CBS 2013/14 – financial position and partnership with the corporate sector

By Per Holten-Andersen

At the New Year's Reception on January 8, I addressed two major challenges of CBS; the low basic research funding, which is a problem in relation to the quality level we aim for, and our image with the Danish corporate sector, who, expressed in simple terms, "is thinking of the Technical University of Denmark instead of CBS", when asked to name the 'university of the Danish business community'!

A lot of people across CBS are working hard to change both. When I embark on my tour to visit the political spokespersons on education, I will once again call attention to the imbalances of the funding model. No matter how many times we perform this calculation, the result is the same: CBS is "the poorest university in Denmark" - in spite of a huge number of applicants, a good student progress and good employment and earning opportunities for our graduates. I wish to correct this imbalance in the long run. It is not going to happen today or tomorrow, but I believe that in the long term all our efforts will work out in our favour. I also intend to emphasise CBS' focus on quality and relevance of research and education and how this should be realised through an even stronger cooperation with all corners of the business community.

CBS has launched a number of initiatives to improve our image and strengthen collaboration with the business sector: We have initiated Project Visible Research (Synlig Forskning) together with Operate Consultancy, who, in February 2014, will present examples of research projects that have been relevant to the practice of companies and have shown significant results supported by and in companies. 

I would like to stress that we have performed really well in this area in 2013 already. We have established new partnerships and received external funding of specific research projects. Take for instance our MADE partnership (Manufacturing Academy of Denmark); a collaboration between Aalborg University, the Technical University of Denmark, the University of Southern Denmark, Force Technology, the Danish Technological Institute and 10 large Danish industrial companies[1], Confederation of Danish Industry, and a number of SMEs, which aims to retain and develop Denmark as a country of production based on knowledge, productivity, and competitiveness. Another initiative is cbsCSR (the Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility) who collaborates with Confederation of Danish Industry and Roskilde Festival to contribute sustainable solutions to the social and environmental challenges of our time and the potential to develop business opportunities caused by a focus on sustainability. The three focus areas (waste as a resource, sustainable food production and waste of food, and temporary housing solutions) constituted the basis for an international conference in January 2014: From Rio to Roskilde - and back again.

New BiS platforms have seen the light of day. In January 2013, we launched two new platforms, the CBS Competitiveness Platform and the CBS Entrepreneurship Platform, the latter which, with the professorship donated by A.P. Møller og Hustru Chastine Mc-Kinney Møllers Fond til Almene Formaal, is a core focus area at CBS. Our partnership with the maritime industry is definitely worth mentioning. In this area we have launched the new BiS platform CBS Maritime, and a BSc programme in shipping together with Singapore Management University (SMU). 

CBS has not only experienced a successful 2013 in relation to business partnerships. We have also been able to implement the joint university programme administration system STADS smoothly, and I would really like to say a big THANK YOU to the numerous people who have put a tremendous effort into this project. 2013 has - as the previous years - also shown an increasing number of applications for our programmes. We have consolidated our efforts within pedagogy and e-learning by for instance appointing a new vice dean for this area. This will have a decisive impact on the development of future teaching activities at CBS. As far as the research area is concerned, we have strengthened our production in terms of quantity and quality, we have continued to recruit international researchers, and we have recently received funding for 8 new EU projects. We have enlarged our campus with new class rooms, we have hosted large international conferences, e.g. AACSB's Europe Annual Conference with more than 200 participants from all over the world, and we have climbed several rankings. 

This performance could not have been achieved had it not been for the CBS staff who also in 2013 were driven by the exceptional CBS spirit. A spirit characterised by creativity, innovative thinking, commitment and not least hard work.  So let me conclude this article by saying thank you very much. I am looking forward to a great 2014 with the same CBS sense of commitment and creativity. Happy New Year.

For more information contact President Per Holten-Andersen, email: pha.ls@cbs.dk.