The collaboration agreement between Aarhus University and Viborg Municipality will focus on benefiting from and developing Aarhus University's activities in Foulum, in addition to strengthening collaboration between prominent law firms in Viborg and the law degree programme in Aarhus.

2020.09.08 | Lonni Klitgaard

Photo: Anders Trærup, AU Foto

A new agreement between Viborg Municipality and Aarhus University is formulated in a close collaboration between representatives from the university and the municipality. A number of other players will become involved in realising the objectives of the agreement.

Research into play and more career opportunities for our students

"With this agreement, I am looking forward to further improving an already fruitful collaboration. We’ll start by focusing on two areas. Together, we can contribute to making Foulum even stronger and developing new opportunities for agriculture by bringing Foulum’s fantastic research into play to an even greater extent. With this agreement, we’re also highlighting the exciting career opportunities Viborg’s many exciting firms offer our legal graduates, and I’m glad that students are introduced to these opportunities during their studies, which can contribute to improving their job prospects after graduation,” said Brian Bech Nielsen, rector of Aarhus University.

Viborg mayor Ulrik Wilbek is also positive about the new agreement with Aarhus University:

“I think we’ve made an agreement that’s both realistic and ambitious. We’ve chosen to focus on the two areas where we already have a solid foundation, but where there’s a potential for much more: namely agriculture and law.

The main objectives of the agreement are

• To develop a shared vision and development plan for the Foulum area in the fields of agriculture, bioeconomics and climate.
• To attract investment and companies to Foulum.
• To use the university’s expertise in biorefining, low-lying land and land management to future-proof agricultural lands, reduce climate and environmental impact and develop new possibilities for agriculture. 
• To intensify focus on efforts in relation to international employees and PhD students in Foulum.
• To strengthen collaboration between the many law firms in Viborg and the law degree programme in Aarhus, including study trips, career fairs and more opportunities for work placement and projects, in addition to promoting awareness of the many career opportunities for law grads in Viborg.
• To realise the ambition of hosting an international conference on the green agenda.

World-class knowledge in our back yard

Ulrik Wilbek sees a lot of potential in the two mail focus areas of the agreement.

“They conduct world-class research in Foulum. In Viborg Municipality, we have the entire agricultural value chain - from education, to production, machine and food production and research. The new collaboration will enable us to develop agriculture and related industries,” said Wilbek, who added:

“In relation to law, Viborg has one of the strongest concentrations of law firms in Denmark, with extremely attractive career opportunities for both new graduates and experienced lawyers. We intend to preserve and develop these opportunities for students while also promoting them more aggressively.”

The agreement, which has no set term, will be evaluated every year, starting in 2022.

Read the agreement (in Danish) here