Aarhus University

Initially, Aarhus University was founded on 11 September 1928 as Universitetsundervisningen i Jylland ("University Studies in Jutland") with a budget of 33,000 DKK, and an enrollment of 64 students, which rose to 78 during the first semester. The university was founded as a response to the increasing number of students at the University of Copenhagen after World War I. Classrooms were rented from the Technical College and the teaching corps consisted of one professor of philosophy and four associate professors of Danish, English, German and French. Along with the Universitets-Samvirket ("University Association") which consisted of representatives of Aarhus' businesses, organisations, and institutions, the municipality of Aarhus had fought since 1921 to have Denmark's next university located in the city.

In 1929, the municipality of Aarhus gave the university land with a landscape of rolling hills. The design of the university buildings and 12 ha campus area was assigned to architects C. F. Møller, Kay Fisker and Povl Stegmann, who won the architectural competition in 1931. Construction of the first buildings began a year later, but the campus was developed in stages and is still under development as of 2017. Since 1939, C. F. Møller Architects has been responsible for the architectural design of Aarhus University in accordance with the original functionalist design key, perhaps best exemplified by the characteristic yellow brick and tile.

The first buildings were finished in 1933 and housed the Departments of Chemistry, Physics and Anatomy. These departments later moved to newer buildings at the campus and the original building complex now house Department of Psychology and Department of Political Science. The construction of the first stage was funded solely by donations which totaled 935,000 Dkr and the buildings covered an area of 4,190m. One of the most generous contributors to the first stage was De Forenede Teglværker i Aarhus ("The United Tileworks of Aarhus") led by director K. Nymark. Forenede Teglværker decided to donate 1 million yellow bricks and tiles worth c. 50,000 Dkr and later decided to extend the donation to all bricks needed. …

Aarhus University's main campus is located in central Aarhus, encircling the University Park (Universitetsparken).

The campus master plan competition was won in 1931 by the collaborative scheme of Danish architects Kay Fisker, C. F. Møller and Povl Stegmann in collaboration with landscape architect Carl Theodor Sørensen. The design includes a wide variety of buildings in a large area, but each building is constructed of the same yellow brick and roofing tile and with a common design key, providing the whole campus with a unified appearance. Construction commenced in 1932 and has continued into present times, lately in 1999-2001 (Søauditorierne) and 2014-17 (AU Health). The original main building was one of the first Danish functionalist public buildings and has been included in the Ministry of Culture's canon of Danish architecture; it is acknowledged as one of the twelve most significant architectural works in the cultural history of Denmark. In a harmonic interplay with the park, the yellow buildings form a campus that has received international recognition for its aesthetic values and it has been protected by law since 1993, in order to conserve its unique design. C. F. Møller and his company, C. F. Møller Architects have continued as architects of the campus ever since, except the new department of AU Health currently under construction, designed by Cubo. The park and campus has been expanded throughout the years, in 1957 the old park of Vennelystparken, just south of the university park was included.

Apart from the main campus, Aarhus University has several smaller campuses and departments throughout Aarhus. This includes the campus on Fuglsangs Alle in Aarhus V, hosting a large part of Aarhus BSS, and campus Nobelparken, adjacent to the university park and built in 1997–2004 in red brick, also by C. F. Møller Architects, but in a different design, parts of the research park IT-byen at Katrinebjerg, where the Department of Computer Science also teach and do research, and more recently (still under construction), the buildings of the former municipal hospital across the street from the university park. Archaeology and anthropology takes residence in Moesgård Manor, an old manor house at the new Moesgård Museum.

Aarhus University also has locations outside of Aarhus. …

A large part of the dormitories, e.g. Børglum Kollegiet, and youth accommodation in Aarhus is administered by the non-profit housing cooperative of Kollegiekontoret or though the public web-platform Ungdomsboliger.dk providing access to student and youth accommodation all across Denmark. Only the Parkkollegierne (full name: Kollegierne i Universitetsparken) dormitories are located on campus and run by Aarhus University; other dormitories are located elsewhere, all across the city. It is also the only dormitory exclusively for students at Aarhus University.

The university is governed by the university board which has 11 members: six members recruited outside the university form the majority of the board, two members are appointed by the academic staff, one member is appointed by the technical/administrative staff, and two members are appointed by the university students. As required by Danish law, the rector is appointed by the university board. The rector in turn appoints deans and deans appoint heads of departments. There is no faculty senate and faculty is not involved in the appointment of rector, deans, or department heads. Hence Danish universities has no faculty governance.

Since 1 January 2020, the university has been organised into five main academic areas:

As of 1 October 2021, more than 32,000 students were enrolled in Aarhus University. Each year more than 1000 international exchange students come to Aarhus University to study for one or two terms. In 2009 close to 3000 international students were enrolled in full degree programmes. Aarhus University is an international university with a large proportion of students at the post-baccalaureate level: over half of its students are enrolled in master's degree and PhD programmes. In 2011, 59 of the university's 113 Master's degree programmes were taught in English. Talent development of young researchers has been identified as one of the university's core activities. This means that highly qualified students have the option of starting their PhD studies before completing their master's degree. The university's doctoral programmes allow talented students to enroll in a combined Master's/PhD programme either right after completing the master's degree (the 5+3 track) or one year into their master's degree programme (the 4+4 track). Since 2006 the number of PhD students has risen from approximately 1000 to approximately 1700 in 2010.

The International Centre maintains international partnerships and combines a wide range of services for exchange students, international full-degree students, PhDs and visiting scholars. The International Centre is often the first stop for foreign students at Aarhus University, since the centre offers advice on finding housing and living in Denmark.

Starting in 2011 all summer courses and summer schools offered by Aarhus University for bachelor's, master's and PhD students will be gathered together and expanded to provide more diversity in a new framework: AU Summer University. In the summer of 2011 more than 80 courses were offered within the fields of humanities, theology, social sciences, health sciences, natural sciences, agricultural sciences, business and educational sciences. Summer courses are open to both Danish and international students.

Aarhus University has seen some deep administrational changes since the turn of the century and now also includes several large sub-departments such as Aarhus BSS, AU Engineering and others. Each of these sub-departments offers undergraduate or graduate programmes specific to their own field of study. …