Fifty years of efforts to give Danish and international students in Aarhus a strong base has created a unique international study environment which draws the most talented students from all over the world to Aarhus.

2016.10.05 | Mette Helm

A strong international study environment can draw the most talented students from all over the world to Aarhus. Photo: Lars Kruse, Aarhus Universitet.

When the institutions of higher education in Aarhus enter the global competition to attract the best students from all over the world, they have a trump card: a unique international study environment which is the result of fifty years of efforts to create and develop an interdisciplinary focal point for Danish and international students from all of the city’s advanced degree programmes.

The International Student Centre was founded in 1966 by a group of Danish and international students and academic staff at Aarhus University with the aim of creating an informal gathering place. Since 2006, the centre has been part of the Student House Aarhus, but its ambition is the same – to help students from different countries understand one another.

“For us, internationalisation is not just about offering the international students who come to Aarhus learning and lifelong friendships. It’s just as much about that fifth dimension the international students add to the study environment in Aarhus which can only develop when many cultures meet. We simply can’t do without that value,” explains Anne Thorø, director of the Student House Aarhus.

Aarhus University benefits from the efforts of the Student House to integrate international students and promote their wellbeing, and the university is proud to contribute. According to Berit Eika, pro-rector of Aarhus University, a strong international study environment is important, because only students who are thriving succeed in their studies. At the same time, it also gives the university a competitive edge in the global competition for the brightest minds.

“For Aarhus University, internationalisation is about attracting the brightest students – whether from Denmark or abroad. Talented students enrich the academic environment around our degree programmes, not least when they contribute perspectives from distant skies. It’s about quality. And quality doesn’t stop at passport control. We are an international university, and we wouldn’t have gotten this far without the talents from outside our borders who have come here over the years,” says Eika, who also thinks that the study environment must give international students a desire to stay in Denmark and put their education to use on the Danish labour market.

The jubilee will be celebrated at an event in Stakladen on 4 October, and guests will include 35 representatives from AU’s partner universities, the rectors of the other institutions of higher education in Aarhus and university employees who work with internationalisation.

Facts about the International Student Centre

• The International Student Centre was founded in 1966 by a group of Danish and international students and academic staff at Aarhus University.
• The International Student Centre has been part of the Student House Aarhus since 2006.
• The Student House Aarhus has 500 international members from all over the world and 2,500 Danish members, and has about 50,000 guests per year, of whom approx. one-third are international students.
• The student house is for students from all advanced degree programmes in Aarhus.