New strategy for Aarhus University is underway

Our current strategy period is approaching its end and the AU management team wants to start the process of preparing the 2020 strategy. As before, the process will be thorough and provide everyone with the opportunity to give input. AU’s management wants to incorporate the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals in the coming strategy. Jørgen E. Olesen had a good editorial about these goals in 2017. You can re-read Jørgen’s article UN’s Sustainable Development Goals – what do they mean for us? and read about the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals here. 

The strategy we prepare is the long-term plan that AU and AGRO must follow to reach the long-term, future goals set forth in the strategy. It will form the framework for our work in the years to come. The strategy will also provide a benchmark and a direction for our future work. 

Work on the strategy has already begun and will continue through the autumn and spring. Our department management has given input to the composition of an international panel that will evaluate our capacity to meet the future challenges and give us constructive proposals that we can use to hone the strategy. 

The next important concrete activity with regard to the Strategy 2020 process will be the juniorVIP and seniorVIP meetings in October and November, where we will work with the sustainable development goals in relation to our work in the sections. 

I hope that we will have a serious and ambitious discussion about how we can incorporate the relevant sustainable development goals in our research areas and in the way we carry out research in AGRO and all of AU. 

Perhaps we should also apply our knowledge towards making AU a sustainable university, where we prepare green accounts, sort our waste, drive electric cars, travel less, consume less and eat less meat in the canteen.