Month: September 2023

Dear students, 

The Student Council committees are looking for their fifth member. These are the Amendments Committee, the International Affairs Committee, the Culture and Social Affairs Committee, the Family Affairs Committee, the Finance and Career Committee and the Transportation and Environmental Affairs Committee.

The application must include a brief introduction to yourself and previous experience that could be useful in the committee, what you are studying, and why you consider yourself to belong to the committee. Applications must be sent to the e-mail address shi@hi.is

The application deadline for all committees is 23:59 on October 8th 2023.

Below you can see an overview of the committees’ activities, but further information can also be found at the Student Council’s website. 

The Culture and Social Affairs Committee

The Culture and Social Affairs Committee tasks are diverse since it is responsible for organising and managing various events within the University of Iceland. The committee puts a lot of effort into making fellow students happy, content, and pushes for good morale and cohesion of UI students.

The Finance and Career Committee

The Finance and Career Committee‘s main concerns are the employment of students and students‘ financial matters. The committee aims to create a relationship between students and the industry.

The Law Amendments Committee

The Law Amendments Committee revaluates and redrafts bills that student council members have presented to make sure they are in correspondence with the reevaluated laws.

The International Affairs Committee

The International Committee deals with cases concerning the interests of international students at the University of Iceland and the cases of Icelandic students abroad. It also manages a mentor project that gives Icelandic students and exchange students the opportunity to get to know each other. The committee works in collaboration with the International Office at the University of Iceland.

The Family Affairs Committee

The Family Affairs Committee main concerns are to work in the general interest and rights of students with families in the University of Iceland and the committee’s goal is to best support students who have children so that they can take care of both their education and family life. The committee organises numerous family-friendly events, such as lectures and the Student Council of University of Iceland’s Family Day, to name a few.

Transportation and Environmental Affairs Committee

The Student Council’s Transportation and Environmental Affairs Committee deals with environmental issues, including recycling, the University of Iceland’s sustainability policy, transport issues to the university campus and the FS buildings.

As stated in a government announcement, public universities will not get permission to increase registration fees as requested by the universities last december. The minister of higher education, science and innovation previously decided that the registration fee would not be increased during last spring´s parliament session. This was announced in the wake of the Student Council campaign from March this year, called “Stúdentar splæsa” [Students pay the bill], where the Student Council fought against the increase of registration fees. It is great news for students that public universities will not get permission to increase the registration fee.

The history of this fight dates almost a decade back when registration fees were increased from 60.000 ISK to 75.000 ISK in 2014. The increase was strongly protested by the Student Council, who also complained to the University Council and later to the Althingi Ombudsman. Over the last three years the fight has been intense and the Student Council has launched campaigns regarding the registration fee.

The registration fee is already too high!

In 2021 the Student Council launched a campaign called ,,Stúdentar eiga betra skilið” [Students deserve better]. The campaign focused on the economic certainty of students. In the campaign, the Student Council highlighted that registration fees were an additional burden on a social group that is already in a vulnerable position. The fact that it is not customary to pay burdensome fees to study at a university in the neighboring countries was also highlighted.

The Student Council celebrats the minister´s decision to not grant permission to increase the fee, but it must be emphasized that the fight is not over. Registration fees and other factors which add to the economic uncertainty of students is cause for concern. All future attempts to increase the fee will be met with full force by students. The Student Council has shown perseverance in protecting the interests of students and emphasizes the importance of students standing together in these matters.

But is the registration fee legal? 

Although the minister´s announcement is great news, it is important to consider the fact that the Student Council has continuously questioned the legality of charging students any amount in registration fees. The Student Council finds that registration fees for public universities does not comply with the Act on public higher education institutions. We therefore strongly encourage the minister to take a step further and start work to review registration fees with a view to reducing or abolishing them.

Agenda Student Council Meeting on September 20th 2023 in room HT 103

According to paragraph 9 of the Student Council’s laws, the Council’s meetings are open to all students at the University of Iceland. Students who are not members of the Student Council may therefore attend meetings and listen to discussions within the Council.

Please contact the office of the Student Council at shi@hi.is if you have any questions regarding the meeting or the agenda. Furthermore, all students are welcome to contact the office with inquiries about their rights.

Meeting agenda

1. The President of the Student Council convenes the meeting 17:00-17:05
2. Vote on minutes from the Student Council meeting on August 22nd 17:05-17:10
3. Remaining nominations for the Student Council’s schools and committees (voting) 17:10-17:15
4. Announcements and issues ahead 17:15-17:30
5. Presentation of the state of affairs in the statutory revision of the Act on the Students’ Education Fund – Gísli Laufeyjarson Höskuldsson, SHÍ Loan Fund representative 17:30-17:50
6. SHÍ´s annual report 2022-2023 presented – Guðmundur Ásgeir Guðmundsson, SHÍ´s managing director 17:50-18:00
7. Legislative changes (voting) 18:00-18:30
   Intermission 18:30-18:40
8. Presentation of a survey on students’ financial situation – Katrín Björk Kristjánsdóttir and María Sól Antonsdóttir 18:40-18:55
9. Vote on the Student Council’s committees implementation plans 18:55-19:20 
10. Other issues 19:20-19:30
11. Recorded issues
12. Meeting ends 19:30

The Student Council´s Rights Office is open on all week days from 10:00 – 17:00.

In addition, the International Officer, the Student Interest Representative and the Student Loan Representative have the following consultation hours:

Feel free to come by!