Should the minister accept the recommendation, a fusion and the resulting School of Education at AU will become a reality retroactively from 1 January 2007.

With the addition of the DPU, AU will house Denmark's leading research community in the field of educational science, learning and competence development. With the inclusion of a school of education, the AU will be the base of a wide range of new initiatives on educational research in Denmark. This includes didactics in primary and lower secondary education as well as post-secondary education, in elite education of pedagogues and teachers, and not least a focus on training and maintaining leading teachers at the universities.

"Since November 2006, we have enjoyed a continuous dialogue with the DPU," says chairman of the board for AU, Jens Bigum. "Negotiations have been characterised by an open exchange of ideas and have been very optimistic throughout, which is why I am proud to announce that we can now present a joint recommendation for a fusion. The fusion will enhance the new university's ranking, both nationally and abroad, and the new Danish School of Education will give our university a foothold in Copenhagen, which makes us the only truly national university."

"We are overjoyed at the prospect of a fusion, says chairman of the board at the DPU," Bishop Kjeld Holm. "The fusion will bolster the organisation and will provide the necessary framework for educational research. In just a few years, the DPU's focus on educational research has proven unique, innovative and useful. A fusion with AU will provide the best possible foundation for a genuinely productive collaboration with leading research- and educational communities at the best university in Denmark: the University of Aarhus. I am fully convinced that every sector in Denmark can look forward to a continuation of our school of education's contribution to theory and practice."

In practical terms, the DPU will become a faculty-level school of education at AU. Copenhagen will remain the primary seat of activities for the DPU, and a unit for research and education will be established in Aarhus within the next few years.

"With the establishment of the Danish School of Education, the University of Aarhus will become the broadest spanning university in Denmark and we will have stakeholders in every sector," rector Lauritz B. Holm-Nielsen says. "The university will intersect with the entire educational sector, from the youngest children to the oldest people – and there is definitely a great potential for expansion of the activities in post-vocational and adult education."

"'Education, education, education' is an international call for action that Denmark must also heed, particularly in the field of education itself. I think this fusion will be of greater benefit to Denmark than most people realise now – but they will, eventually," says rector Lars-Henrik Schmidt.

The Danish School of Education comprises some 400 employees and approximately 5.000 students and has a turnover of some DKK 300 million. Assuming the ministry approves of the fusion, the new University of Aarhus will comprise about 9.000 employees and 35.000 students and will have an annual turnover of DKK 4.5 billion.

For further information, please contact chairman of the board Jens Bigum (AU), tel. +45 2014 4155 and chairman of the board Kjeld Holm (DPU), tel. +45 4018 1113.