Odense University was a

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. It was established in 1966. In 1998, the university was merged with two other institutions to form the

University of Southern Denmark The University of Southern Denmark ( da, Syddansk Universitet, lit=South Danish University, abbr. SDU) is a university in Denmark that has campuses located in Southern Denmark and on Zealand. The university offers a number of joint programmes in ...

. Its campus is now known as University of Southern Denmark Odense (''Syddansk Universitet Odense'', abbr. SDU Odense) and is the university's biggest campus.

History

The university was established in 1966. It had four faculties: Humanities, Social Sciences, Health Science and Natural Sciences. In 1998, Odense University was merged with the Southern Denmark School of Business and Engineering and the South Jutland University Centre to form the University of Southern Denmark. The campus is now known as SDU Odense, and is considered the main campus of the University of Southern Denmark, both because of its relative size and because the central administration of the university is situated there.

Campus

Being an epitome of Danish functionalist architecture, the campus has been

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

d ''Rustenborg'' (which roughly translates as ''The Rusty Castle'') by students and staff, because it is built from gray concrete slabs clad with

weathering steel Weathering steel, often referred to by the genericised trademark COR-TEN steel and sometimes written without the hyphen as corten steel, is a group of steel alloys which were developed to eliminate the need for painting, and form a stable r ...

, in an early architectural use of that material. Its architecture has also given rise to other nicknames and slang expressions among students and staff. For instance, the administrative block goes by the name of ''Førerbunkeren'' (''" Führerbunker"''), referring to the architectural similarities between the university building and a stereotypical military building. The University of Southern Denmark's students' magazine is simply called ''Rust''.

Motto and logo

When abbreviated, the university motto becomes ''FIONIA'', the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

name for

Funen Funen ( da, Fyn, ), with an area of , is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 469,947 as of ...

. The motto was created by the university's first

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

, Mogens Brøndsted in 1966. Brøndsted also designed the university logo, featuring an apple tree.

References

{{Authority control University of Southern Denmark Odense Buildings and structures in Odense