Roskilde University (, abbreviated RUC or RU) is a Danish

public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whether a national university is considered public varies from o ...

founded in 1972 and located in Trekroner in the Eastern part of

Roskilde Roskilde ( , ) is a city west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand. With a population of 53,354 (), the city is a business and educational centre for the region and the 10th largest city in Denmark. It is governed by the administrative ...

. The university awards

bachelor's degrees A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Neo-Latin, Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and university, universities upon completion of a course of study lasting ...

master's degrees A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

, and PhD degrees in a wide variety of subjects within social sciences, the humanities, and natural sciences.

History

The university was founded in 1972 and was initially intended as an alternative to the traditional Danish universities which had been the scene of several student uprisings in the late 1960s. The students considered the traditional universities undemocratic and controlled by the professors and wanted more influence as well as more flexible teaching methods. In the 1970s the university was known for its very liberal education as opposed to the usual lectures provided by the more traditional universities of

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

and

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

. The focus was shifted from traditional lectures to group orientated methods and projects rather than traditional exams. Back in 1972, these educational ideas were both unorthodox and controversial, but the traditional universities in Denmark have now adopted much of the original RU concept themselves, not least the concept of group project work, which is today a recognised academic method. RU can also be said to have brought to Denmark the concepts of interdisciplinarity and less well-defined boundaries between academic fields, which originated in English-language academia.

Organization and administration

The university is governed by a board consisting of 9 members: 5 members recruited outside the university form the majority of the board, 1 member is appointed by the scientific staff, 1 member is appointed by the administrative staff, and 2 members are appointed by the university students. 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 the university has no faculty governance.

Partnerships

Roskilde University is an active member of the

University of the Arctic The University of the Arctic (UArctic) is an international cooperative network based in the Circumpolar Arctic region, consisting of universities, colleges, and other organizations with an interest in promoting education and research in the Arcti ...

. UArctic is an international cooperative network based in the Circumpolar Arctic region, consisting of more than 200 universities, colleges, and other organizations with an interest in promoting education and research in the Arctic region.

Degree programs

Roskilde University offers higher education at bachelor-, master, and

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

levels within four main areas:

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

, humanistic technologies,

social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

and

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

. The traditional educational setup at RU was based on two years of general studies in one of the main scientific areas and four years of specialization. Today, the university follows the general educational structure in Denmark based on three years of bachelor studies qualifying for a two-year master study. Roskilde University has 4 departments ''(institutes)'' specializing in very different areas from Mathematics to International Development: * Department of Communication and Arts (DCA) * Department of Science and Environment (DSE) * Department of People and Technology (DPT) * Department of Social Sciences and Business The university offers three international bachelor programmes: * International Bachelor Study Programme in the Humanities * International Bachelor Study Programme in the Natural Sciences * International Bachelor Study Programme in Social Science

Rankings

QS World University Rankings The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with '' Times ...

2015/6: Politics & International Studies, 151-200, Communication & Media Studies, 151-200. *

Times Higher Education World University Rankings The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', often referred to as the THE Rankings, is the annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarelli Symon ...

2017: ranked 501-600 *

Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong Universi ...

2016: unranked

Notable alumni

Some notable alumni and professors from RUC include: *Andreas Bang Hemmeth ( DJ Encore) * Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen, politician * Lars Hulgård, author * Simon Emil Ammitzbøll-Bille, politician * Vincent F. Hendricks * Hartmut Haberland * Jens Høyrup *Pernille Andersen * Christine Lorentzen * Eyðgunn Samuelsen * Anders Bæksgaard, journalist, political editor at

Politiken ''Politiken'' is a leading Danish daily broadsheet newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1884 and played a role in the formation of the Danish Social Liberal Party. Since 1970 it has been indepe ...

* Mette Abildgaard, politician

References

External links

The website of Roskilde University

About Roskilde University

History of Roskilde University
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Education in Roskilde Universities and colleges established in 1972 1972 establishments in Denmark Buildings and structures in Region Zealand