History

Although Aalborg University was inaugurated in 1974, its history goes back to 1959 when the first thoughts about establishing a centre for higher education in Northern Jutland were aired by the principal of Aalborghus Statsgymnasium (a state upper secondary/high school in Aalborg), Carl Willum Hansen. He saw it as a problem that young people from Northern Jutland wanting to continue their education beyond high school had to leave the region for universities and other institutions of higher education in other parts of Denmark because of a lack of these kinds of educational institutions in Northern Jutland. Especially because most of the young people who left the region did not return to Northern Jutland after having finished their education somewhere else. In that way Northern Jutland became drained of an important part of its youth.

As a first step towards furthering higher education in Northern Jutland, a regional trade council (Nordjyllands Erhvervsråd) established a Committee for an Engineering Academy in 1961. The primary assignment of the committee was to establish a department of Denmark’s Engineering Academy (DIA) in Aalborg, and in 1966 it became a reality. Already in 1964, however, the committee stated a new and broader goal, namely the establishment of a university.

Throughout the latter part of the 1960s an increasing debate took place about the expansion and location of institutions of higher education in Denmark. Many associations, institutions and organisations in Northern Jutland worked energetically for the establishment of a university, and the idea received strong cross-party popular support. Advocates of a university in Northern Jutland represented executives from the local business community as well as from the social, cultural and political areas of society.

In 1974 a number of already existing educational institutions either entirely or partly became integrated into what was to be called Aalborg University Centre (AUC). The institutions that became integrated were: The Business Economics’ Department of the Business School of Aalborg (Handelshøjskolens afdeling i Aalborg); Denmark’s Engineering Academy’s Aalborg Department (Danmarks Ingeniørakademis Aalborgafdeling); The Engineering College of Aalborg (Aalborg Teknikum); and The School of Social Work of Aalborg (Den Sociale Højskole i Aalborg). In addition the Surveyor Educational Programme was transferred from The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Copenhagen (Landbohøjskolen i København), and many other new educational programmes were initiated at AUC as well.

In 1994, Aalborg University Centre changed its name to Aalborg University (AAU), and in 1995 the cooperation between Aalborg University and the School of Engineering in the town of Esbjerg led to a merger of the two, resulting in what is today Aalborg University Esbjerg, encompassing the fields of Natural Sciences and Engineering. In 1996 the School of Architecture and Design was established under Aalborg University in Aalborg, and in 2003 Aalborg University inaugurated a branch in Copenhagen within media technology called Copenhagen Institute of Technology. This branch is physically located at Copenhagen University College of Engineering. As of September 2007, this branch also includes a Surveyor programme.

As the latest development so far, Aalborg University and the Danish Building Research Institute in Copenhagen merged in 2007 in order to combine their knowledge within building technology. Aalborg University will continue to develop its physical as well as academic scope in such a way that the University continues to be a modern and dynamic institution at the national as well as international level.

Facts and Figures

Students
Close to 14,000 students are enrolled at Aalborg University, ranging from students at preparatory courses through doctoral-level candidates. Of these, 12,5% are international students, coming from different countries around the world. Approximately 3,500 students are enrolled at the Faculty of Humanities, 4,600 students at the Faculty of Social Sciences and 5,500 at the Faculty of Engineering, Science and Medicine.

Faculty and Staff
Aalborg University employs approximately 1200 faculty and 800 administrative and technical staff.

Campuses
The main campus of Aalborg University is located in the southeastern part of Aalborg at Fibigerstræde, Pontoppidanstræde, Kroghstræde, Niels Jernes Vej and Fredrik Bajers Vej. Additionally, there are departments at Sohngaardsholmsvej, which houses parts of the Natural Science and Engineering programmes; downtown at Strandvejen, where parts of the Social Science programmes are located; and at Østeraagade, where the department of Architecture and Design is located. Finally, Aalborg University has a campus in the southwestern part of Denmark in the town of Esbjerg, where parts of the Natural Science, Engineering and Medicine programmes are located, and a department in Copenhagen at the campus of Copenhagen University College of Engineering, where yet other parts of the Natural Science and Engineering programmes are located.

Faculties
Aalborg University encompasses the following three faculties:

The Faculty of Humanities
The Faculty of Social Sciences
The Faculty of Engineering, Science and Medicine

The three faculties offer in total 65 different educational programmes within four scientific fields; Humanities, Social Science, Natural Science, Engineering and Medicine, and have more than 40 programmes taught in English.

Degrees
Aalborg University awards Bachelors, Master’s, PhD and Doctoral degrees in various fields within the different programmes, institutes and centres. In 2005, 1,318 students thus received a Master’s degree and 106 students received a PhD degree.

Libraries
Aalborg University Library (Danish acronym: AUB) is a public research library. Its main function is to support and facilitate research and teaching at Aalborg University.

In 2004 Aalborg University Library’s collection contained close to 685,000 volumes and the library gave access to close to 19,000 electronic journals, close to 21,000 digital books and a great number of national and international databases. Close to 645,000 volumes and documents are circulated to library users every year, of which more than 390,000 are electronically downloaded documents. The library acquires approximately 19,000 new books annually.

Aalborg University Library furthermore offers its users tutorials in optimal information search and learning strategies. In 2004 3,125 users participated in these tutorials.

The main library is located at Langagervej 2 close to the main university campus. In addition there are four subject specific library branches located on the various campuses:

• The Branch Library for Mathematics, Computer Science and Low Current Technique at Fredrik Bajers Vej
• The Branch Library for Technology and Natural Science at Sohngaardsholmsvej
• The Branch Library for Social Sciences and Technology (for 1st and 2nd semester students) at Strandvejen
• Aalborg University Library, Esbjerg, at Niels Bohrs Vej, specialising in the subjects Chemistry, Applied Engineering and Software and Media.

Aalborg University · Fredrik Bajers Vej 5 · P.O. Box 159 · DK – 9100 Aalborg · Denmark · Phone +45 9940 9940 · aau@aau.dk