The University Centre of the Westfjords and Edinborg Culture Centre in Ísafjörður have come to an agreement about UW renting out the main hall of the culture centre for teaching this coming autumn. This is a response on behalf of UW to the large number of students enrolled in the two masters programs this year, a total number of 43. With this number of students, the facilities at the UW are not large enough for joint core courses of the two programs, as well as popular elective courses.

During the first years of the University Centre, before the masters’ programs were launched, there were discussions about building a large lecture hall for the University Centre and even to build a large university building. Despite these ambitions plans, the UW policy has consistently been to attract students to the area before making huge financial commitments. This policy has for the most part paid off. With the new master’s program in Coastal Communities and Regional Development the need for a large lecture hall is evident. It is therefore very convenient to be able to rent the hall in a building that is located within 5 minutes’ walk from UW, rather than building it from scratch.

With this change it can be said that the UW campus has now expanded into the downtown area of Ísafjörður, like what is often the case in old university towns on the continent.