Helge Sander loses minister post

23/02-10 kl. 10:19 Politics
Helge Sander i Videnskabernes Selskab_Anders Birch Photo: Akrivfoto af Anders Birch Long-serving Helge Sander fundamentally changed the way universities are run. Students, scientists and researchers were never fans

New minister for the universities, as Minister of Science Helge Sander loses out in major government shake-up

by Christoffer Zieler, English version by Mike Young

Helge Sander is no longer Minister of Science. The government is to announce today Tuesday a major reshuffle of posts.

Sander will be replaced by Charlotte Sahl-Madsen of the Conservative Party, a chairman of the board for a corporate sponsored innovation fund in the industrial company Danfoss.

Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen's choice of Sahl-Madsen comes as a surprise to the pundits, who have speculated widely over who could replace Helge Sander.

Never Mr. Popular

Now former Minister of Science Helge Sander held the post for 3,000 days, making him a veteran among Danish ministers.

Helge Sander was never Mr. Popular among students and researchers. Giving no thought to scholarly egos or the idea that knowledge is a value in itself, Sander is known for the business-like slogan »from thought to invoice«. The expression set off a wave of angry featured articles by researchers against the minister and the rest of the government, not least in the Danish section of the University Post.

Sander recently confronted the politically correct world of university politics by calling for private universities in Denmark.

Revolutionary

The present Danish University Law is Sander's, introducing professional boards of managers, weighted with non-university members. As a result, in Denmark, universities today are more like the corporate world of business.

Helge Sander introduced new targets for research productivity, the so-called for bibliometrical indicator, giving out funding to those scientists who publish in the right places.

More decisively, Helge Sander's time in office has seen a shift towards the way Danish research is carried out. Universities and their departments now compete for funding from funds and pools, no longer with the economic power to make large investments in research.

Long footprint

In the University of Copenhagen this has been seen as one of the causes behind recent years' cutbacks in staff in traditional subject areas, while at the same time extending investment into independent research centres and expensive building projects - a re-allocation of resources that will last long beyond Sander's epoch as minister.

chz@adm.ku.dk

0 comments

Write a comment

Join the debate read rules for debate here.
The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
By submitting this form, you accept the Mollom privacy policy.
AnnasExperiment
23/05-12 kl. 06:00 Culture

Photo Competition: Show us your room

Last chance! Send us a photo of your room before tonight at 24:00 and win tickets to the NorthSide Festival

braindrainorgane
22/05-12 kl. 06:00 World

Study shows where brains drain, or gain

A new study shows where scientists migrate to, and why. For foreign scientists in Denmark the main motivators are careers and prestige

See also:
Best and brightest consider leaving – for good
Universities struggle in ‘brain game’
raftillustration
20/05-12 kl. 06:00 Culture

The experts: How to make your own job

Entrepreneurship is a field filled with myths: One of them is that it is hard to start up something on your own. The experts have offered to share their tips

See also:
Crisis, what crisis? More student start-ups
Innovator: Don’t be afraid to fail
gregoryrockson
20/05-12 kl. 06:00 Campus

Innovator: Don’t be afraid to fail

In 2011, Gregory and two friends started the ‘Copenhagen Union’. Deliberately unambitious at the start, the initiative now trains students and organizes high-profile debates

See also:
The experts: How to make your own job
Crisis, what crisis? More student start-ups
studentstartups
19/05-12 kl. 06:00 Education

Crisis, what crisis? More student start-ups

Data shows that students are using the recession as an opportunity. More are starting businesses

spoiltstudent
18/05-12 kl. 10:00 Politics

Danish business: Students are spoilt rotten

We are dirt poor, claims Danish Student Council. Nonsense, says Chamber of Commerce, that calls for a halt to excessive student ‘salaries’

See also:
Only money for cheap champagne

Subscribe to newsletter

Are Danish students spoilt?

Unskilled jobs: 10 pros and cons

You’ve graduated from uni and you can’t get a job. The local job centre tells you to work in a pizzeria or at the local supermarket. But is it a good move to do what they say? Here’s a qualified list of pros and cons from an expert


Kontakt redaktionen

Write us an e-mail: uni-avis@adm.ku.dk

University of Copenhagen
Nørregade 10
1165 Copenhagen K
Denmark
Tel. +45 35 32 28 98

Copyright 2009 © Universitetsavisen.ku.dk