Education and Youth

 

 There has been an Icelandic Department at the University of Manitoba since 1951. Along with it an Icelandic Section in the University Library. In 2000 the Icelandic Government and Eimskip, the Steamship Company of Iceland spent one million Canadian dollars on remodeling and upgrading the facilities at the library. It is an important step in promoting cultural links between Canada and Iceland. The facility is among the best and most impressive at the University of Manitoba today.

Canada has also been popular for Icelanders to attend. Icelanders have studied across Canada, from the East Coast to the West Coast. Canada provides good education in both English and French. Tuition is much more reasonable in Canada than in the USA.

There has also been some Icelandic language and history taught in pre university levels. 

 

 

The Department of Icelandic Language and Literature has been at the University of Manitoba in the form of a Chair since 1951, when it was funded with an endowment created by the Icelandic community in North America. The Chair embodies the desire of the Icelandic community in Canada and the United States to uphold its literary traditions and to foster continuing interest in Icelandic and North American-Icelandic history. It has also served as a focal point for the teaching of Icelandic culture and language. Dr. Finnbogi Guðmundsson, the former head of the National Library in Iceland, held the Chair until 1956, when he was replaced by Mr. Haraldur Bessason, cand. mag., who held the post until 1987. Dr. Kirsten Wolf held the position of Chair and acted as head of the department from 1988- 2000. Dr. David Arnason has been Acting Head since then, and Dr. Birna Bjarnadottir has recently been appointed Chair of Icelandic Studies. In 1992, a professorship in the field of Icelandic-Canadian studies was established with the help of a grant from Secretary of State (Department of Multiculturalism). http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/icelandic/

 

Iceland has also been outstanding at providing grants and scholarships to people of North America to attend the University of Iceland and take the Icelandic language course for foreign students. There are at least 2 people who benefit from this program every year.

 

In the summer there is a program called the Snorri Program that provides youth, ages 16-25 to experience 6 weeks in Iceland or North America. Icelandic youth travel to North America and North American youth travel to Iceland. They spend some time in school learning language and culture, and then sometime with relatives and also work in some everyday jobs in Iceland like a grocery store or a farm. This program has been operating since 1999 and continues to be popular for both North Americans and Icelanders. In the fall of 2003 was another version of this called Snorri Plus, which was a chance for older people to experience a similar exchange.

 

 

 

There are numerous other educational institutes that also link Canada and Iceland.

Some examples are:

 

Stefansson Institute, Akureyri Iceland http://www.svs.is/english/index.htm

 

Laval University, Quebec Canada http://www.getic.ulaval.ca/ang/index.htm 

 

Artic Institute Canada, Calgary Canada http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/Others/AINA/

 

University of the Artic http://uarctic.grida.no/index.html