The ambition to provide engaging teaching is the focal point of the university's aim to provide a further boost of teaching competencies at AU to benefit both student learning and the university's strategic goal of world-class research-based degree programmes. The increased focus on pedagogical competency development of teaching staff is being implemented in such a way that it also contributes to employees' general career paths and collegial collaboration on planning, conducting, developing and evaluating teaching and degree programmes. In addition, competency development is linked to employees’ current teaching assignments, provides formalised competencies and contributes to employee motivation and job satisfaction.

The ambition is realised by all teaching staff discussing and agreeing with their immediate supervisor (at their SDD as a minimum) how their research and pedagogical/didactic competencies can best be maintained and developed in the period leading up to the next dialogue. The dialogue is based on a teaching portfolio in which the employee regularly summarises and considers his or her teaching experience and competency development.

In addition, all departments/schools and divisions are expected to actively create a good framework for, and regularly conduct, university pedagogical-didactic activities in professional communities, including development work, theme discussions, workshops or similar. The Centre for Educational Development (CED) offers relevant competency development for all groups of teaching staff in interaction with the Committee on Education and other partners.

Finally, management is aware of the importance of recognising academic staff who develop their pedagogical-didactic competencies to a high degree and, for example, publish excellent research-based teaching materials within their field of expertise.