The prospect of losing auditoriums and classrooms following the vacating of buildings in the University Park and on Nørrebrogade has caused some concern. But according to a working group set-up by the faculty management team, there are enough classrooms. Early and late classes just need to be utilised better.

2018.06.28 | Ulla Krag Jespersen

Students and teaching staff will find that some teaching and lectures will begin earlier or end later than usual. Photo: Poul Ib Henriksen

Have we got enough classrooms? The combination of more students and moving out of a number of buildings in the University Park, on Nørrebrogade and on Asylvej has led the teaching staff and management at Health to ask themselves and each other that very question with increasing frequency and concern.

The faculty management team therefore set-up a working group in April and tasked it with assessing whether the loss of classrooms and lecture theatres combined with an increasing number of students would create problems for the faculty.

The short and reassuring answer has now arrived: There are enough classrooms.

The working group's analysis shows that the capacity of the remaining classrooms is not being fully utilised, and that this is therefore where the teaching can be expanded. The analysis was carried out based on the existing amount of teaching and a projection of the number of future students.

However, the vacant capacity is primarily found either early or late in the day, i.e. between 8:00 - 9:00 and 16:00 - 18:00. In practical terms this means that students and teaching staff will experience teaching which in some cases begins earlier and ends later than usual.

As there will be a greater need to match class size and room capacity in the timetable planning, more people will also find that teaching activities and lectures do not always take place at their ‘home address'.

Already in 2014, the faculty management team decided that teaching could be placed between 8:00 - 18:00 Monday to Thursday and 8:00 - 16:00 on Friday; however, it will first be necessary to utilise early and late classes from the start of the new semester in 2019 to ensure classroom capacity is fully utilised.

Almost all study programmes at Health are currently under revision, so the expectation from the Forum for Education at Health is that the requirements for classrooms will change as the teaching evolves. The Forum for Education at Health will therefore carefully monitor how this affects requirements.

The working group that has analysed data on the degree of utilisation and assessed the classroom situation consists of representatives from the departments, CESU and the administrative centre.

Contact

Administrative Centre Manager Nikolaj Harbjerg
E-mail: nih@au.dk
Mobile: 24 81 00 46