AU Viborg: The students' voice in campus development
Two student assistants are deeply involved in the development of the future study environment at AU Viborg. We asked one of the two students, Mathilde Bundgaard Sørensen, if she would like to say a few words about the work and her thoughts about the new campus.
From the very beginning, the idea has been to give students a clear voice in the AU Viborg project and in the development of the future study environment. Two student assistants have therefore been hired to provide their input for the work. One of them is Mathilde Bundgaard Sørensen, a 5th semester student on the agrobiology programme in Aarhus, where she specialises in animal science.
"I applied for the job as a student assistant on the AU Viborg project because being the student voice on the project sounded exciting. I’d already been on a couple of workshops about the new campus and heard many different opinions. But personally, I’ve always thought that the new campus could benefit the degree programme and it’d be awesome to study in Viborg, where it’s possible to create a unique setting," says Mathilde Bundgaard Sørensen.
During the spring, Mathilde Bundgaard Sørensen was part of the task force that kicked off the recruitment efforts, and she was in the user groups established to develop the teaching facilities and study environment.
"I’ve been particularly focused on the teaching facilities and on the student-initiated activities, where it’s been important for me to work on giving future students good opportunities to withdraw into their own space. Because even though it's great to be close to research, it's also important that they have space to concentrate and be social on their own terms,” says Mathilde Bundgaard Sørensen, who finds that her input is well received by the various working groups:
"I've gathered input from my fellow students along the way, and I can see that the students' opinions have been heard and taken seriously during the project. We have a lot of good talks in the working groups about what will work and what won't work, so I feel that I’m making a difference in the project by providing input that otherwise wouldn't have been considered."
Motivating when teaching moves close to practice
Mathilde Bundgaard Sørensen sees the development of the new degree programmes and the new campus as an exciting opportunity to start from scratch and create something completely new. She believes that the location in Foulum can help bring degree programmes closer to both businesses and research, and make teaching very hands-on.
"Students will be right up there where the research is going on, and that’ll make it easier for a teacher to skip a lecture theatre now and then and give students hands-on experience instead. And I think that can motivate big time," says Mathilde Bundgaard Sørensen, although she is not blind to the fact that the rural location close to animals and nature can also be a challenge.
"As I see it, it's important that we constantly promote AU Viborg so that young people see the unique opportunities in a degree programme here. Foulum is not Aarhus, it’s something else, and we shouldn’t hide that fact. We need to build up an awesome campus and make clear how unique it is, with the best facilities and some of the best research in the world, for example within climate. This really means something to me, and I think it’ll also mean something for the students in the future."