By Lea Laursen Pasgaard, AAU Communication and Public Affairs. Translated by LeeAnn Iovanni, AAU Communication and Public Affairs. Photos: AAU/Private photos

On the occasion of Aalborg University's 50th anniversary, the book At bygge et universitet. Aalborg Universitet 1974-2024 [Building a University. Aalborg University 1974-2024] comes out April 19. The book tells the story of how North Jutland got a university, how it has grown, developed and what has characterized it during the first 50 years.

AAU Update spoke to the authors of the book – historians Maria Simonsen and Mogens Rüdiger, both associate professors in the Department of Politics and Society at AAU. In recent years, they spent hundreds of hours in the AAU archives; in the new anniversary publication, they draw a portrait of AAU, which they call "a university for the times".

How did the idea for the book come about?

Mogens: AAU has had some fine celebrations of anniversaries thus far, but no overall history. 50 years was a good opportunity to do this. We presented the idea to Rasmus Antoft (Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, ed.), who passed it on to the rector. From there, the rest is history.

Can you put into words: What kind of book is At bygge et universitet?

Maria: With At bygge et universitet we want to tell a story that gives visibility to the many different aspects and voices of AAU. At the same time, it is a story that shows that AAU is part of a larger story about the Danish universities and trends in the international development of the university world.

Mogens: A university has many different faces, and there are many different people who make the university's day-to-day life cohesive. Not all of them are equally visible in the sources, but we have endeavoured to ensure that most of them have a place in the story. It's part of what we see as an attempt to write a new kind of history of the university.

What has it been like for you as researchers to work on a history of your own workplace?

Maria: Now we are historians, so it has been exciting and instructive to delve into 'our own' history and talk to both former and current staff and students who have different perceptions, stories and images of AUC/AAU than we do. 

Mogens: It has also been interesting to delve into the diversity that AAU represents, and at the same time try to look at overall trends in its development.

What has surprised you most in the process of writing the book?

Maria: When we started the project, I was very surprised that AAU does not have its own university history archive. A unit that ensures that archival material about AAU's life and day-to-day workings is collected, sorted and preserved. I hope that this project on shows how important it is to continuously tend to and preserve AAU’s history. It creates identity, as well as knowledge about how AAU has developed and why the university looks the way it does today. A solid knowledge of AAU's history also provides tools to see and understand what will happen in the future. For example, how the university has previously handled demands for cuts or changes from the political side.

Mogens: It surprised me that the university magazines are as interesting sources as they are if you want to get a closer look at the daily life, discussions and reflections of the university. This is probably a consequence of the fact that they have served as more than communication from the management.

Is there anything that has made you particularly proud as AAU-ers?

Maria: In working on the book, I heard several people talk about how crucial PBL and the project-oriented group work were – and still are – for students, both academically and socially. And that this is a huge support for students who come from non-academic homes. This is something to be proud of.

Mogens: One of the things we can be satisfied with is AAU's special relationship with its surroundings. First and foremost, the region, but increasingly also the country as a whole and beyond its borders.

In your opinion, what are the landmark events in AAU's history?

Maria: The answer to that question depends a lot on whose eyes are doing the looking. Although the name change from university centre to university did not receive much attention at the time, the change has in the long run had a major impact on AAU's self-understanding. Doing away with the basic year is a change that took place gradually, and for some subjects (but not all) quite unnoticed, but it was a break with one of AAU's original pedagogical core values.

Mogens: This also related to – I believe – the most important decision that we wanted to be a real university. It has been a long battle around the medical programme, architecture, law, the business school, etc.

I also think that the relationship between disciplinary expertise and interdisciplinarity has changed for the better. In the AUC days, there was a nebulous notion that you could throw yourself into interdisciplinarity without the remotest concept of the role your own discipline could play. Gradually, it became clear that this is an interaction based on an understanding of disciplinary expertise, to be frank. AAU's mission on the green transition is a good example of this, and of the fact that this is really difficult.

Can you highlight some of the best, funniest, wildest stories from the past 50 years?

Maria: When I read the old university magazines like AUC Nyt or Center Nyt, I smiled at the sharp humour and criticism that was given space in the magazines. But I find it difficult to single out just one event. AUC/AAU has many stories. 

At the end of the book, you call AAU "a university for the times". What do you mean by that?

Mogens: This relates to the development that AAU has undergone. Overall, a university in 2024 is different from a university in 1974. Back then, it was timely to create a university centre. It was an experiment for better or worse, and there was room to experiment within the regulatory framework. Today, the framework embeds a stricter requirement for how a university should be run. And a reckoning with the idea that research and knowledge are basically good for society. Being a 'university for the times' is something completely different today. Of course, there are different possibilities, just like back then, e.g. the 'mission-oriented university' is a response to the challenges that the framework presents. So a 'university for the times' is a university that tries to stay ahead.

How can we see the genesis of PBL and mission thinking in the history?

Maria: PBL was involved from the very beginning and something that was discussed and used in other higher education institutions around the world. It was teaching staff in the medical programme at a Canadian university that introduced PBL to the university. The aim was to get the students to understand the relevance and practical application of what they were learning in their future working lives. The university centres in Roskilde and Aalborg were tasked with working with and using new pedagogical trends such as PBL, unlike the 'old' universities in Copenhagen and Aarhus. Since then, PBL – just like other pedagogical approaches – has evolved. However, not all aspects of PBL have always been equally popular politically. Many people probably still remember how group work, which for a period became a political football, was questioned.

Mogens: As far as mission-oriented research is concerned, it should probably be seen in the light of a long tendency to want or demand that research be utilized, and thus also a break with the – highly caricatured – notion of 'research for research's own sake'. I think the vast majority of research throughout history has been driven by some kind of desire to improve human life. In 1974, a leftist understanding of this desire was formulated in the slogan 'research for the people', i.e. the working class. Mission-oriented research is a catch-all process where everyone in principle will benefit from and be pleased with the research. This means that it’s not just a question of fixing some new technology, but a broad understanding of nature and social development.

How will these distinctive features play a significant role for AAU in the future?

Maria: Interviews with former and current students show that PBL can still do something special in terms of learning. With the establishment of the PBL Institute (Institute for Advanced Study in PBL, ed.), AAU not only continues to develop its pedagogical core, but has also created a signature institute with the opportunity to develop PBL research, as well as strengthen AAU's profile going forward.

Mogens: It will continue to be important to have strong, research-intensive universities to make the world smarter and how to make the world a better place to live.