University of Akureyri

The University of Akureyri (Háskólinn á Akureyri) is located in the capital of north Iceland and has served Akureyri and its rural surrounding for almost 40 years. While building a reputation for academic excellence and good industrial relations, the university has been instrumental in the area’s economic growth and is central in the area’s future planning as a knowledge-based society.

The university was founded in September 1987 and from the beginning the growth of the university has been rapid, with study programs, students and staff constantly increasing in numbers and ranks. Today the university is divided into two schools: School of Business, Science and Health (including Faculty of Natural Resource Science, Faculty of Business Administration and Faculty of Nursing and Occupational Therapy), and School of Humanities and Social Sciences (including Faculty of Law, Faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Faculty of Education). The University of Akureyri (UNAK) offers a master‘s programme in Polar Law, taught in English, as well as an LLM and Diploma in Polar Law. UNAK also offers a master in Science in Psychology and a research master degree in Natural Resource Science in English. Exchange students can select diverse courses that are taught in English, especially within the School of Humanities and Social Sciences but also in the Faculty of Business Administration. The number of students is around 2.850 and members of staff are around 270.

The University of Akureyri places a great emphasis on research related to arctic issues, such as the arctic research centre- Stefansson Arctic Institute as well as other arctic research connections on campus. Further information about the arctic emphasis can be found here: https://www.unak.is/english/research/arctic . The university is one of the founding members of the UArctic. Since 2011 there has been a special professorship for Arctic matters at the university called the Nansen professorship. The purpose is to strengthen collaboration between Iceland and Norway in the field of Arctic Scientific Research. The university is also affiliated with a lot of research institutions that are located in Akureyri or on the university campus (see: https://www.unak.is/english/research).

Exchange Program Fact Sheet