Our complex, diverse and changing reality makes us who we are. The five schisms define our value-based extremes and community: The education/education programme/course of study is classical, elitist, virtuous, serious and focused. The organisation is dynamic, sympathetic, challenging, playful and perspective-rich.
We need to embrace this beautiful complexity in a simple and powerful core - a brand essence that marks our position.
We call this essence Insight & Bite

Insight & Bite

The foundations of SDU lie in societal commitment, high-quality education and ambitious, relevant research. Without our pronounced diligence and insight, we would quite simply not exist. Our constant striving for greater acknowledgement makes us what we are: a university.

At the same time, SDU is something truly special. Our history dates back to a time of upheaval, where altered standards and new demands on our very existence created the agile, responsive university we are today.

We continue to shape and adapt ourselves to match developments in society – inquisitive and keen to experiment. We transcend boundaries, disrupt entrenched thinking, and let new ideas and approaches blossom.

Without our distinctive bite, we will not be here tomorrow.

• Classic & Dynamic

  We combine classic virtues such as education, specialisation and knowledge with dynamic relevance, attentive attitude and sustained enterprise.

  Some institutions define themselves on the basis of what they were, and want to continue to be – their name, their heritage, their pride. As if echoes from yesterday can carry them into tomorrow.
  
  We look at the results today and the future we want to influence. We are borne forward by our striving to be a modern, meaningful and relevant knowledge institution. The inquisitive researchers, dedicated staff, the passionate teachers and the large numbers of talented students. Together, they form the backbone of SDU. Yesterday, today and tomorrow.

• Elitist & Sympathetic

  SDU recognises its elitist position: Celebrates the academic lighthouses and emphasises the deep, nerdy, special, heavy, academic material.

  The elitist is a basic premise that is recognised and displayed with justified pride pride. But elitism can become exclusionary and unapproachable. SDU is is not. SDU manages to balance its elitist position and authority with an with an inviting and open approach to its collaboration with local communities, partners and, not least, in its communication with the the broad Danish public.

• Virtuous & Challenging

  SDU is rooted in history and has an inherent urge to break new ground. Perhaps even a need to be a bit challenging and different. But everything in moderation.

  SDU's research and education/education programme/programme/course of study is of course serious, objective, honest and thorough: SDU is a place you can trust and rely on. - research funding, career and education/education programme/programme/course of study.
  
  But SDU is also characterised by (or sharpened, if you will) the constant need to find new opportunities and relevant positions for research, education/education programme/programme/course of study and organisation. The challenging has therefore become an additional basic premise - something that creates remarkable initiatives.
  
  Welcome to the constant, safe and quiet experiment. Welcome to a university that is built on change.

• Serious & Playful

  We are serious and ambitious. All universities are. But few succeed in combining academic gravitas and professional pride with a playful and inquisitive approach.

  Research and education are crucial and serious matters – to us, to our students and to our researchers. Our results and our capacity to interact with the outside world, as well as our ability to nurture talent, position us as a key partner in Danish society.
  
  And we’re not here for the stay-at-homes: we are inquisitive, playful and experiment-oriented by nature, and we’re happy to step out onto thin ice. We dare to take focused, carefully considered gambles, with the liberty to try, evaluate and try again.

• Focused & Far-reaching

  We cultivate our expertise and results through sustained focus, while our socially relevant knowledge, our attractive position and our strong relations are all developed through innovative contexts.

  One of our key purposes is to help talents to bloom and to promote the unique.
  
  Every day, we encounter a host of talented, multi-skilled students and researchers who are driven by different ambitions, but who are all in search of the same thing. We all share a thirst for the deep, focused expertise, for succeeding in an ambition, for pursuing a sense of curiosity, for establishing an attractive set of professional skills.
  
  However, the university staff, the students and the success of researchers cannot rest on their laurels of skills and capabilities. We generate high-profile sustainable value via our constant and relevant perspectivisation across academic disciplines, with an unswerving focus on the society we are part of and want to influence – with our professionalism and diversity.

• Sharp, but not cynical

  We have knowledge and attitude, and are quick with a response: intellectual, relevant and readily comprehensible. We dare to speak up, we dare to stimulate debate – but always balanced and with pronounced respect.

• Present, but not stifling

  We are open, accommodating and respectful in all dialogue. We meet people and partners with equal parts candid presence and appropriate professionalism. We are equal partners, not friends.

• Serious, but not dull

  We are proud and serious in everything we do and everything we say. We have insight and bite – it is clear to everyone that depth, personality, intention and goodwill lie behind everything we say and everything we do.

• Intellectual, but not exclusionary

  We speak and write from the expert perspective, irrespective of function: clipped, clear and concise. We never talk down to anyone. We use everyday language and jargon when it suits the situation, and only come across as elite researchers when this is required and in the right context.

We create value for and with society, and we shape the future through high quality, talented people and excellent environments.

SDU is the third-largest university in Denmark – founded in 1966 and since shaped and powered by a constant need to pinpoint challenging, attractive positions for our research, educational and organisational activities.

Academic expertise is cultivated through sustained focus, while societally relevant skills, capabilities and results are developed through inter-disciplinary and far-reaching relations and partnerships. SDU covers a broad and a deep range in its hunger for expertise and results, its desire to succeed in its ambitions, to pursue its inquisitiveness, and to establish professional and attractive skill sets.

Each and every talented student, ambitious researcher and dedicated member of staff therefore maintains a constant and watchful eye on the society we aim to – and want to – influence with our professionalism and diversity.

Brand wheel

At each workshop, the distinctive characteristics of SDU were discussed on the basis of a “brand wheel” featuring several pairs of opposite characteristics. The further out the workshop participants placed SDU on each line between a pair of opposites, the more clearly they wanted SDU to communicate that particular characteristic or trait. 7 brand wheels were prepared. The one shown here reflects the inputs and conclusions from workshop 1.