The Hans Christian Andersen Center carries out research and courses and offers information regarding Hans Christian Andersen and subjects pertaining to his whole body of work.
The Hans Christian Andersen Center operates locally, nationally and internationally.
- Locally, the center serves the University of Southern Denmark internally (research, courses for students, assistance to other centres and institutes). The center also services the local community (Odense City / the Funen area: e.g. co-operation with Odense City Museums, assistance to schools, folk high schools, private organisations and other institutions).
- On a national level, the center offers a source of information and research pertaining to Hans Christian Andersen. Amongst those who draw upon these resources are for example publishing houses, the media, institutes of higher education, schools, folk high schools, research libraries, the Danish Language and Literature Society, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education, public libraries, the Great Danish Encyclopaedia, private enterprises, tourist organisations as well as private persons.
- Internationally, the center carries out tasks for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (HCA-publications, material for promoting Denmark internationally), services embassies and consulate-generals, foreign publishing houses, motion picture producers, Danish lecturers in foreign countries, colleagues at universities and teachers´ training colleges around the world, and also private persons.
TopVisiting Scholars and Students:
Students enrolled in European exchange agreements (Socrates) regularly come to University of Southern Denmark and during their stay may wish to take a course in a Hans Christian Andersen related subject, as part of their degree. Furthermore, one or more foreign visiting scholars are affiliated with the center, solely for the purpose of carrying out work related to Hans Christian Andersen and seeking advice here. These guest researchers are attached to the center for a period of 14 days to 1 year, though usually for 1 semester. A wide range of nationalities has been represented here throughout the years. Also students from various countries have spent 1-2 semesters at the center, some even longer. These students arrive with very different qualifications and backgrounds. Some are at post-graduate level, some at under-graduate level, and some have good skills in Danish, while others speak only a little English besides their maternal language.
Grants:
Visiting scholars, as well as students from foreign countries, may be able to receive limited financial support from funds made available to the center by Odense City Council. The slender resources available for this purpose are distributed via the director of studies.
Facilities:
The center presides over a digital text-base (Danish and English) which is presently being compiled. In addition, the center has, on micro-film, all of the original manuscripts by Hans Christian Andersen, from the Royal Library of Denmark. It is also possible, via the center, to request material from the museum Hans Christian Andersen´s House, to be studied at the center. It is possible for example to draw upon the museum´s book collection comprising approx. 20.000 volumes, which function as a research library for the center.
