fightacrosstheconstellations asked: Hello! I'm going to be on exchange in Reykjavik from this next August to June, and I was hoping you (or a lovely follower!) could give tips on housing, food, etc. for when I'm there. Even contacts! I do love contacts and having new friends. Any help would be wonderful! Thank you so much, and I love your blog! Good luck on moving!
Hi. If your exchange program is with the University of Iceland, your best bet might be to live in a student apartment or room. It’s usually the cheapest and puts you close to likeminded people for company. Alternatively, you could rent a room or apartment privately. The Icelandic rental market isn’t great, but the two major sites for renting apartments are these: Vísir (click “Eignir til leigu), Mbl and Leiga. They are only in Icelandic, so you’ll need to use google translate.
You can find a good deal of info about cost of living etc. in past questions about studying in Iceland as well as in other questions about Iceland.
Good luck!
Anonymous asked: What are the schools like in Iceland? Specifically the universities? I'm thinking of applying but are there sufficient courses that are also taught in English?
It depends on what you want to study. I know for example in business there is an option to do the whole bachelor’s degree in English. However, where as in Icelandic you have a wide variety of electives to choose from, in English there might be only one or two per term.
Check out Study in Iceland. They have a list of programs taught in English.
Anonymous asked: Hi, I'm wanting to attend the University of Iceland as a foreign student next year. Do you have any idea how rigourous it is to enter the University or what the grade standards are to enter? I checked their website but I couldn't find very much information on it except that one needs 60ECTS to apply.
It depends on the subject, but for bachelor’s level, there often is no minimum grade requirement. A few programs (I think only medical and economics) have their own entrance exams. They then admit the top 100 (or some number) students. Most programs have no requirements and will accept large numbers each fall. They then instead have quite tough exams in December and expect ca. 50% to fail and quit the program.
Master programs usually have stricter entry requirements. They typically require a minimum of 7,5 or 8 (out of 10) average grade from your bachelor’s.
mackiemae asked: I'm entering my first year of university next year. I've always wanted to do a summer exchange program to Iceland, to further develop my Icelandic skills as well as learn more about the culture and see the lovely scenery. Do you know of any summer programs in Iceland that would be offered to first year English students from Canada?
For exchange programs there always needs to be a connection between your home university and the Icelandic one. That connection may very well exist or be easy to arrange.
There are all sorts of Icelandic courses and programs. I think they are all listed on this website. The University of Iceland’s international office (ask@hi.is) should be able to answer any questions. Also check out several previous questions regarding studying in Iceland.
As I see you like sloths, you are bound to like lemurs as well. Check out Lemúrinn.is. Lots of fun posts for you to practice your Icelandic on and they are very lemur inclined.
Gangi þér vel!
Update This is Eirikur added:
You can let the poster know that the University of Manitoba has a huge relationship with Iceland (only Department of Icelandic outside of Iceland!) and there are a couple university exchange options (HI and University of Akureyri). But, right up her alley might be the Icelandic Field School which is a month-long trip to Iceland where students learn language, culture and literature. I’ve been and it’s amazing. Non-Manitobans can come too! There were two on my trip.
Anonymous asked: Am 33 year old.A Nigerian,want to know if i can apply for a bachelor degree programme in Iceland with a diploma in Electrical Engineering
I would think so. There are two universities that teach electrical engineering.
Check out their websites and send them an email.
University of Iceland
University of Reykjavik
Anonymous asked: First of all i must say thanks to you for this social help to needy people. Thank you very much. Sir, for a student who is going to take admission in university of iceland, what is the minimum accommodation cost he must keep him in mind. Secondly accommodation on rooms sharing is available in iceland or not. please consider it that my issue is not standard but cost minimization.
Glad to provide some help.
Iceland is not a cheap country to live in. It is comparable to the other Nordic countries in that regard. The only thing that is generally cheaper in Iceland (at least compared to the large Nordic capital cities) is the cost of housing. I would guess that the absolute cheapest housing available to a student are the rooms in Gamli Garður. There you pay 42,000 ISK and share the kitchen, laundry etc. I don’t think you could find cheaper accommodation anywhere. Maybe if you found several people to share some tiny private apartment. According to a government index I found the estimated minimum cost of living (housing not included) for an individual was 57.800 (food 44.800, hobby 2.100, clothes 4.600, medical 4.200, misc 2.100). That seems reasonable as an absolute minimum.
sir here it is written in website of directorate of immigration that along with application for residence permit bank statement of your account is required to check financial stability. the problem is, it is further added that the account must be of approved currency of central bank of iceland but how i will know that our national currency PKR Pak Rupees (Country Pakistan) is approved or not plz guide me.
I would guess that your currency is recognized. It’s a whole lot more important in the world economy than the ISK at least :) It is not on the list Central Bank’s list of major currencies, but try sending the Central Bank an email (sedlabanki@sedlabanki.is) and asking. One advantage to a small country such as Iceland is that bureaucratic institutions answer emails.
Anonymous asked: Hi, I'm not from any Nordic country and I really want to go to college in Iceland, the thing is I live in Brazil and my school system is very different from Iceland's. I've read about applications everywhere and I still have doubts about it, like, should I start college here and then go there or can I go straight from here to there? That if, of course, they accept me. If you can't help me with the info, thanks for reading this anyway. You're doing a great job with your blog, one of my favorites!
É claro que tem jeito para Brasileiros vir estudar aqui!
You have two main choices, you can go as an exchange student or you can enroll completely in Iceland.
If you are ready for college and want to become an exchange student, then I think your Brazilian university would have to organize it.
If you are 18 or younger, then you can very easily come over as an exchange student through AFS or Rotary.
To enroll full time you need to make sure you are eligible study wise. The school system is a bit different from Brazil. You can see a good overview of it on Wikipedia. I think in your case you would have to have finished Ensino Médio in Brazil to qualify. Also since, we have lots of choices during our Menntaskóli years (comparable to Ensino Médio), not everybody has had the same courses. This means that each university program will have its own requirements. They may require a minimum number of courses in math etc.
I don’t think I can help you much more specifically than that other than point you to the University of Iceland’s foreign student portal. You can also just email them and explain your situation. I’m sure they are helpful.
Finally: Tenho certeza que você vai gostar tanto de estudar na Islândia como eu gostei de estudar no Brasil.
Anonymous asked: Hi! I don't know if you can help me but I just had a few questions about the schooling in iceland. I am a Citizen of Iceland but live in the states and I am also a freshman in college at this time. I always wanted to go to school and live in Iceland. I know the schooling is a little different there then it is here, but is my only option finishing college here and going for masters there? or could i get an associates degree and in a year or two go straight there?
Iceland divides the school years a little bit differently than the US. The mandatory schooling is seven years of “grunnskóli” roughly equivalent with elementary school and then three years of “gagnfræðiskóli”, roughly equivalent with middle school. You graduate from that at 16 and almost everybody begins “menntaskóli” roughly equivalent to high school. That takes four years in most cases although it is possible in three. After this, at the age of 20, you graduate with what we call “stúdentspróf” (E. Student’s Exam) and qualify for college/university in Iceland and most countries abroad. The students have some choice of paths in the “menntaskóli”, so they may have a slight emphasis on mathematics and physics or languages and social sciences for example. This implication may have an effect on what university program they can select.
We don’t make a distinction between college and university. After “menntaskóli” you go directly to university and begin your three year bachelor’s degree and then two year master’s degree.
That’s all I can say. Can’t answer your question precisely, but you should take a look at the websites of the University of Iceland (public) and University of Reykjavík (private). I’m sure you can send your question to hi@hi.is and get directed to somebody who knows.
grundstuck-deactivated20120208 asked: Hello!
Being yourself icelandic i though i could give this a go. I have been admitted at a postgraduate master at the university of iceland and i am now looking for a flat/house for the next academic year.
Do you know anything about the university's ones? Or will i have more opportunities finding a flat on my own? Any particular block i should look for? I want a single bedroom but don't want to spend too much as i won't be able to work in Iceland (from what i understand).
Takk :)
For a single individual, I would guess the university apartments would be the best choice. At least if you want simple and cheap.
The cheapest housing possible has always been the student apartments. However this is changing. After the financial crisis, a lot of tides are changing… Normal free market housing prices have crashed, while the student apartment prices are tagged onto the consumer price index. The price of student apartments is therefor today comparable and in some cases higher than on the free market. The long waiting lists have disappeared.
Still, if you need a cheap apartment for one and want to get to know other people, the student apartments are a good choice. Most of them, especially the single apartments such as in Gamli Garður, are very close to the University. Public transportation in Reykjavík is somewhat useless, so that is a big plus.
In any case when you are considering locations, check out the map on ja.is or bus routes and times through Strætó. The student apartments can be found through Stúdentagarðar. The public rent market isn’t that great in Iceland. People are much more likely to own their apartments, than in most countries. However you can check mbl.is for apartments (in Icelandic) or Vísir (in Icelandic). But for the really cheap apartments you need to read the classifieds in the actual offline newspapers.
About the working thing. I haven’t checked, but I would think that you are allowed to work while staying on a student visa. Here’s some info.
Hope that helps and gangi þér vel!
