Author: Studentarad

Live Stream party to celebrate the last Student Paper of the school year.

SCHEDULE

20:00 The stream opens
20:15 Pub quiz
– Those who wish to compete send their answers to the email studentabladid@hi.is
20:45 Stand-up with Stefáni Ingvari og Vilhelm Neto from the comedy group VHS
21:00 The singer Kristín Sesselja will perform – sponsored by Landsbankinn.

Winners will be announced at the end of the stream

Dear students of the University of Iceland

Elections to the Student Council took place on March 24th and 25th, and election results are in.

Following the elections, a new Student Council elects its representatives for the Student Council’s rights office, as well as electing other members of the Council. The election meeting will be held on  April 21st, 2021, at 17:00 on Teams.

According to paragraph 9 of the Student Council’s laws, the Council’s meetings are open to all students at the University of Iceland. If a student wishes to attend the meeting, a request needs to be sent to shi@hi.is.

The meeting agenda can be found here.

At the election meeting it is possible to run for President, Vice-President, Students Interest Representative, Students Loan Fund Representative, and for the Student Council’s committees, as well as other positions on behalf of the Council. Those who are elected at the election meeting take office at an exchange meeting, cf. Article 4 of the Student Council’s law. Eligible for election to the Council’s rights office, committees, and other positions are all those who have been registered to study at the University of Iceland in the last three years before the election meeting.

Office Elected at Student Council Office, in accordance with the Council law:

• The President of the Student Council is elected at the election meeting.
• Vice-President of the Student Council is elected at the election meeting.
• Student Loan Fund Representative is elected at the election meeting. He sits on the board of the Student Loan Fund. He does not, however, take over from the former representative until negotiations have been concluded on the allocation rules for the next school year. The Deputy Student Representative in the Fund’s Board is appointed by the Student Council’s rights office. 
• Student Interest Representative is elected at the election meeting.
  

Committees, in accordance with the Council law:

• For the Finance and Economic Affairs Committee, the Equal Rights Committee, the International Affairs Committee, the Transportation and Environmental Affairs Committee, the Family Affairs Committee, the Cultural and Social Events Committee and the Amendments Committee the Student Council elects four representatives at the election meeting.
• The Student Council elects two representatives for the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Committee at the election meeting.

At the election meeting, newly elected representatives of the Student Council can only vote. If candidates are more than the number of positions a proportional vote is necessary. If more than one person is elected in a specific election, the person who receives the most votes wins the position, then the person who comes next, and so on.

Nominations for the positions must be submitted to the chair of the meeting, who is also the President of the Student Council, Isabel Alejandra Díaz, before the election meeting at shi@hi.is or at the meeting itself.

Please contact the office of the Student Council at shi@hi.is if you have questions regarding the meeting agenda.

Dear students

The Student Council’s next meeting will be held on Teams at 5:00 p.m. the 20th of January. If a student wishes to attend the meeting, a request needs to be sent to shi@hi.is. This is an additional meeting of the Student Council where gambling and addiction will be discussed by professionals, in connection with the University of Iceland’s Lottery.

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. 

The agenda can be found here.

Please contact the office of the Student Council at shi@hi.is if you have questions regarding the meeting agenda. All students are welcome to contact us at 570-0850 or shi@hi.is with inquiries about the Student Council and its meetings. The Student Council also answers questions on student rights, social life and more.

The Student Loan Funds Allocation rules for the school year 2021-2022 have been approved by the Minister of Education, Science, and Culture.

The Student Council is surprised to learn that the decision to increase the basic subsistence allowance for subsistence loans was not taken beforehand when the allocation rules were approved. Students have long demanded an increase and have been in repeated contact with the government about the process, therefore the Student Council considers it surprising that student representatives were not informed that an increase, in addition to an increase due to price level changes, would not be ready with the allocation rules yesterday and that a new group would be tasked with working on proposals to that effect before the st of May.

The Student Council hopes that the government will take action and that the proposals result in an increase in the basic subsistence allowance for the next school year. The council also acknowledges SÍNE’s comments regarding the conditions of students abroad and finds it disappointing that SÍNE’s demands are not included in the allocation rules. They whished for a safeguard, for the board of the Fund to check whether students abroad are allowed a local supplement if exchange rate fluctuations are large.

The main changes to the Menntasjóður’s allocation rules for the school year 2021-2022

Increase of the personal income limit
The Student Council welcomes that the personal income limit has been increased from 1.364.000KR to 1.411.000KR. It is authorised fivefolded the limit for a student if the student has not been on student loans from the Menntasjóður for the past 6 months. The Student Council believes that the authorization does not apply to all students and reiterates its position that all students should be given the opportunity to apply for a fivefold increase.

Increased flexibility for credit-eligible units and credit rights
The Student Council welcomes the increased flexibility for students regarding the division of credits between study levels. In the previous allocation rules, 180 ECTS credits were earmarked for undergraduate studies and 120 ECTS credits for earmarked for master’s studies. These study levels have now been combined and students are entitled to a loan for 300 ECTS credits in undergraduate or master’s studies. This means that students have the flexibility to allocate 300 ECTS credits to undergraduate or master’s studies. The leeway of 120 ECTS credits (in addition to a student’s choice at the undergraduate, master’s or doctoral level) together with 60 ECTS credits for a doctoral loan still stands.

Exemption for disability
The condition for exemption for academic progress due to disability is reduced from 75% to 50%. SHÍ believes that this change will increase access to education for those students who are covered by the exemption.

Application deadlines
The application deadlines for student loans have been moved and will now be 15 September (for the autumn semester), 15 January (for the spring semester) and 15 June (for the summer semester). SHÍ is pleased that the application deadlines have been moved a little further into the semester. However, it must be kept in mind that student conditions can change significantly in the middle of a semester, and therefore the Council believes that the application deadlines are still too early in the semester.

Private pension product paid out in 2021
Applicants for student loans who receive a personal pension savings payment in the year 2021 can request that it be exempted from the calculation of their student loan for the school year 2021-2022.

Income from work in the rearguard
Students can request that income earned income from working in the rearguard of the health care system, welfare services and the police will not be deducted from student loans for the school year 2021-2022.

The Student Council draws attention to the fact that further information on H-loan repayments can be found in the new allocation rules.
The Student Council wishes to inform students that the requirement for notarized leases is still to be found in the allocation rules for the next school year.

Last Wednesday and Thursday, March 24th and 25th, elections to the Student Council 2021-2022 took place. Students voted between candidate lists in their School of study and council representatives were given seats according to the proportion of votes.

The Student Council consists of 17 representatives and as the system is today, there are 3 representatives from each School, except for 5 representatives from the School of Social Sciences. Röskva, association of socially minded students at the University of Iceland, received a total of 16 elected representatives, while Vaka, a student interest association, received 1 representative.

The election took place on Uglan and the turnout was 26.46%. Further figures are expected at the end of the week, but here you can see how the representatives are arranged:

School of Social Sciences:
1. Re­bekka Karls­dótt­ir (Röskva)
2. Erna Lea Berg­steins­dótt­ir (Röskva)
3. Stefán Kári Ottós­son (Röskva)
4. Ell­en Geirs­dótt­ir Håk­ans­son (Vaka)
5. Kjart­an Ragn­ars­son (Röskva)

School of Health Sciences:
1. Ing­unn Rós Kristjáns­dótt­ir (Röskva)
2. Mar­grét Jó­hann­es­dótt­ir (Röskva)
3. Kristján Guðmunds­son (Röskva)

School of Humanities:
1. Jóna Gréta Hilm­ars­dótt­ir (Röskva)
2. Anna María Björns­dótt­ir (Röskva)
3. Sig­urður Karl Pét­urs­son (Röskva)

School of Education:
1. Rósa Hall­dórs­dótt­ir (Röskva)
2. Rann­veig Klara Guðmunds­dótt­ir (Röskva)
3. Erl­ing­ur Sig­valda­son (Röskva)

School Engineering and Natural Sciences:
1. Ingvar Þórodds­son (Röskva)
2. Inga Huld Ármann (Röskva)
3. Helena Gylfa­dótt­ir (Röskva)

The Office of the Student Council sincerely congratulates the newly elected student council members on their election and wishes them good luck in their work.

The Aurora Student Conference will be held on the 30th of March 2021 from 9.30 am – 5.15 pm CET

The Student Council’s next meeting will be held in person and on Teams at 5:00 p.m. on the 10th of March. The Student Council will meet but due to COVID restrictions, we are not able to invite guests. If a student wishes to attend the meeting, a request needs to be sent to shi@hi.is to join the Teams meeting.

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.

The agenda can be found here.

Please contact the office of the Student Council at shi@hi.is if you have any questions regarding the meeting agenda. All students are welcome to contact us with inquiries about the Student Council and its meetings. The Student Council also answers questions on student rights, social life and more.

We have now opened for applications for the third allocation of the Student fund. You can apply by clicking here. We encourage you to follow the instructions in the application form as well as you can. Failure to meet the requirements of the application can result in the application being turned away.

Before you apply, it is recommended that you read the laws of the fund and code of practice which can be found here, below the Icelandic version, as well as on the Student Council’s website.

Any questions can be directed to Haukur Friðriksson, the fund’s President. He can be reached by email at studentasjodur@hi.is.

The Youth Environmentalists’ Campaign is live now under the name Aðgerðir strax! (Actions Immediately!) Formally launched today. The purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness for the need for more radical climate action to be taken by the Icelandic government. Read more about the campaign and its list of demands here.

Today, the Climate Strikes continue and the Student Council encourages all those who want to contribute to the issue to come to Austurvöllur this Friday at 12:00 and demand Action immediately!

#adgerdirstrax