| Aalborg University Copenhagen (AAU-CPH) constitutes Aalborg University’s educational and research activities in the Greater Copenhagen area. All activities are gathered in an integrated research campus with several innovative start-up-businesses at the Southern harbour area close to central Copenhagen. At AAU-Cph researchers and PhD fellows take part in national and international research programs in close collaboration with a wide variety of research institutions as well as public and private corporations and contribute with world-class research within as varied areas as virtual reality, mobile communication, sustainable energy sources, organizational communications and processes of democracy in Latin America. Aalborg University (AAU) provides high-quality research within natural sciences, social sciences, humanities and engineering and health sciences and focuses on strong national and international world class research groups representing the academic areas of the University. AAU secures a high quality level within research and within the research based programmes e.g. by providing special support for the most promising researcher talents. As well as generating new knowledge, the efforts of researchers to create research-based teaching at AAU play a central role in fulfilling the vision of contributing knowledge of importance and relevance to the development of society towards greater sustainability in terms of resource management, the environment and social responsibility. This commitment on the part of AAU researchers combines with research-oriented teaching to produce graduates who are highly qualified and ready for the labour-market, as well as research-based and value-adding innovation that is interesting, surprising, and relevant. The main teaching and study form at AAU is problem based and project organised learning. This “Aalborg PBL Model" builds bridges between the various approaches to teaching, research and innovation, and it connects students and researchers. The tradition and practice of maintaining a large portfolio of well-established and integrated external partnerships enables the rapid and effective dissemination of knowledge. A cross-disciplinary approach to the generation of new knowledge and the development of new knowledge-based solutions are logical consequences of the Aalborg PBL Model and of AAU’s sound and well-developed practices in relation to external cooperation. Since Aalborg University was first established in 1974, all university programmes have been based on problem based learning (PBL). Aalborg University students work in groups applying problem oriented methods in preparing projects of a high academic standard. The PBL-based pedagogical model of the University has become both nationally and internationally recognised by universities, researchers and students as an advanced and efficient learning model. Thus, UNESCO has placed its only Danish Chair in PBL at Aalborg University. AAU will continue to develop and adapt the Aalborg PBL Model to meet the societal and educational demands and changes. This learning model provides AAU students with the possibility of: - acquiring knowledge and skills independently and at a high academic level - working analytically and according to interdisciplinary and problem and result oriented methods - cooperating with the business community on the solution of authentic professional problems - developing their abilities within teamwork - becoming well prepared for the labour market AAU places equal emphasis on the three primary university value streams: highly qualified graduates for the labour market of the future; new cognition, knowledge, technology and innovation that address important societal problems; and effective dissemination of knowledge through cooperation with the community and wider society.Research is the central and pervasive factor in all three value streams, partly as a solid foundation for research-based teaching and innovation and partly as the way to create exciting new knowledge that can found new directions in research and provide solutions to existing issues. |