Mission, vision and behavioural patterns

Mission

It is UCN’s mission to engage in Real Life Education. To us, Real Life Education means:

• In close interaction with practice we educate our students so that they can act and reflect on concrete problems and challenges in professions and industries
• We challenge real life and contribute to setting new standards in the professions and industries for which we educate the students, through collaboration on education, continuing and further education as well as research and development projects

UCN is thus to develop, facilitate and convey value-added learning, competences and knowledge for, in collaboration with, and across professions and industries. With its regional base UCN has a special task of educating its students and developing its activities in collaboration with professions and industries in Northern Jutland.

Vision

In 2020 University College of Northern Denmark (UCN) will be known as a leading educational and knowledge institution which creates value and inspiration in and across professions and industries.
The ambition is to create a strong and visible profile for UCN based on our educational and knowledge activities, which make UCN an attractive option

• among students and course participants – regionally, nationally and internationally;
• among professions, real life players and industries at which UCN's study programmes are aimed;
• among Danish and international research and knowledge environments; and
• among leading players in the societal development of Northern Jutland. 

Behavioural patterns

The realisation of UCN's Strategy 2020 presupposes that we develop an interdisciplinary culture based on mutual recognition of four basic behavioural patterns.
The behavioural patterns must be respected as symbols of the desired future UCN culture by all leaders, staff and students and must thus be included in the individual's choice of behaviour and actions.

COURAGE

UCN recognises and supports courage because innovation is what will create our future profile – and that only happens when the setting encourages curiosity and experiments

RESOLVE

UCN must recognise resolve, so that decisions can be translated into action because we must be able to create development in surroundings and a practice framework that continually change and which do not always leave room for establishing a 100-percent secure fact or process basis for action.

VISIBILITY

UCN wants to be more visible and create a clearer profiling of what we stand for and of the qualities we represent in our study programmes and knowledge base, because our surroundings tell us that we already have many strong sides in our profile and generate many good stories through our education, research and development work, but that these are not sufficiently profiled and visible in the media and in our communication with external partners – and therefore have not yet created the required foundation for realising our contribution to value creation in professions and industries.

COHERENCE    

We want  to develop UCN by creating meaningful coherences

• internally between professional competences and cultures in the organisation – with respect for the professional differences and the need for common UCN initiatives and characteristics; and
• externally in respect of professions, industries and other knowledge, development and educational players;

because diversity is UCN's strength if interdisciplinarity can be brought into play as a positive option which strengthens and supports the profile of the study programmes – and UCN as an organisation. It is, therefore, quite essential for students and partners to see a UCN which is capable of using its diversity to create value.