DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

AARHUS UNIVERSITY

USUNSITE AARHIVERT

INFORMATION GUIDE FOR

EXCHANGE STUDENTS

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Contents

Part 1 – when you arrive .......................................................................................... 5 The Introduction Day by the student counsellors .............................................. 5 Which seminars to expect ............................................................................................. 6 Organisation of seminars ............................................................................................... 6 AULA – the teaching web-site ..................................................................................... 7 Writing a home assignment ......................................................................................... 7 An intensive course on information search on political science ........... 11 Oral presentation techniques ................................................................................... 12 Academic integrity and professional ethics – also a ‘must’ for

students of political science ...................................................................................... 15

Part 2 – Teaching from three different perspectives ....................................... 18 Seminars as learning environments – the framework for

research-based teaching ........................................................................................... 18 The lecturer’s perspective ........................................................................................... 25 The students’ perspective on learning and seminar participation ...... 28 Student counsellors ........................................................................................................ 32

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Part 1 – when you arrive

The Introduction Day by the student

counsellors

The semester starts on September 1st and

on February 1st, and being present at the

Department during the first week of classes

is vital.

You will be welcomed by the head of De-

partment and you will have the opportunity

to meet some of your future lecturers. You

will get practical information among other

things about the computer lab, how to print,

and how to find information and borrow

books at the libraries on campus.

The seminars that you will be attending will

have the first session during this week. The

first class gives you an introduction to the

content of the seminar, and the lecturer’s

expectations about your participation. Thus,

attending the first class is crucial for you to

understand the expectations and require-

ments you will be faced with later on dur-

ing the final examination.

In short, do not miss the first week!

For the students arriving at the university for

the autumn semester, an introductory week

called "rus-uge" takes place the week prior

to semester start. This event functions as a

social icebreaker for international and Da-

nish students attending the Department of

Political Science. As some international

students arrive in Denmark too late to par-

ticipate in the Denmark Today or Destina-

tion Denmark programme, the introduction

week for international students focuses

more on helping the students to get to

know Aarhus. However, there will still be

social activities for international students

exclusively and together with the Danish

freshmen. The schedule for the internation-

INFORMATION GUIDE FOR

EXCHANGE STUDENTS

Studying at the Department of Political Science,

Aarhus University

6

al students can be found on

http://www.stat-rus.dk/Program_ENG.html

where you will also find a presentation of

students’ clubs, students’ associations and

other information.

Which seminars to expect

Each semester the Department offers semi-

nars at the advanced BA-level/MA-level

covering the following three themes: 1)

Danish politics and the Welfare state. This

seminar is compulsory for the department’s

exchange students and exchange students

from other Departments are welcome; 2)

Globalisation; and 3) EU, EU-politics and

Europeanization.

In addition, the Department offers 8 to 10

MA-seminars within the six main sub-

disciplines of political science: comparative

politics, international relations, political

theory, public policy, public administration,

and sociology. The topics of the seminars

vary each semester as they are closely

linked with the current research topics of

the academic staff. The seminar topics will

be announced on the website in May and

November. Please check the website fre-

quently for possible changes

http://mit.au.dk/kursuskatalog/

Organisation of seminars

Seminars are mostly organised as two-hour

sessions once a week for 10 to 15 weeks

depending on the type of examination.

There will be between 15 and 22 partici-

pants in each seminar. With the exception

of the seminar Danish politics and the wel-

fare state, you will be sitting in a class room

with both Danish and fellow exchange stu-

dents.

Seminars are held in a relaxing and infor-

mal atmosphere. This may be unusual to

some of you compared with your home

university. Always remember that you

should feel free to ask questions and to

make comments. Your active participation

during sessions is expected and will be to

the benefit of everyone involved.

Choices on the practical organisation of

seminars often reflect the type of examina-

tion. At present the types of examination

are as follows:

1) Home assignment on a subject of the

student’s own choice – maximum

6,000 words

2) oral examination based on a synopsis

in a subject of the student’s own

choice – 800-1.200 words

3) oral examination with 30 minutes’

preparation time in a randomly

picked subject

4) 7-days home assignment

5) 6-hour written examination.

Seminars that require a written home as-

signment on a subject of your own choice

will often give you an outline of existing li-

terature and analysis within a broader

thematic research issue. The main bulk of

your work, however, is on utilising theories,

approaches and methods on a research

topic that you select yourself.

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Seminars with an oral examination based

on a synopsis vary somewhat depending

on the lecturer, but in general you are re-

quired to do some research on a topic of

your choice and to account for any other

issues in the seminar curriculum. Hence, the

requirements on your own research part

are not as thorough as in the case of a

home assignment.

Seminars with examination types 3 to 5 are

more focused on the curriculum and re-

quire more in-depth knowledge and dis-

cussions of the chosen texts.

All students want to pass the exam with an

A (12) or at least a B (10), but as the aca-

demic standards at the Department are

very high, only very few students do, how-

ever. And even fewer students manage to

get all A’s and B’s. This should not discou-

rage you from making the effort to do so.

Mostly, the students own efforts when

studying a subject, writing a paper or pre-

paring an oral performance are reflected in

the final grade. You will also face other

challenges, which for non-English speakers

means doing your studies in a foreign lan-

guage. You should therefore not be too

harsh on yourself when passing with a C

(7), maybe a D (4), or even be happy that

you do pass at all with an E (02).

If you do not pass – FX (00) or F (-3) – you

may have a re-examination in the form of

a home assignment regardless of the type

of examination of the seminar. This home

assignment may be written from your

home country. However, in contrast to

some other university systems be aware

that if you pass an examination, you do not

have a second chance to improve your

grade.

AULA – the teaching web-site

In most cases there will be a website for

your seminar at www.aula.au.dk. At the

seminar website you will find a plan for the

seminar, curriculum, links to articles etc. The

website is also a means for communication

between lecturer and class, and you may

be asked to upload different assignments

on the website. It is therefore important that

you register at the website and that you in-

dicate your most frequently used e-mail

address.

At first you may find it complicated to navi-

gate at AULA. But you will soon get to know

it, and once you have registered at the se-

minar site there should be no more compli-

cations. In any case you will find a manual

for AULA at the secretariat.

Writing a home assignment

To many this is perhaps the most challeng-

ing type of examination. But at the same

time it gives you the best preparation for

writing your Master’s Thesis regardless of

what country you come from. So do sign up

for seminars that require you to write a pa-

per. On the other hand, it is hardly recom-

mendable to sign up for more than one

seminar with home assignments since writ-

ing and researching a paper is a very time

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The Danish grading scale

THE GRADING SCALE

Danish Grade

Definition ECTS Grade

12 For an excellent performance displaying a high level of command of all aspects of the relevant material, with no or only a few minor weaknesses

A

10 For a very good performance displaying a high level of command of most aspects of the relevant material, with only minor weaknesses

B

7 For a good performance displaying good command of the relevant material but also some weaknesses

C

4 For a fair performance displaying some command of the relevant material but also some major weaknesses

D

02 For a performance meeting only the minimum requirements for acceptance

E

00 For a performance which does not meet the minimum re-quirements for acceptance

FX

-3 For a performance which is unacceptable in all respects F

consuming process. This may leave you

with a limited number of seminars that you

can select in a semester, but keep in mind

that although the seminar title does not in-

trigue you, you may always – within the

broad subject of the seminar – find an an-

gle that is interesting also to you when you

select a topic for your research paper. A

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written report or paper consists of a maxi-

mum of 6,000 words excluding table of

contents and references. The maximum

must be taken literally. If your paper ex-

ceeds the maximum amount of words, it

will not be accepted. And it is always pos-

sible to shorten a text. This is especially true

when we write in a foreign language. We

tend to become more ‘wordy’ than we

would otherwise be, and experience shows

that when rewriting a text you can easily

cut 10 per cent.

In a home assignment you have to demon-

strate the following skills: 1) knowledge and

familiarity with the subject at hand, 2) ac-

tive use of theories and methodologies that

you have learned, and 3) collecting your

own material, articles, documents etc. To

be able to do your own research, a special

course on information search at the library

will be arranged (see below).

A home assignment is based on your own

research, i.e. the process where on the ba-

sis of a preliminary problem formulation,

you collect and analyse data in order to

shed light on a research problem. The

clearer your research question, the easier it

will be for you to establish and maintain the

focus required throughout the paper.

To get through the different aspects of a

term paper, please consider how you

would answer the following five questions:

1) What is your research question?

2) Why is it interesting or relevant to study

the question?

3) What case or cases will you investi-

gate?

4) Based upon a specific theory, what is

your expected answer to the research

question?

5) What methods and research design will

you use to answer the question?

Seminars that end with a home assignment

often offer the students an opportunity to

get comments on their draft paper from the

lecturer and from fellow students. Similarly,

students are often required to give oppo-

nent critique on fellow students’ papers.

When giving opponent critique, your main

task is to identify the writer’s research ques-

tion and assess whether the inherent ques-

tion or hypothesis has been answered. In

addition, you should give recommenda-

tions on how the writer may improve the

paper. You may follow the five questions

listed above when preparing to give oppo-

nent critique.

How to make references

In academic work it is of outmost impor-

tance that references are thorough and

correct. This is important because others

must be able to control your sources as the

basis for academic discussions. There are

many different ways to make references.

Some of you are used to make references

in footnotes or even endnotes. The follow-

ing will introduce you to the way refer-

ences most frequently are made at our De-

partment.

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When you make a reference to a work

immediately after having mentioned it in

the text, you should state surname, year,

and page in that order.

In-text references

(Berger 1968: 68)

If you are referring to more than one

work, do as follows: (Berger 1968: 68;

Luhmann 1992: 13)

If you are referring to the same work

you may use "ibid." (ibidem = the

same): (Ibid.: 477)

References

The works you have referred to shall be

listed at the end of your manuscript with

the title References in alphabetic order. It is

important that your referencing method is

consistent, i.e. you use one and only one

system for all your references. If the same

author appears more than once, the oldest

work shall be listed first. Make only one list

of references.

Monographs

Sir name, first name (year): Title of the mo-

nograph in italics. Place of publication:

publisher.

Holmes, Leslie (2006) Rotten States?

Corruption, Post-Communism and

Neo-liberalism. Durham: Duke Univer-

sity Press.

Chapters in an anthology

Surname, first name (year): “Title of the

chapter within “-“, relevant pages in first

name and surname(s) of the editor(s), of

the anthology in italic. Place of publication:

publisher.

Watt, David, Rachel Flanary and Robin

Theobald (2000): ”Democratisation or

the Democratisation of Corruption? The

case of Uganda”, pp 37-64 in Doig,

Alan & Robin Theobald (eds), (2000)

Corruption and Democratisation. Lon-

don, Portland: Frank Cass.

Articles in journals

Surname, first name (year): “Title of the ar-

ticle within “-“ “, Title of the journal in italics,

Volume, (number): relevant pages.

Castells, Manuel (2000): ”Materials for

an Exploratory Theory of the Network

Society”, British Journal of Sociology, 51

(1): 5-24.

Web sites

#Surname#, #First name#/or institutional

affiliation# (#publication year#): #Title in

quotation marks#, #webside adress# #date

for downloading the text#

Department of Health (2007): ”Shaping

health care for the next decade”,

Wednesday 4 July 2007 13:00,

http://www.gnn.gov.uk/environment/full

Deail.asp?ReleaseID=296706&NewsArea

ID=2&NavigatedFromDepartment=True

(14/8 2007)

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An intensive course on information

search on political science

Place: State and University Library.

Meeting place: the main lobby.

Date: to be announced – 4-5 weeks in the

semester. Check the exchange students’

website.

The general aim of the course is as follows:

1) to make the participants familiar with the

contents and facilities of the most impor-

tant social science databases; and 2) to

train the participants in the use of the social

science databases as an integrated ele-

ment in academic problem-based learning

focusing on political science.

The specific aims of the course are as fol-

lows: 1) to demonstrate the databases of

Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, Web of

Science, Scopus and others and to intro-

duce the bibliographic and full text content,

criteria for inclusion, search facilities, spe-

cial points of interest; and 2) via hands-on,

questions and answers, exercises and dis-

cussions to train the use of social science

databases and in particular how to do a

systematic search, how to plan a search

strategy, how to evaluate search results etc.

Instead of going through a list of recom-

mended literature, we recommend you to

prepare for this course by taking a look at

one or two of these tutorials:

www.vts.intute.ac.uk/he/tutorial/eurostudies

www.vts.intute.ac.uk/he/tutorial/government

www.vts.intute.ac.uk/he/tutorial/intlrelations

www.vts.intute.ac.uk/he/tutorial/sociologist

www.vts.intute.ac.uk/he/tutorial/social-

research-methods

Also please bring your ideas for papers,

theses etc. as it will be possible to work on

these during the course.

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Oral presentation techniques

(Revision of a text by late professor, Ole

Nørgaard)

The ability to communicate professional in-

sight and understanding is an important

capability for political science candidates,

and is a trademark of the education at the

Department.

Insight and knowledge, however important

it is, do not always result in an interesting

and successful presentation. To get your

message understood and heard by the au-

dience, you must make the effort to pre-

pare your performance. The following will

take you through some problems and

techniques that you should keep in mind

when an oral presentation is being pre-

pared. However – the only way to learn the

skill is by means of practical exercise. So

take every opportunity to practice the oral

presentation at seminars, when presenting

a report or giving an opponent critique to

the work of others. This will help you be-

come a better presenter – something that

also will assist you in your oral examina-

tions. At the same time, studying at semi-

nars will also be more exciting and fruitful

for you and your fellow students.

What is an oral presentation?

An oral presentation is the superstructure

where you present the main key points and

arguments of a larger work. This work can

be your own analysis of a subject, articles

included in the curriculum, or a critical as-

sessment of one of your fellow students’

written reports. In the case of oral examina-

tions the presentation is also where you

demonstrate that you indeed are well in-

formed about the curriculum.

Before the presentation – preparation is

needed

When preparing an oral presentation for a

typical seminar, you must remember that

you only have 10 to 15 minutes for your

presentation. You will therefore have to

stick to the most important points and build

up you own reasoning and argument for

why this is important. Often you will be

given a concrete question that you have to

build you presentation around – the most

important thing is to focus your presenta-

tion by simply answering the question.

The first step in your preparation is the

creative part. Some of you may have heard

about ‘mind maps’. ‘Mind mapping’ is a

technique where you write down every

possible thought that you find related to the

subject you are going to present. At this

stage it is important not to try to organise

and structure your thoughts but to let your

imagination and creativity work. A simple

tool to let your creativity work is to turn your

paper 90 degrees. Place your subject in the

centre of the paper and draw your associa-

tions from the subject in different lines and

sub lines. Rather than sentences use key

words, pictures, colours etc. That will help

you remember the different aspects of your

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speech. At this stage quantity is more im-

portant than quality (although quality never

harm). After five to ten minutes stop and

look at your paper – you may be surprised

how much you actually know about your

subject. Then you are prepared for the next

step.

The second step is to organise your presen-

tation. First find out what the main informa-

tion that you want to pass on is. Second,

underline or colour the subordinate issues

to this information. You will probably turn

up with two or three lines of arguments.

The third step is to rank your key informa-

tion so they end up making one argument

on the subject you are talking about. At this

stage you think goal-oriented on your

presentation. What is the goal of your pres-

entation and how do you want to reach it?

Organise your presentation in the main

elements of your argument: Subject =>

relevant elements/examples => point of

view =>conclusion and relevance for next

subject etc. You may imagine this as a

Christmas tree. The tree trunk is the core

substance (spend the most of your time on

this), the greens are important elements

and the pins are details (use less time on

those).

The shorter the time allowed for

the presentation, the more

thorough preparation you will have

to undertake.

The presentation

When structuring the content of the presen-

tation it is important to be aware of the au-

dience’s attention curve. In the beginning

of a presentation the audience’s attention

will normally be high, it will then start to fall

and increase again towards the end.

Therefore the first two to three minutes are

crucial for the successful presentation. The

opening of a presentation shall accordingly

contain something relevant, interesting,

and exciting along with insight. These are

high demands, but if the preparation has

been of substantial quality it is a possible

demand and it almost guarantees success.

A good rule-of-thumb is to “tell them what

you want to say – say it – and tell them

what you have said”. It emphasises the im-

portance of making a short introduction to

the contents and the structure of the pres-

entation, it stresses the importance that

each section should be rounded off by

short summaries – and that a thorough

summary on the entire presentation should

be given. In the end it is important that you

– with emphasis and charisma – stress what

the audience has heard and learned from

your presentation.

Being aware of the Audience

Never overestimate your audience’s

knowledge and never underestimate their

intelligence!

When you make a presentation of part of

the seminar’s curriculum or of your own re-

port, you should be aware that the audi-

ence’s reading and qualifications are dif-

14

fused. Some have carefully studied the ma-

terial while others just show up. But they will

always be offended if being talked down

to. The middle road is in this case the most

recommendable. Make sure that the audi-

ence gets the main points from the texts

and the main arguments, but do not try to

give a thorough report of all the points and

arguments. You will never have the time

and the result will be that neither you nor

the audience will find out what your pres-

entation has been about.

In general this is also true when you make

a presentation for an oral examination.

Your evaluators will want to hear you say-

ing what they already know. But in addition

they want you to add to this you own re-

flections, analysis and considerations!

Being the audience

It takes two to tango – and an active audi-

ence is important in a good presentation. If

the audience looks hostile, the presenter

does not perform as well as if the audience

looks friendly. So keep this in mind when

you are the audience. If you look friendly

and encouraging – even if the presentation

lacks content and insight – this will help the

presenter. You may then in the discussion

question the content and challenge the in-

sight – that is what discussions are for. But

help the presenter through and accept that

being nervous is fully legitimate.

Some technical advice

Use figures and tables that are relatively

simple and can be explained in full within

a reasonable amount of time. Always re-

move a figure or a table when you have

finished using it – otherwise the audience

will keep studying it – instead of listening to

what is being said.

15

Academic integrity and professional

ethics – also a ‘must’ for students of

political science

by Jørgen Elklit, professor at the

Department

Academic integrity and professional ethics’

may sound somewhat formal but it con-

cerns some essential basic problems in

academic work. In any circumstances,

therefore, the topic is of crucial importance

in connection with seminar assignments

and master level theses in all university

studies, including political science. The core

of the question about academic integrity is

that we must be able to have confidence

when concrete analyses and investigations

are reported, when lines of procedure are

described, methodical considerations are

presented, and when conclusions are ar-

rived at.

If we cannot be certain that what is pre-

sented in an article or a seminar paper is

‘right’ and correct and completely docu-

mented, how then may we be able to

know whether it is worth taking seriously?

This goes for serious scientific articles and

theses (including PhD dissertations), student

assignments at all levels, master level the-

ses, and anything else with an ambition of

being taken seriously in an academic con-

nection.

If one cannot be certain that the claimed

experiments (analyses, tests) have actually

been carried out, and that the results were

as reported, or that the correlation coeffi-

cient was as reported, and that the stated

response rate corresponds with the actual

attainment, where would we be then? In

that case one would have to go back and

repeat every investigation and analysis be-

cause nothing could any longer be taken

for granted. Then everything would col-

lapse because the academic conversation

would be rendered impossible.

Establishment of ‘cheating’ in analyses and

experiments, as well as in reports and as-

signments, is a serious matter and the sanc-

tions are usually exclusion from academic

accept and cooperation (cf. also ‘Rules

about disciplinary provisions’ in the univer-

sity regulations).

The core of the question about

academic integrity is that we must

be able to have confidence.

About using the work of others

All university studies and all academic work

is built upon being able to have confidence

in earlier research (some of which may of

course be out dated), and hence that one

may build on the results of others. Cumula-

tivity (i.e. building upon others’ work and

thus getting ahead) is both a prerequisite

for academic work and a characteristic of

it.

Consequently, you must be honest and

give precise account of what it is you are

16

building upon, so that it does not seem as if

you are going to take credit for the accom-

plishment of others. There are two reasons

why you must state what you are building

upon: 1) a professional one - i.e. it is impor-

tant to demonstrate the development of

the argument, earlier argumentation and

writings about the topic; and a moral one –

i.e. you do not represent something as you

own accomplishment when it is actually

the work of others.

However, if you state the necessary refer-

ences, it is absolutely fine and also quite

necessary to build upon the results of others

be they published in recognised, academic

journals, in books that may be unprocur-

able, or in the seminar assignments or mas-

ter level theses of your fellow students. But

you can only make use of others’ work if

you can be confident that it is ‘right’. Thus in

the academic community you are quite

dependent on each other.

This is why the use of notes and references

is a special characteristic of academic and

serious professional work, and an indication

that you do not cheat and take the credit

for the accomplishment of others. Hence,

you must carry out a regular search of lit-

erature (employing all forms of biblio-

graphical resources) to make your use of

previous literature as adequately and hon-

est as possible.

Accordingly, there is nothing wrong in

building upon the work of others that you

trust, if you state clearly and unmistakably

(i.e. exhaustively and bibliographically cor-

rect, cf. above text on how to make refer-

ences) what it is you are building upon, no

matter whether you agree with him/her or

because you wish to dissociate yourself

from his/her use of theory, methods, data or

whatever.

The use of notes and references is

a special characteristic of

academic and serious professional

work.

To enable control of your use of others’

work (also in assignments), references must

be precise and enable easy location of

what you are referring to. It means that you

must state the particular pages (tables, fig-

ures, notes etc.) you are building upon. If

your reference is direct (i.e. a direct copy

because it is formulated better that you

would otherwise have been able to) you

must insert quotation marks (‘……’) or other

forms of typographical marking so that it

does not look as if you are going to take

credit (or responsibility) for the piece of text

in question.

During the reading process, it is important

to carefully mark quotations etc. because

otherwise it is easy to forget that the quota-

tion was from somebody else. And then it is

similarly easy to get to use it as your own –

especially if it sounds good and seems

convincing.

If you do not quote word-for-word but re-

phrases and possibly paraphrases the text,

17

you must indicate that this is what you have

done. By way of example you could say

something like this: ‘the following section

builds considerably on pp xx-yy in NN’s

book since it discusses the question better

than for example MM or ZZ’.

Evidently, saying something like that of

course presupposes knowledge of at least

some of the writers who have treated the

topic in question – otherwise the formula-

tion is dishonest, a violation of accepted

norms – since you are actually claiming to

have compared NN’s book and results with

MM and ZZ who have treated the topic as

well. And if this is not the case, then the

formulation gives a dishonest picture of

what you have actually done and of the re-

liability of your statement.

Professional ethics

Professional ethical problems of the kind

you meet within for example medicine are

not present within the social sciences, or at

least they are of another nature. However,

one problem you should pay attention to

concerns identifying information about in-

dividuals, and possibly details that he/she

does not wish to bring forward.

One example is questionnaire surveys or

analyses based on public statistics where

your cross tabulation may be so exhaustive

that you will know who you are dealing

with; e.g. by certain combinations of gen-

der, age, residence, education, profession

etc. Information to that degree of detail is

not required (and is usually also profes-

sionally uninteresting).

Similarly, if you have agreed with the inter-

viewees that you will make them appear

unidentifiable then you must keep your

promise. You cannot promise anonymity

and then write about what for example a

former Social Democratic Minister for

Transport, who was also political spokes-

man, would think about some internal issue

in the parliamentary party, which he said

something about trusting that it would not

be reported so that he could be identified.

That type of breach of confidence is not

just morally unacceptable in relation to the

interviewee concerned, it also has reper-

cussions on other researchers’ and students’

possibilities for accessing centrally placed

sources and obtaining necessary informa-

tion; possibly about entirely different topics.

Conclusion

Academic integrity and professional ethics

is not just a question about not cheating

and not presenting insufficiently thought-

out results so you can identify individuals

who had been promised anonymity.

It is also about easing the control of your

own effort by stating all necessary refer-

ences so that others may easily control

what you must be credited for and what is

the work of others. As simple as that! At the

same time this approach characterises

regular, acceptable practice within all

types of academic work, including the stu-

dent level.

18

Part 2 – Teaching from

three different perspectives

Seminars as learning environments –

the framework for research-based

teaching

by Torben K. Jensen, Centre for Learning

and Education, Aarhus University

Teaching at the master level of political

science usually takes place as seminars

with a comparatively small number of stu-

dents. Teaching could be organised in a lot

of different ways implying that seminar

teaching is based on deliberate, educa-

tional choices. Generally speaking, if

teaching is supposed to support and opti-

mise the student’s learning and their moti-

vation to learn, knowing the educational

background for the chosen teaching

method is important. In the following I shall

explain the educational reasons to seminar

teaching at master level and give some

advice on how to make the most of semi-

nar teaching.

Teaching must support and

optimise students’ learning and

motivation

Seminar teaching – educational choices

In formal and general terms, the seminar

method at the master level education is

applied because it has proven an effective

and flexible framework for research based

teaching and for the students’ ability to pick

up knowledge, skills, and competences.

The Department (the research environ-

ment) considers acquisition of such abilities

important also in the light of meeting la-

bour market demands.

In more concrete terms, the idea with

seminar teaching has been to provide op-

portunity for free choice of courses, spe-

cialisation, immersion, meeting active re-

searchers, research-like teaching, in-depth

learning, Master’s Thesis preparation, and

flexibility.

Free choice of courses

At the bachelor programme, we emphasise

the importance of common basic module

teaching with matching core curriculum

laid down by the Board of Studies. In con-

trast, at the master level we emphasise that

the seminar teaching provides a free

choice in the selection of subjects, topics,

lecturers, examination- and teaching

methods. We seek to respect the students’

various educational interests. Furthermore,

options and student participation alone are

motivating and activating approaches and

contribute to better and funnier teaching.

Ideally speaking, you sign up for a seminar

out of educational interest and motivation

to discuss and study a subject in common

cause. Actually this is the definition of a

seminar.

Specialisation

Free choices provide the opportunity for a

certain specialisation or ‘colouring’ of your

own education. Even if you do not always

19

get to participate in the seminars with

highest priority, there is usually good possi-

bilities to pursue you own educational in-

terest or leitmotif across the subjects. If for

example you are interested in equal rights,

international issues, power theory, quantita-

tive method, decision processes, China, or

something completely different, you will of-

ten find that papers, presentations and

choice of literature to a certain degree may

be considered from your approach no mat-

ter which subject the seminar is offered

through.

Immersion

Furthermore, the seminar is conceived as

an opportunity to immerse oneself in a

topic but now with a point of departure in

the acquired knowledge about theory,

empiricism, and method which was

learned through profound introductions of

the subjects at the bachelor level. Seminar

teaching may take a lot for granted and

does not start at the bottom. From that

point of view there is progression from

bachelor level to seminar teaching at mas-

ter level.

Meeting active researchers

Seminars are offered by the academic staff

at the Department implying that teaching is

headed by active researchers within the

field of study. Thus, most recent knowledge

can form part of the teaching all the time

which is one of the defining characteristics

of research based teaching. From a teach-

ing perspective, the lecturers’ research ac-

tivities may be considered continuous sup-

plementary training.

The Department of Political Science, Aar-

hus University, has a high ranking among

research institutions of political science and

the lecturers are well-integrated in interna-

tional research networks which also spill

over into the teaching at our Department.

In practice, the seminar offer at the De-

partment (the curriculum) is precisely char-

acterised by a continuous renewal of topics

based on the newest literature and re-

search in the fields of study. Consequently,

seminar teaching provides the students

with opportunity to meet and directly dis-

cuss professional problems with experts

within a variety of topics.

Research-based teaching

Research based teaching is not defined

alone by teaching handled by an active

researcher. An often overlooked but at

least equally important characteristic is that

regular research based teaching must be

research-like. A university education must

introduce the students to the newest

knowledge at all times but a university

education must also teach the students to

produce knowledge.

The hallmark of university educations is that

students learn to apply theories and meth-

ods with regard to research, and that they

learn about their subject by using those

tools. Good research based teaching is thus

characterised as follows:

20

1) working with the primary subject-

matter, sources, and data and not just

working with textbooks and already

formulated theories;

2) central professional activities and

methods are being employed in

teaching rather than just being re-

ferred to;

3) students feel invited to participate ac-

tively in a professional community;

4) students receive feedback in working

and writing with regard to research;

5) students get opportunity to apply

theories and methods to new prob-

lems;

6) students get opportunity to partici-

pate in authentic research projects.

The argument is that students must learn to

work with regard to research, not because

all of them should be researchers but be-

cause all of them in their future job func-

tions in the information society must: 1) be

able to handle knowledge skilfully, i.e. be

able to decide when and to what degree

conclusions are well-founded; 2) be able to

keep up their knowledge; 3) be able to

change; and 4) be able to contribute to

changes in the organisation.

Establishing research-like teaching is the

main argument for seminar teaching and

for maintaining classes under 20 students!

Obviously it is annoying not to be enrolled

at the seminar of one’s first choice but there

are no indications of a close connection

between the topics/the contents of the

seminars and master’s theses and future

job possibilities. In that sense it does not

matter much being enrolled at the most

popular seminars. In contrast it is crucial to

have solid analytical abilities which can

only be trained by delivering solid analyses.

In-depth learning

The aim of carrying out research-like

teaching may also be formulated in tech-

nical terms of learning targets for seminar

teaching. Usually the curriculum clearly

states the contents of seminars

(books/articles/pages to read, theo-

ries/problems/works to go through). The

lecturers usually also give a short justifica-

tion of why a particular topic is worth deal-

ing with.

However, early in the teaching course it is

important to discuss not simply the syllabus

to go through but also what seminar par-

ticipants are expected to be able to do

with the subject matter after 15 weeks of

effort. In simple terms: it is not enough to

delimit a seminar to deal with e.g. recent

power theories. It is important to discuss

what you as a student is supposed to be

able to do with the new power theories: are

you expected to learn by heart what the

lecturer said about the theories or what the

articles said? Are you expected to give an

account of the theories and sum up the ar-

guments in your own words? Are you ex-

pected to give a more demanding analysis

of the theories e.g. by discussing similarities

and differences, and/or strengths and

weaknesses, or beginning to identify possi-

21

ble answers to reasons for and effects of

different incidents and events? Or is the ob-

jective to be able to theorise (i.e. being

able to estimate whether the discussed

theories about power are supporting, bal-

ancing, modifying, criticising or possibly fal-

sifying other theory formations about

power, democracy, representation etc.). Or

is it rather to be able to reflect (i.e. to esti-

mate to what degree academic theoretic

arguments claiming that new knowledge is

produced have been fulfilled) and to be

able to apply acquired knowledge in the

analysis of concrete social events, phe-

nomena, and cases? Furthermore it is im-

portant to discuss which skills the students

are expected to acquire or train at which

level.

The original objective of research based

university educations is in-depth learning,

i.e. that the students become increasingly

familiar with the professional argumenta-

tion of the subject and become competent

participants in the professional debate.

Figure one below gives examples of a

more systematic usage for learning targets

regarding knowledge and skills in a course

of research based teaching.

As a principal rule, the objective for semi-

nar teaching at master level at the De-

partment is -to get a high ranking in the

SOLO (Structure of Observed Learning Out-

comes) taxonomy. Behind the SOLO tax-

onomy’s description of the level at which

you can master a subject the research

process faintly appears. A High ranking in

the SOLO taxonomy is another and more

precise way of describing what character-

ises research based teaching. For several

reasons it is important that lecturer and stu-

dents at an early stage discuss and coordi-

nate expectations and level of ambition

and agree on the learning targets:

1) students are motivated by knowledge

about the objective of their efforts;

2) choosing appropriate examination-

and teaching methods and prioritising

activities provides a far better ground-

ing;

3) this grounding provides the basis for

the awarding of marks where the mark

is an expression of the ‘degree of reali-

sation of the learning target’.

Master’s Thesis preparation

Seminar teaching is also conceived as a

means to prepare the students for writing

the Master’s Thesis. Many seminars are car-

ried out as assignment seminars where at

first the participants read themselves into

the subject matter, and then they choose a

problem to give further analysis and to re-

port on through a home assignment (which

will receive a mark). The lecturer and fel-

low students will give tutorials and feed-

back on synopsis and assignments. Having

written a number of seminar assignments,

writing the Master’s Thesis basically means

to do something well-known only in a

slightly larger format.

22

Figure 1. Taxonomies for learning targets

In-depth learning

Surface learning

SOLO – Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes

Abstract/progressive

Apply (on unknown case), examine, criticize, test,

argue, predict, assess, discuss

Reflect

(theoretical scientific basis for knowledge)

Theorize, generalize, hypothesize

(support, balance, modify, criticize known theory)

Relational/relatedAnalyze

compare, relate, explain (similarities-differences,

strengths-weaknesses, cause-effect)

Multistructural/complexsummarize

describe

Structural/simplelist

paraphrase, summarize

identify, recognizememorize

Prestructural: misses point

Skills

High level skills

- Openness to changes of own ideas and perception

- Interpretation and assessment of evidence

- Arguing for and substantiating own research results

- Choosing and assessing (own) research design

Basic skills- Communication:

• written presentation of professional problems• oral presentation of professional problems• mastering a foreign language

- Practical (research) skills: collection and analysis of data

(interview technique, statistical analysis etc.)

- Bibliographical skills

- Organisation of own work (study technique, work discipline)

- ...

23

Flexibility

The seminar method is a very flexible

framework for teaching, and at the De-

partment seminar teaching is carried out in

numerous ways.

The academic regulations allow for a

number of different examination methods

and does not tie-down choices of teaching

methods. Within the framework of the 10

ECTS and naturally certain practical con-

siderations, lecturer and student may agree

upon any choice of method. The teaching

course may be constructed as a package

of many different teaching methods: lec-

tures; going through subject-matter with

fellow students; case-teaching; discussion

based teaching; problem based learning;

consultancy tasks; research projects.

Seminars may be planned with a point of

departure in the approx. 30 contact hours:

when to go through and discuss which sub-

ject-matter? Or the seminar may be de-

vised with point of departure in the stu-

dents’ work: what must take place during

contact hours to ensure that the students

get the most out of their 280 hours of work-

ing with the subject-matter? Or the seminar

may be planned from a research logic

model: with approx. 4,600 man-hours at

our disposal, what can 20 participants do of

collective research work?

Top seminars come close to being a

community of individuals engaged in

evidently essential activities with a

high level of enthusiasm and

seriousness.

Seminar teaching – advice for the students

First piece of advice: Even if you will only

have a few contact-hours in your timetable

(three seminars = six contact hours), the

master level education is a full-time study

requiring full-time work. Actually, there is a

connection between ECTS and working

hours. In round figures, the calculation goes

as follows: 60 ECTS (a year of study) corre-

spond to 1,680 hours (a year of work). One

ECTS corresponds to 28 hours of work and

hence a seminar of 10 ECTS corresponds to

approx. 280 hours (including everything

also examination). During the 15 weeks of

teaching, it is reasonable to expect that the

seminar participants put in 10-15 hours of

work a week per seminar. In other words:

do plan your time considering that the

master level education is a full-time study.

Second piece of advice: In consequence of

the few contact-hours in your timetable, the

majority of the learning work happens out-

side sessions. Usually it is beneficial to es-

tablish a working partnership with one or

several fellow students attending the semi-

nar.

Third piece of advice: Always attend the

first session where the objective of the

seminar is being discussed. Most lecturers

are open to ideas and wishes, and so it is

often possible to have an influence on the

form of the seminar. Considering you input

in advance is a good idea. Do contribute to

a thorough discussion of the connection

between learning targets, examination and

teaching methods. As already mentioned,

24

getting an impression about the objective

of your work is positive and motivating. Be-

sides, without learning targets it will be dif-

ficult to assess the use of various teaching

and learning activities and to determine

priorities for your activities. Finally the latest

notice on rewarding marks (as of 1 Sep-

tember 2007) defines the mark as the de-

gree of realisation of the objectives. Ac-

cordingly, every subject must have clearly

defined learning targets in writing. The

learning targets are simply the basis for

awarding marks.

Fourth piece of advice: Be an active par-

ticipant. The value of the seminars as a

framework for learning depends (almost)

as much on the students as on the lecturers.

The precondition for good seminars is that

everybody contributes actively to the elu-

cidation of the topic. Top seminars come

close to being ‘a community of individuals

engaged in evidently essential activities

with a high level of enthusiasm and seri-

ousness’. This type of seminar is exceptional

but a little less may meet the case as well.

The worst seminars are stripped from activ-

ity and inspiration and can be terribly bor-

ing with low learning benefit. Small contri-

bution correlates more or less with little

learning but it is also theft from the com-

munity. Non-active lecturing and stodgy

presentations is not a good way of educat-

ing small classes. Remember that everyone

in the session can take the initiative to dis-

cuss whether the time spent together is

used appropriately.

25

The lecturer’s perspective

by Christoffer Green-Pedersen, professor at

the Department

With this contribution I wish to present a

lecturer’s considerations when organising a

seminar. A successful seminar is character-

ised by a strong professional dialogue be-

tween lecturer and students and amongst

the students. As a lecturer you have an in-

fluence on the social relations but you can-

not control them and that makes seminar

teaching a challenging task. You may ex-

perience sessions running smoothly with

high level discussions and sessions where

you present a well-prepared topic which

should result in a good discussion and for

no apparent reason it all comes to nothing.

The character of seminar teaching implies

that there is no magic formula for a suc-

cessful seminar. The topic of the seminar

and the curriculum, the students, the lec-

turer, and finally the examination method

must form a synthesis and for that there is

no simple solution. Conversely, of course as

a lecturer you also gain experience on how

to influence the four elements and thereby

increase the chances of making everything

form a synthesis.

A successful seminar is

characterised by a strong

professional dialogue between

lecturer and students and

amongst the students.

The students represent the element over

which you have the least control, and at

the same time it is the most important ele-

ment. However, as matters stand the stu-

dents are the ones who should benefit from

teaching primarily. The main challenge as

a lecturer is to make the students partici-

pate actively in the professional discussions

as a group instead of just a few active stu-

dents. Sometimes it happens all by itself but

my experience is also that to a high degree

it can and should be promoted through the

organisation of the seminar teaching.

A big issue in this context is the use of stu-

dent presentations as introduction to dis-

cussions during sessions. That model has

inherent risks which to my knowledge al-

most every lecturer at the Department has

encountered. The group of students with

responsibility for the presentation of the

week spends days on the presentation

which is going to take twice the planned

time leaving only little time for questions

and practically no time for discussion. The

problem with this type of presentation is the

enormous asymmetry between the level of

preparation and the rest. Students get the

impression that active seminar participa-

tion means doing one presentation and

that is it. Bad experience with presentations

often leads to avoiding it.

Nevertheless, there are good reasons to try

one’s hand at the presentation model

anyway. First of all, a good presentation is a

good start of a discussion. If the introductory

speakers are able to sum up the essential

26

points of the texts in 10-15 minutes and

raise a number of relevant questions for

discussion, we have a good basis for further

discussion. Second, being able to do a

good presentation in short time is an essen-

tial competence which the education must

promote. No matter what you will be doing

after the degree, sometimes you will be

asked to work through a large body of in-

formation in a short time and to present the

main points in short for an impatient audi-

ence. This is not a situation where you

spend twice the allotted time without get-

ting at the essential points.

From my own seminars I have good ex-

perience with a model combining presen-

tation with group work. The students are

put into groups of three to four participants

who will meet before each session to dis-

cuss the curriculum and make a short pres-

entation for discussion. I then pick a group

of students at random who will actually

perform their presentation in front of their

peers.

This method may seem overwhelming to

some students but it is crucial to clear up

the expectations for the presentations. The

intention is for the students to meet a few

hours before contact hour to discuss the

text and sum up their discussion in a pres-

entation. In that way the students come to

work under pressure of time forcing them to

focus on the most essential points. At the

same time we now have a clear symmetry

between level of preparation amongst the

seminar participants which will further dis-

cussion during sessions. In addition, there is

now time for other groups to raise some

points for discussion that they have treated

during preparation.

A weakness of this method may be that

some groups will be running out of time

and thus make very unstructured presenta-

tions. Here it is important to make the stu-

dents understand that they must organise

their work so that the preparation can be

done in two hours. Group work offers the

advantage that the students get to know

each other better, and hence they feel

more free to take part in discussions. One of

the problems with seminar teaching is pre-

cisely that the students do not know each

other very well and some may thus take up

a reserved attitude to take part in discus-

sions.

It goes without saying that you are in con-

trol of the lecturer role but the real question

is which role to play. How much teaching

as lectures should you do and how much

should you intervene in the seminar discus-

sions? As a lecturer you of course possess

considerable professional competences

which should play an essential role, and it is

my experience that to a large extent the

students ask for it. Conversely, it is evident

that as a lecturer you can quickly sit on a

session and thus put down the students’

own struggle with the subject-matter and

prevent them from advancing in their in-

depth learning process.

27

In my experience a thorough introduction

to the seminar and attempts at summing

up discussions are some of the forms of

teaching with the best outcome. The ques-

tion about controlling discussions is more

complex. In my capacity as a lecturer I al-

ways have a few points for discussion

which I try to make sure we get around to

during sessions. Furthermore, I try to pose

questions which may lead the discussion in

other directions, if I think it has gone in an

unproductive direction. Should this attempt

succeed, the students hardly realise the

control which has actually taken place.

As regards material the seminars differ

enormously. Sometimes a seminar is of-

fered on a topic with a tremendous amount

of literature and the task of giving a survey

of the literature is the essential aspect.

Other times almost all relevant material

can be dealt with at the seminar. In my ex-

perience it is crucial that you actually do

present the curriculum for the students and

make them aware of its strengths and

weaknesses; not least if they must deal with

texts which may be difficult to understand

or requires reading of a lot of pages to get

at few points. What is important here is that

everybody realises why the material has

been included.

The seminar form as such is the least sig-

nificant element. What matters is the differ-

ence between home assignments and

other examination methods. To my knowl-

edge the students are widely experienced

in various examination methods whereas

written assignments often give them a lot of

trouble. The biggest problem about semi-

nar assignments is actually quite simple:

you get started too late. A late start gives

problems in collecting material, reduces

your possibilities for effective use of super-

visor, and it often means that you get a lim-

ited benefit from synopsis and feedback

sessions. Thus you miss out on a fantastic

opportunity of having a lot of competent

people reading and commenting on your

text. There are probably a number of rea-

sons why the students get started too late,

but in my experience early synopsis feed-

back, a continued discussion about topics

in connection with sessions may speed up

the process.

Most importantly however, the seminar

should be characterised by an open and

constructive atmosphere between lecturer

and students. Lecturers must pick up signals

from the students, but it is equally important

that the students are engaged and that

they will comment on things that do not

work before the evaluations. Evaluations

can be very useful for the lecturer but does

not help the students who have been at-

tending seminar sessions.

Most importantly however, the

seminar should be characterised

by an open and constructive

atmosphere between lecturer and

students.

28

The students’ perspective on learning

and seminar participation

by Anne Sofie Kjær Jacobsen and Maiken

Hjortbak,

MA’s in political science, former students at

the Department

With this contribution, we would like to pass

on our experiences as students with learn-

ing on master level seminars. Our experi-

ence is partly from the master level educa-

tion at the Department of Political Science

and partly from study visits outside the De-

partment and abroad. Maiken has studied

political communication and management

at Copenhagen Business School while

Anne Sofie has studied public manage-

ment and health care policy at the London

School of Economics, UK.

From our point of view, learning is a proc-

ess about obtaining general and specific

competences in interaction with lecturer

and fellow students. We shall focus on

three aspects of seminar participation:

preparation; participation in the teaching;

and examination preparation. The purpose

is to give some suggestions on how you as

a student may advance the learning proc-

ess in connection with seminar participa-

tion.

Seminar preparation

Basically of course it is an advantage to the

learning process that you read the curricu-

lum. The lecturer has chosen the texts be-

cause they contain essential points – not to

pester the students or simply to fill out the

curriculum requirements. However, to our

experience sporadic, yellow highlighting in

the curriculum is rarely a good indicator as

to how much you actually understood from

a text. It is about active reading, i.e. to re-

late critically to the argumentation of the

text which may be done by employing the

instructions for reading.

The instructions for reading may be more or

less relevant in connection with the actual

process of reading the text but in general it

is a useful tool when preparing for sessions.

Giving a detailed summary of a text is quite

easy, but disclosing the essential points in

your own words that is what it is all about.

Giving a detailed summary of a

text is quite easy, but disclosing

the essential points in your own

words that is what it is all about.

Ideally speaking, every seminar participant

has read and has taken a position on the

curriculum for each session. However, it is

no secret that busy periods in other subjects

and at home makes it difficult to be well-

prepared each time. Nevertheless, we be-

lieve that a little – but focused – preparation

is better than none at all. One hour of fo-

cused reading is better than giving up

when thinking of the pile of texts to read.

Participating in teaching

Participating in teaching is central for learn-

ing during a seminar. Too often, seminars

29

Instructions for reading

Focus Problem definition in the text?

Background Theoretical frame of reference in the text?

Results Essential points in the text?

Criticism Argument of the text:

- How is the connection between problem definition and

choice of theory?

choice of empirical laboratory?

Perspective:

- Could the problem definition of the text be highlighted through other theoretical perspectives? How would this influence on the conclusions?

- How do results of the analysis relate to results of other studies of a similar problem definition?

- How does the text relate to other texts in the seminar curriculum or other texts you have read during your study?

end up with a few students participating

actively, possibly because the other semi-

nar participants are not certain that their

questions and comments are sufficiently

‘smart’ to be accepted. It is a myth that stu-

dents are expected to understand the en-

tire curriculum of the day when they ap-

pear for teaching. Here it should be noted

that sessions are not examinations but

rather fora for discussion and clarification of

questions.

Participating in teaching is not an

examination but a possibility to

clarify and discuss nuances and

perspectives of the curriculum.

By way of example, it is quite all right to

express one’s difficulties in understanding

an argument or a text – you are definitely

not the only one with that experience. Fur-

thermore questions may form the basis for

a very good discussion of the topic to the

benefit of all participants. The best semi-

nars are the ones where questions are put

by other participants than the two ‘wise

guys’ on the front row.

Student presentations also deserve our

comments since both of us have experi-

enced this method of active participation

to be problematic from a learning perspec-

tive. It is a frequent misunderstanding that

the purpose of the presentations is to im-

30

press the lecturer. The best student presen-

tations are primarily directed to the fellow

students, moving beyond the texts, thinking

problem-centered and across texts. Put dif-

ferently, good presentations introduce new

angles and ideas and hence open up for

subsequent discussion which may contrib-

ute to the learning at the seminar.

Examination preparation

In our experience, examination preparation

at the end of the semester is considerably

facilitated if the reading is adjusted to the

examination method of the seminar; i.e.

examination preparation begins when

seminar teaching begins.

Examination preparation begins

when seminar teaching begins.

In general you may say that there are two

types of examination. By one examination

type you actively choose a problem defini-

tion (oral examination with synopsis and

home assignment), by the other type you

must react to an already fixed problem

definition (written and oral examination

without synopsis and a 7-days home as-

signment). The two types of examination

have different requirements of curriculum

knowledge. Consequently it is practical to

adjust the reading to the examination

method.

Adjusting reading method to

examination method is

advantageous.

By examinations with demands about an

independent preparation of a problem

definition, it is advantageous to read with a

problem-based focus. Here you should

identify strengths and weaknesses in ar-

guments, think creatively, and collect inspi-

ration to formulation of a problem defini-

tion which may contribute to the existing

literature in the field. In this connection the

curriculum may be considered as a basis to

generate ideas. Thus by this examination

method, it may be beneficial to prioritise

the curriculum – it is better to read the cen-

tral texts critically than to read all texts ex-

tensively.

When reading for seminars where the ex-

amination method implies that the student

must relate to a fixed problem definition, it

is better to read with a ‘point focus’; e.g.

based on the above instructions for read-

ing. It may be very useful to group the texts

according to topics and main points to

avoid a sense of confusion. Thereby points

are clarified at the same time as differ-

ences and similarities between arguments

and approaches may be discovered. Espe-

cially by this type of examination it is ad-

vantageous to read as many texts as possi-

ble and at the same time make a few (re-

flecting) notes about each text.

31

By both methods of examination you may

profit from contact with your peers at the

seminar or with fellow students. You often

learn a lot more through a discussion with

fellow students than over the fifth cup of

coffee in the reading room. Accordingly

time has often been allotted at the seminar

to discuss synopsis and possible draft as-

signments. This is an obvious forum to learn

about the workmanship of doing an as-

signment and about the topic of the semi-

nar. However, learning is completely de-

pendent on the approach of the student. A

constructive approach to the discussion of

presentations done by others implies that

you make an effort to contribute with useful

suggestions to improvements of the draft

argument. By the discussion of your own

presentation it is essential to receive the

criticism and avoiding the defensive. It is

about receiving the comments you believe

are useful.

The role of the lecturer

The lecturer plays an essential role for the

students’ learning, and as students we have

an effect on this role. By way of example

we found it useful when, as conclusion of

each session, the lecturer made a short

presentation of the curriculum for the com-

ing week and commented on the underly-

ing thought of the chosen texts. This ap-

proach gives a good basis for the prepara-

tion irrespective of whether you have time

to read the entire curriculum or is forced to

prioritise between different parts of the ma-

terial. Usually, the lecturers are open to

such a request.

Don’t be afraid to make demands

on the lecturer – most lecturers

appreciate suggestions from

engaged students.

Those were our experiences with learning

at the master level seminars. We hope our

reflections may help you to get the most of

your seminars!

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Student counsellors

The Student Counsellors at the Department

of Political Science are here to guide you,

give advice, and to serve as a link between

the students and the administration.

We are four Student Counsellors. We are all

students at the Department, but as Coun-

sellors we are assigned to the rules of pro-

fessional secrecy. This means that you can

be sure that whatever you tell us, it will not

be passed on to the administration, your

fellow students, or anybody else.

Come and talk with us if you have any kind

of questions or problems during your stay

concerning not getting used to the

way we study in Denmark,

or doubts about your seminar, your

exam or the like,

personal problems,

or other questions.

Our office is situated next to the Board of

Studies, Building 1331, office 101.

You are always welcome to come by dur-

ing opening hours. You do not need a res-

ervation. You can also call us or send us an

e-mail.

You may contact us on weekdays

during opening hours from 11 am to 2 pm,

by telephone 8942 1267 from 10 am to 11 am,

or by e-mail: stvejl@ps.au.dk

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K A IFS

Department of Political Science,

Aarhus University

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE Faculty of Social Sciences

Aarhus University

Bartholins Allé 7

DK-8000 Aarhus C

Denmark

Tel +45 8942 1111

E-mail statskundskab@au.dk

Fax +45 8613 9839

Website www.ps.au.dk/en