With a population of around 330,000 people, Iceland is one of Europe’s most sparsely populated countries. However, this Nordic nation punches above its weight in terms of quality higher education, unique cultural opportunities and a jaw-dropping landscape. A Masters in Iceland allows you to experience all of this first-hand.
Read more...Coastal Communities and Regional Development is an international, multidisciplinary master’s program on the development of rural and remote areas in the past and in the future. It focuses on coastal communities along the North Atlantic and the Arctic, although theoretical foundations might be found in other regions.
The program is especially built on the principle and practice of sociology, macro-economics and geography/planning. By the end of the program students understand the changes and challenges of coastal communities' development, and have versed themselves in methods and skills to predict their development and manage it. The language of teaching and general communication is English. The program is offered by the University Centre of the Westfjords in Ísafjörður in co-operation with the University of Akureyri. Teaching takes place in Ísafjörður.
The program consists of 120 ECTS at the master’s level; this includes 75 ECTS in the form of courses and 45 ECTS in the form of a thesis. All courses are taught in modules. The program starts in the autumn semester and the first year is made up of core courses and elective courses from the teaching schedule.
In order to complete 75 ECTS in one academic year, courses are taught in intensive modules from August through July of the next year. Courses are weighted from 1 ECTS to 8 ECTS and range from half a week to four weeks in length. Each ECTS is expected to involve approximately 25-30 hours of student work. On average students take 2 ECTS a week which corresponds to no less than a 50 hour workload per week.
After the courses finish, at the end of June/beginning of July, more of the students’ attention moves to the 45 ECTS thesis. According to the above work time calculation, the 45 ECTS should be equivalent to 1.5 semesters’ work. Students are free to choose whether or not they stay in the Westfjords to complete their theses. Theses are submitted for marking and defense at the beginning of the spring semester the next year. In this manner it is possible to complete the whole program in 18 months. No provision for summer holiday is made, however, if this pace of study is chosen. It is also possible to submit theses in April and the program then takes 21 months.
While the program covers a wide arc of geographical and development related areas students can specialise within this sphere through elective courses and with their choice of a topic for their thesis. Students are welcome to take elective courses at other universities, with the Master’s program committee's approval.
Students graduate from the University of Akureyri with MA degrees (Master of Arts).
