University location and the regional gap in university education

• Published in: Netla
• Main Author: Bjarnason, Þóroddur
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Icelandic
• Published: Menntavísindasvið Háskóla Íslands 2018
• Subjects: Universities; educational levels; educational gap; region; Háskólar; menntunarstig; menntabil; landsvæði; Akureyri; Reykjavík; Iceland; University of Akureyri
• Online Access: https://ojs.hi.is/netla/article/view/2788; https://doi.org/10.24270/netla.2018.1

For centuries, the University of Copenhagen was the primary institution of higher education for Icelandic students. The establishment of the University of Iceland in 1911 transformed the structure of educational opportunities in Iceland and allowed prospective students in Reykjavík and adjacent areas the opportunity to live and study at home. In other regions of Iceland, however, university students continued to leave their home communities for study and only a minority of those students returned after graduation. As a result, there is a considerable gap between educational levels in the Reykavík capital area and other regions of Iceland. In the period 1987–2008 several universities were founded, merged and renamed in Iceland. In the capital area, the private Reykjavík University and the Academy of Arts were established on the basis of earlier institutions, while the University of Education was merged with the University of Iceland. Outside the capital area, the University of Akureyri was established in northern Iceland, Bifröst University in the southwest and two agricultural schools in the north and southwest became universities. However, the public University of Iceland continues to be the largest institution of higher education with about 68% of all university students in the country. The proportion of residents with a university degree differs substantially between the Reykjavík capital area and other regions of Iceland. This regional education gap can in part be traced to more diverse educational opportunities in the capital area, but various other economic, social, cultural and geographical factors are also important. Research has thus shown that the geographical location of universities can have a substantial effect on the residential choices of university graduates. This research focuses on the impact of Icelandic universities on levels of university education and the education gap between different regions of the country. The regional impact of Icelandic universities is assessed on the basis of census ...