The most important task of Roskilde University is to contribute to experimental, innovative forms of learning and knowledge creation. The university is research-driven and provides education for future generations of managers, teachers and experts based on advanced knowledge. RUC is characterised by: pushing boundaries for knowledge through a problem-oriented approach focusing research and education on fields where the university has international or national status bringing university and society together. Roskilde University was formed under the Act of Copenhagen University's Siting and University Centres of 1970. The Act was passed only after a great deal of debate between the conservative-liberal coalition government in power at the time and the opposition. The government wished to set up a university in the city of Roskilde to take some of the pressure off Copenhagen University; the opposition wanted this Denmark's fourth university to be located in the city of Aalborg on the mainland to improve the educational level of the population of northern Jutland. As a result, universities were established in both cities. Roskilde University opened its doors to students, 723 of them, on 1 September 1972. The founders of the University wanted a different approach to education and science than what was already being practiced at Denmark's three other, traditional universities at the time.