The University Centre of the Westfjords’ new master’s degree study program, Coastal Communities and Regional Development, starts at the end of August 2018. Coastal Communities Studies is an interdisciplinary course that offers insights into sociology, economics, geography, and planning. The course is Iceland’s first coastal communities academic study program, marking a milestone in the development of this field of expertise.

Newly appointed Icelandic Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson has chosen the Westfjords for his first official visit into the Icelandic countryside. Guðmundur was an instructor in the CMM program in 2011-2012, and specially requested a time to meet with CMM students at the University Centre of the Westfjords.

Coastal and Marine Management alumna Anika Truter, who graduated May 2017, has published the results of her thesis on Reynisfjara Beach in Regions Magazine published by the Regional Studies Association in a special issue entitled “Sustainability Transitions in the Coastal Zone.”

The University Centre of the Westfjords is unveiling some changes on its websites sub-sites, with changes to its look and content – and on closer inspection, readers will discover a whole new programme of study on the website: Coastal Communities and Regional Development.

The University of the Westfjords received 17 applications for the job of administrative director of teaching, of whom eleven were from the Westfjords and six from outside the region; eleven women and six men. The selection committee decided to hire Margrét Björk Arnardóttir. Margrét Björk is a studies- and careers-officer at Árskóli in Sauðárkrókur and has also worked as studies- and careers-officer at Hólar University and at the Lifelong learning institute for Northwest Iceland in Sauðárkrókur. 

Yesterday the University Centre welcomed a travel study group from Franklin University Switzerland. This is the fourth year in a row that a student group from Franklin University visits the NW Westfjords. The Iceland tour is a 12-day field experience which allows students to examine first-hand the problems and potentials generated by the country's rapid increase in tourism.

This morning a new group of students enrolled in the Iceland and Greenland: Climate Change and the Arctic program arrived in Ísafjörður. This study abroad program is offered by the School for International Training (SIT) in Vermont USA in collaboration with the University Centre and was launched in 2016.

The University Centre of the Westfjords is now seeking host families in the Ísafjörður area willing to host American undergraduate students September 14 – October 6.

Close to 70 foreign students are now hitting the Icelandic books in the Ísfjörður region as a part of their Icelandic courses offered by the University Centre of the Westfjords. This is the eleventh consecutive summer these courses are taught, they started in 2007 and have long since become a regular part of the August agenda in the vicinity of Ísafjörður.

Our program director, Dr. Catherine Chambers, has recently published an article in the journal Coastal Management on the inclusion of social science in fisheries decision-making processes in Iceland.