Secretariat

Our valuable support unit

The effective and efficient administration & management of the Department’s work and associated processes is paramount. To facilitate these efforts, each committee has met with the Head of the Department to discuss their brief, and ongoing dialogue continues. When composing committee membership, our goal has been twofold: ensure that members have the necessary expertise and interest, and meet goals of equality and diversity. With these effective committees, we thus endeavor to plan as many of the Department’s activities as possible before the beginning of each academic year. This goal is not always realistic though, such as when it comes to scheduling visiting guest lectures. A Harvest of the Week is sent out weekly to the Department; this e-mail harvests important information (e.g., research, education, and external research funding, amongst other). The Department has agreed that, as a rule, all faculty members must read their emails daily and answer messages within 24 hours (unless they are on vacation, are sick, or are away on conferences without Internet access). Further, as we use Outlook’s calendar for setting up meetings, all faculty are requested to enter their availabilities in Outlook.

The Head of the Secretariat is responsible for developing and managing the Department’s support team. Discussions about how to set meaningful guidelines for developing the Secretariat, to ensure it provides the best and most professional support, while still working within the relevant financial constraints, have grown increasingly pertinent as the Department’s activities expand. For example, more research seminars, applications for external research funding, and recruitment efforts increase the workload of the support team in terms of employment processing, logistics, obtaining new equipment, budgeting, and general administration. At the same time, the support team has undergone some notable changes, related to the restructuring of administrative tasks across Copenhagen Business School. The current support team continues to learn and adapt to the new procedures.

To ensure its status as a modern, professional, and well-functioning team that provides timely, qualified support to both the Department and Copenhagen Business School at large, the Secretariat thus continues to develop competencies related to specific administrative areas, project coordination, English knowledge, and the work environment. It also continues to address the consequences of the growing number of tasks by investigating the potential need to upgrade qualifications or increase the number of administrative staff.

In terms of teaching administration, because the Department is responsible for 98 courses across Copenhagen Business School, hosts three M.Sc. programs, and provides electives at all levels, the Secretariat provides substantial information and support for both students and faculty in the form of specific teaching tools, planning, rules and regulations, budgeting, and registration. In several new initiatives, the Secretariat also has set up procedures for welcoming new faculty to the Department. Other procedures enable the Secretariat to help faculty with budgeting and coordination in relation to external research funding. Finally, the Secretariat is investigating expanded potential uses of its dedicated website and social media to communicate, both internally and externally, in collaboration with the Head of Department. The Secretariat ultimately is responsible to publish updates to these communication channels.