent of their Master’s degree programmes to 75-ECTS credit programmes and 10 percent to Master's programmes for working professionals by 2028. In its proposal for the institutional plan, however, the Executive Management proposes that the university create more places for 75-ECTS credit programmes than required.

"We are doing this to ensure that there are robust degree programmes," explains the pro-rector.

Next steps

The faculties' recommendations were discussed in local consultation committees. The Executive Management’s overall recommendation for AAU's institutional plan will be discussed in the Main Joint Consultation Committee at an extraordinary meeting on 15 May, after which the Executive Management makes a final decision on the plan on 19 May. 

The overall institutional plan must be sent to the Ministry of Higher Education and Science by 23 May at the latest and must contain 

the expected degree programme landscape up to 2028. It is then expected that AAU will annually update parts of the institutional plan in line with more specific plans for the new programme landscape.

It has also been politically decided that the Master's programme reform will be evaluated in 2028.

Once the final institutional plan has been submitted, the work on the implementation begins in earnest. The university is setting up a number of working groups to work on the local implementation of the various elements of the Master's programme reform. The working groups that will work within the framework for Master's degree programmes for working professionals and 75-ECTS credit programmes, respectively, are currently being established, and the groups will officially begin their work at a kick-off event on 24 June.