Denmark's two university centers: The quest for stability, autonomy, and distinctiveness

Abstract

In the 1970's Denmark established two new institutions called “university centers” which were to differ from the traditional universities in terms of academic organization and curriculum. The first center, Roskilde, was established near the national capital while the second center, Aalborg, was established in a provincial area. The development of these two centers, though emanating from the same plan, has been strikingly different particularly in terms of institutional stability, autonomy and distinctiveness.

This article presents case studies of these two institutions from their opening in 1972 and 1974 respectively to the summer of 1979 and attempts to explain the different patterns of development.