The Master’s degree reform will affect one department at Health more than others

On Monday 19 August 2024, faculty employees were invited to an information meeting in the large anatomy lecture theatre in the University Park, where Dean Anne-Mette Hvas explained how the Master’s degree reform is expected to affect the faculty.

"We can only implement the reform in one place and it’s going to be difficult"
According to Anne-Mette Hvas, it is now clear that, as a starting point, we will need to convert 10 per cent of the Master's degree programmes at Health to either one-year Master's degree programmes of 75 ECTS credits or vocational Master’s degree programmes.

The dean explained at the meeting that the Master's degree programmes in medicine and odontology are exempt from the reform because degree programmes that confer authorisation cannot be converted. And sports science will have to convert 30 per cent of student places on its Master's programme because sports science is categorised as a natural science Master’s degree programme under and therefore subject to a higher conversion rate.

"We don't yet know exactly how many Master's student places we’ll need to convert to one-year Master's programmes or vocational Master’s programmes. But we know that our only option to implement the required conversion of Master's programmes is to look at programmes at the Department of Public Health," said Anne-Mette Hvas at the meeting.

A hard and narrow impact

The Master’s degree reform includes a restructuring of Master's degree programmes and a reduction in Bachelor’s admissions, also known as the sector dimensioning.

"Health is among the faculties that, on paper, seems to be getting off lightly with a net dimensioning of only 10 student places. But it's not that simple," said Anne-Mette Hvas and explained:

"In recent years, we’ve had a higher intake than the basis used for the calculations, which are based on the years 2018-2022. So, in reality, this is a larger dimensioning. Furthermore, our medicine and odontology programmes are included in the calculations, but we just can't touch them. This means that the programmes we can adjust will be hit much harder, relatively speaking."

In specific terms, this means that Health has no other option than to dimension the two academic Bachelor's degree programmes at the Department of Public Health, namely programmes in public health science and sports science. This year, the two programmes have offered student places to 69 and 73 applicants, respectively.

As it stands right now, the consequence of the sector dimensioning is that Health has to reduce the number of academic Bachelor’s student places by 51 from 2025 compared to the number of admissions in 2024. This is because, from 2025, Health will only be allowed to admit a total of 703 academic Bachelor’s students per year.

"It's too early to say anything definitive about the consequences of the Master’s degree reform, but I acknowledge that staff and management at the Department of Public Health have a lot of work ahead of them. At the same time, it’s important for me to emphasise that we’re a united faculty and that we will look very closely at how we can help the Department of Public Health together," says Anne-Mette Hvas.

The process is already underway

Acting Head of the Department of Public Health Helle Terkildsen Maindal, along with the rest of the managers and employees at the department, knew which way the wind was blowing. But it was not expected that the department would be hit so relatively hard.

"We’re concerned and frustrated that the Department of Public Health has to bear the brunt of implementation of the reform at Health. We didn’t know about the basis for calculating the dimensioning beforehand, so we weren’t prepared for the high number," she says.

Helle Terkildsen Maindal has already begun the process of identifying which student places will be cut.

"The process will be relatively quick because the faculty needs to inform the university of how we intend to implement the sector dimensioning by October. So, I’ve established a small working group consisting of the two directors of studies and our deputy head of department for education,” she says.

Solidarity and community will be crucial

For Helle Terkildsen Maindal, it's important that employees and management work closely together to deal with the challenges ahead. Not just at the department itself but at the entire faculty.

"I noticed that our dean sees the upcoming task as a joint responsibility for the entire faculty. It means a lot to the department’s employees and me that we can expect managerial and collegial support at a time when, as a department, we’re facing such a challenge," she says.

Helle Terkildsen Maindal is confident that the department is up to the task, but she is also concerned about the department's finances and the sustainability of its programmes.

"This will probably mean that we'll be teaching smaller classes, and that our revenue on the two programmes will drop. We’ll have to think in new ways to avoid long-term consequences," she says.

According to Dean Anne-Mette Hvas, redundancies at Health are not on the cards at the moment. This is partly because the financial consequences of the dimensioning, the restructuring and new educational activities will only be clear after approximately five years.

Contact

Dean Anne-Mette Hvas
Aarhus University, Health
Email: dean.health@au.dk

Acting Head of Department Helle Terkildsen Maindal
Aarhus University, Department of Public Health
Phone: (+45) 25 46 23 20
Email: htm@ph.au.dk