Aarhus University has the largest number of students supported by Team Denmark – and a thriving entrepreneurial culture among its students. In a video greeting on behalf of the university, Pro-rector Berit Eika honours the students who have excelled either as elite athletes or entrepreneurs this year.

2020.11.03 | Kristoffer Jakobsen

Anne-Marie Rindom is one of the Dual Career-students, Berit Eika celebrates in the video. Photo: AU Foto.

Every year in October, Stakladen is normally filled with the university's most talented student entrepreneurs and athletes, where their achievements within academics, sport and business are celebrated.

This year, although the traditional celebration was cancelled due to Covid-19, the award-winning Dual Career students still deserve to be honoured. So Pro-rector Berit Eika has posted a congratulatory video addressed to the students who won medals in world championships or European championships, qualified for the Olympics or won prestigious entrepreneurship awards for their own businesses over the past year. 

In the video, she expresses her pride in how Aarhus University helps students “fight for two dreams at the same time”:

"You continue to impress me. With your determination. With your vitality. And with your ambition. You show us how far planning and hard work can take you.” The pro-rector concludes the video by congratulating the students for their hard work and accomplishments in their dual careers.  

The award-winning students are all part of AU'S Dual Career programme, which helps make it possible for students to pursue a career in entrepreneurship or elite sport alongside their studies.  The programme assists them by offering advice and guidance, administrative assistance, personal support and access to training facilities or the entrepreneurship incubator.

ABOUT THE DUAL CAREER PROGRAMME

• In 2020, four students at AU won a total of eight medals at European or world championships
• Five students and two alums have already qualified for the Olympics in 2021
• Four students from three different companies were presented with seven major entrepreneurial awards in 2019
• 65 students from AU’s Dual Career programme have graduated in 2020
• 55 elite athletes at Aarhus University are also supported by Team Denmark – the highest number in the country
• Over 200 companies have been established by students at Aarhus University over the course of the last four years. some of them with turnovers in excess of DKK 1 million per year – and some employing more than 10 staff
• In general, students on the Dual Career programme at Aarhus University perform well – they make good progress towards their degrees and have low drop-out rates 

READ MORE ABOUT THE DUAL CAREER PROGRAMME

• www.elitesport.au.dk
• www.ivaerksaetter.au.dk