At this point the government discovered that the treasury lacked the funds necessary to set up a new university, not even for such a comparatively modest beginning with only a few buildings and a small number of subjects.
Despite a succession of vain attempts to persuade the government that there was a great deal of generosity to be found in Aarhus (for example, a million kroner bursary for the future university's students, and a sizeable sum that had been collected in contributions towards university buildings), it was like banging one's head against a brick wall, until, in the summer and autumn of 1927 a strategy was formulated which proved to be the one that would carry the project through. The proposal was made to start on a small scale, which meant dropping the demand for medical education departments with expensive equipment and machinery that would also generate high overheads. No, if the right to hold examinations in Propaedeutic Philosophy (the first-year examen philosophicum - oral examination in Philosophy) could be granted, then the philosophy teaching might be supplemented by a little language teaching which could be conducted in rented accommodation. Then Aarhus Municipality offered to pay the teachers' salaries. The government wouldn't have to put its hand in its pocket at all.
 The businessman Christian Filtenborg (1852-1919) bequeathed a very large sum in his will, which was earmarked to fund scholarships at an eventual university. (University History Committee). |
