The large corner office in the museum building on Nørregade street in central Copenhagen is stacked with moving boxes.

When we talked to him, Henrik C. Wegener was packing up his life as rector. In a few days time, he will hand over the position to his successor, David Dreyer Lassen.

Now he feels melancholy, and relief.

Packing up marks the end of eight intense years in which he was »given the opportunity« to lead Denmark’s largest university — and it has been both exciting, wild, and educational, Wegener says.

He feels relieved at the same time, because, as he puts it: »Who would have thought, that it all worked out in the end.«

»I clearly remember my first days as rector. I had butterflies in my stomach and thought, Can I handle this? What am I even supposed to do? That sort of thing,« he says.

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»Ending a chapter feels completely different. There is a hint of melancholy, but also a great sense of fulfilment. And a sense of calm knowing that things turned out as they should have. I look back and think, well, that actually went pretty well. I survived, and I’m leaving behind something I am proud of.«

Being rector at the University of Copenhagen is a job with an expiration date, Wegener believes. He has been ambitious on behalf of the institution, and it is as if he has been running at full speed for eight years.

»You can’t do this job forever. At least, I can’t. So for me, it has also been about stepping down in time, while there’s still fuel left in the tank. And before others start saying, isn’t it about time that the old fool calls it quits?« he laughs.

Modern times

Henrik C. Wegener has led the university through a series of major changes.

Changes that, according to the outgoing rector, have had the all-encompassing goal of unifying the university, which in the past had been marked by fragmentation and a multitude of systems that did not communicate well with each other.

»I think it’s the big picture that stands out. We have created strong, unifying strategies that we have delivered on. And we have handled all the things we could never have foreseen — and there have been a helluva lot of them.«

The debate about an offensive Mexican sombrero at an intro event from 2018 — marked the beginning of a new era of fierce value debates at the university, making Wegener the first rector to navigate them.

»Suddenly, we found ourselves in an entirely new discussion about how we relate to one another, interact, and communicate,« he says, adding that during his tenure, there have been many movements within what has been labelled as wokeness.

»And most recently, the debate about Palestine and Gaza has taken up a lot of space,« Wegener says.

It has surprised him, he says, that it has primarily been debates about language use, social norms, and most recently foreign policy, that have led to internal discussions at university boiling over and attracting external media attention.

»Maybe I’m just an old fool, but I can’t understand why the debate about the climate and the future of our planet hasn’t taken up more space relative to debates about the Mexican sombrero and Palestine,« says Wegener, shaking his head.

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He believes nevertheless that the university has navigated through the different debate storms.

»I am quite satisfied that we have come out on the other side without compromising the university’s fundamental principles, values, and ideals. We are an institution of enlightenment, founded on academic freedom and independence. That is worth fighting for, and I believe we have done so.«

Specifically, Wegener believes that the university has always made room for different movements and trends but has never allowed itself to be subordinated to any particular ideology.

»The university should not be a political battleground where it is about securing a majority and forcing through an ideology. It’s not about being right, but about being understood,« he says, in a thinly veiled reference to the organisation Students Against the Occupation, which has repeatedly protested — in various creative ways — against UCPH collaborations with Israeli universities.

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»I think the dialogue from our side was handled reasonably. And that the students had their freedom of expression well accommodated. From the students’ side, I think there was perhaps less understanding that at a university, you do not impose your views on each other.«

As rector, Wegener has had to accommodate many different interests. During his tenure, he has had to navigate between students who, on the one hand, demanded new forms of social interaction and terms of address — and, on the other hand, right-wing politicians or commentators who argued that enough is enough.

»We are not an institution for moral upbringing, and I have always found it liberating that the university can provide a space for discussion and experimentation. Even when university management is occasionally accused of being too lenient,« he says, adding:

»And to that, I must say: If politicians want to change the conversation at the university, they have to legislate against it — then we will follow suit. But until then, the conversation flows freely at the university.«

Institutionalised scepticism of management

When Wegener speaks of feeling of being ’sated’ with the job, it is not only about steering the university through the big cultural shifts of the time.

It is also about leading a university with a long democratic tradition that, at times, has prolonged and complicated the many development opportunities he has seen within the institution.

Wegener previously served as prorector at the Technical University of Denmark and is the first of UCPH’s more than 250 rectors who did not come from within the university’s own ranks. When I ask him what it has been like to be the first outsider in history, he shrugs.

»That is difficult to answer because I have nothing to compare it to. But I do believe that it can be a strength for any organisation to occasionally bring in someone from the outside who can see things from a different perspective,« he says, adding:

»There was certainly some scepticism towards it. And that probably says something about the history of this place. You would be hard-pressed to find many other places in Denmark where it would be entirely unthinkable to bring in a manager from the outside. But here…« he laughs, leaving the sentence unfinished.

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If he had to point to a noticeable difference between DTU and UCPH, it would be the »institutionalised scepticism of management,« which, at times, has crept into the many obvious changes Wegener has wanted to implement, he says.

»When I arrived, the faculties were very different, both administratively and in terms of governance. A recurring theme was that it was difficult to navigate UCPH and collaborate across departments. You constantly encountered barriers and roadblocks. For me it was a no-brainer that I had to address this.«

»But it is only now, after eight years, that we are close to reaching the finish line with this transformation process,« says Wegener, pointing specifically to the governance reform, which standardised a strategic annual cycle for all faculties, budget and policy reforms, and, finally, the administration reform that takes effect on 3 March — when he will no longer be at the helm of the institution.

Patience tested

Before becoming a university manager, Wegener did research on zoonoses, diseases that cross over between humans and animals. So when the COVID-19 crisis broke out, guiding the university through it was somewhat familiar territory, he explains.

He thrives, in fact, in crises, and in situations that require quick thinking and decisive action.

»There are many things during my time as rector that have taken longer than my patience could endure. At times, I have had to convince people that what I wanted to implement wasn’t completely ridiculous. But I think we have evolved a lot in this area, and there is now a shared understanding that we all want what’s best for the university,« he says.

As for the administration reform — which during the lengthy process was particularly criticised for lacking sufficient employee involvement — Wegener says:

»I can confidently say that I have never been involved in anything that has been so thoroughly prepared. That doesn’t mean we haven’t listened to the criticism and taken it into account. We have, and the reform has been adjusted many times along the way.«

»Some might find it provocative, but I am actually proud of this reform.«

READ ALSO: 300 million, expensive consultants, and upset guests: Here is the full University of Copenhagen administration reform story

Laugh at yourself

As rector, you don’t just have to take responsibility for the debates that take place within the university — sometimes, you become the object of media attention and criticism yourself. Wegener has experienced this several times, not least on the University Post.

How has that been? I ask him. Especially when he now and again has been the object of satire.

»I think criticism is completely fine, as long as you understand what it represents. And satire — I actually would have liked to see more of it. I use a lot of humour in my management style, and sometimes it’s really good to step aside and laugh at yourself,« says Wegener.

Wegener »actually found it funny« when the Danish section of the University Post released a story last autumn with the headline »Here is who we think will be the new (female) rector of UCPH,« featuring a photoshopped image of Wegener wearing a wig and lipstick.

»It was a different way of addressing something serious,« he says.

I ask Henrik Wegener whether there was anything about being rector that turned out to be more difficult than he had imagined. And whether he would have done anything differently if he could do it all over again.

»No,« he says, bursting into laughter.

»Okay, maybe it is be a bit arrogant to say this. I do think there have been times when I would have liked to have the necessary management information to make decisions. And sometimes, I wish I had been better informed before making a decision,« he says.

»But in reality, I think success should be measured by everything that didn’t happen. Some things could easily have blown up in our hands, but they didn’t.«

At the end of our conversation, we get to the big question that Henrik Wegener has yet to reveal the answer to: What will he do now that he is no longer rector?

»I can share a little, but not everything … « he begins.

»I will be first and foremost advising university sectors in other countries, including Poland and the Czech Republic. Unfortunately, some Central European countries lag behind the rest of Europe, and there is a need for improvement,« he says, before continuing:

»And I am also in discussions with one of our foundations about preparing an initiative focused on the global fight against infectious diseases, which I am working hard to bring to life.«

Specifically, this new ‘initiative’ will support countries around the world in developing better preparedness to monitor diseases that have the potential to develop into new pandemics.

Wegener speaks with barely concealed enthusiasm about the new things that lie in store for him.

»Of course, I will miss this job. I think one day I will look back on this and think, damn! What a wild experience it was to get this opportunity. To be part of such an amazing organisation that can achieve such extraordinary things. It has been absolutely incredible.«