Elections to the Student Council of the University of Iceland took place on March 22 and 23. The total voter turnout was 32.54%. The following members were elected to the Student Council:
Elections to the student council will take place on Wednesday 22nd and Thursday 23rd of next March. There, the students of each academic field will elect a representative in the Student Council for one year. The elections are electronic and take place at Uglunn. The opening hours of the voting system at Ugla will be from 09:00 on March 22 to 18:00 on March 23.
The deadline for turning in the list of candidates was at 18:00 on March 12. There are two lists of candidates at all of the Schools, but in addition one individual candidacy in the School of Humanities.
Candidates for Student Council 2023 are as follows:
School of Social Sciences
Röskva
Arna Dís Heiðarsdóttir, stjórnmálafræði
Emilía Björt Írisardóttir Bachmann, lögfræði
Kristmundur Pétursson, félagsráðgjöf
Lars Davíð Gunnarsson, viðskiptafræði
Katha Aþena G. Þorsteinsdóttir, félagsfræði
Vaka
Daníel Hjörvar Guðmundsson, lögfræði
Júlíus Viggó Ólafsson, hagfræði
Signý Pála Pálsdóttir, stjórnmálafræði
Magnús Daði Eyjólfsson, viðskiptafræði
Jóhanna Freyja Ásgeirsdóttir, félagsráðgjöf
School of Health Sciences
Röskva
Sigríður Helga Kárdal Ásgeirsdóttir, sálfræði
Daníel Thor Myer, læknisfræði
Kristrún Vala Ólafsdóttir, hjúkrunarfræði
Vaka
Elísabet Sara Gísladóttir, lífeindafræði
Margrét Hörn Jóhannsdóttir, næringarfræði
Magnús Geir Kjartansson, lífeindafræði
School of Humanities
Einstaklingsframboð
Daníel Daníelsson, ritlist
Röskva
Guðni Thorlacius, heimspeki
Júlía Karín Kjartansdóttir, íslenska
Steinunn Kristín Guðnadóttir, enska
Vaka
Magnús Orri Magnússon, heimspeki
Gunndís Eva Reykdal Baldursdóttir, margmiðlunarfræði
Sólveig Franklínsdóttir, guðfræði
School of Education
Röskva
Tanja Sigmundsdóttir, tómstunda- og félagsmálafræði
Dagbjört Ósk Jóhannsdóttir, grunnskólakennsla með áherslu á erlend tungumál
Lena Stefánsdóttir, þroskaþjálfafræði
Vaka
Júlíana Dögg Önnudóttir Chipa, tómstunda- og félagsmálafræði
Sveinn Ægir Birgisson, grunnskólakennsla með áherslu á stærðfræði
Alex Elí Schweitz Jakobsson, tómstunda- og félagsmálafræði
School of Engineering and Natural Sciences
Röskva
María Rós Kaldalóns, hugbúnaðarverkfræði
Davíð Ásmundsson, verkfræðileg eðlisfræði
Fjóla María Sigurðardóttir, jarðeðlisfræði
Vaka
Eiður Snær Unnarsson, umhverfis- og byggingarverkfræði
The Student Council has approved the following rules when it comes to communication with voters and other candidates in the upcoming Student Council elections.
Voters‘ rights to a secret election should be protected throughout. Under no circumstances should a voter be made to prove they have voted or to show their ballot.
It is impermissible to host events during the time of ongoing elections that infringe on voters‘ rights to a secret election.
Parties are not permitted to direct voters to rearrange candidates in order to influence the election results and get more of their candidates elected than would have been secured through a straight-forward vote for the party‘s list of canditates, this is in accordance with the 33rd article of the Student Council laws regarding the election process.
Distributing election material within the University is permitted. When it comes to such a distribution, the university‘s rules should be followed, i.e. by employing boards and areas that explicitly allow posters and other such materials.
An organised distribution of election material in the university‘s buildings during election days is impermissible.
Any kind of destruction of other candidates and/or parties election material is impermissible.
The sharing of derogatory and hurtful comments is impermissible.
Minor infractions are those infractions that violate the overarching goal of a fair election without being considered particularly hurtful or done with malicious intent.
Major infractions include any sharing of derogatory or hurtful comments or malicious intent when it comes to breaking the laws of the Student Council and/or a brotherly election. If a major infraction occurs, the electoral commission will hand over a written reminder and publish said reminder on Facebook and/or Twitter.
The electoral commission will endeavour to resolve minor infractions without the need of a formal reminder. If minor infractions occur repeatedly, despite a verbal reminder, the electoral commission will hand over a written reminder and publish said reminder on Facebook and/or Twitter.
This list of infractions is not exhaustive. The electoral commission reserves the right to handle any unforseen potential infraction in what they consider to be an appropriate manner.
Years’ long battle for students’ interests has finally paid off!
Having to wait several long months before being allowed to sit a retake or sick exam is now ancient history! The authorisation to schedule the autumn semester’s sick exams for May has now been abolished and taken out of the university’s rules, thanks to the tireless efforts of the Student Council and the university council’s student representatives!
This means that, starting next academic year, all retake and sick exams for the autumn semester will be sat in December and January.
This was done through changing the university’s rules at a university council meeting last February 2.
This change was based on a proposal drafted by Rebekka Karlsdóttir, then a Student Council member and currently the president of the Student Council, and Ingvar Þóroddsson, and proposed to the Student Council on October 20 2021. The proposal suggested that the Student Council and the university council’s student representatives unite their efforts to bring about a change in the university’s rules so that they no longer allow the autumn semester’s sick exams to be sat in May. The then student representatives of the university council, Isabel Alejandra Díaz and Jessý Jónsdóttir, followed up on this by putting forth a proposal detailing this change within the university council, alongside Student Council members from the School of Social Sciences.
The Student Council would like to thank all those who contributed to this victory in achieving equal rights of students, regardless of faculty.
The Student Council’s next meeting will be held on March 8th in classroom L-101 at 17:00.
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
Meeting begins 17:00
Vote/approval on minutes from last meeting (Vote) 17:00-17:05
Announcements and issues ahead 17:05-17:20
Presentation of Sprettur 17:20 – 17:35
Presentation of distance learning at UI 17:35 – 17:55
Intermission 17:55 – 18:05
Proposal for the appointment of SC’s representatives at the National Assembly of the National Union of Icelandic Students (Vote) 18:05 – 18:15
Legislative amendments to the Student Council’s Law (Vote) 18:15-19:00
The Student Council’s next meeting will be held on February 14th in Fenjamýri, Gróska, at 17:00.
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
Meeting begins 17:00
Vote/approval on minutes from last meeting 17:00 – 17:05
Announcements and issues ahead 17:05 – 17:20
Presentation of Vísindagarðar 17:20 – 17:35
Presentation of distance learning at UI 17:35 – 17:50
Proposal for special resources for students with a foreign background (vote) 17:50-18:00
Suggestions on how to increase electoral participation (vote) 18:00-18:15
Update on the Student Council’s financial plan for 2022-2023 (vote) 18:15-18:25
Intermission 18:25-18:35
The Student council’s Financial statements 2021-22, 18:35-18:45
Transportation and parking at UI 18:45-19:05
Propasal regarding accessibility at the student cellar (vote) 19:05-19:15
Propasal regarding better accessibility of information for parents in UI (vote) 19:15-19:20
Propasal regarding Háma in Saga and the house of health sciences (vote) 19:25-19:35
Proposal for improved study facilities for students at the Faculty of Humanities (vote) 19:35-19:45
Propasal regarding allocation rules at the Student housing (vote) 19:00 – 19:10
The Student Council’s nomination for Iceland’s Youth Representative to the United Nations in the field of human rights (vote) 19:45-19:50
The Student Council’s School of Activities – Fall of 2023
The Student Council of The University of the Iceland hosts an activity school for children of HÍ-students born between 2018-2022. The sessions take place in the University’s gym at Sæmundargata (next to HT) next Saturdays, and each session is 40 minutes. The School of Activities starts Saturday, 7th of October and ends 25th of November. Consequently, there will be 8 sessions in total. The children are divided into two groups depending on their age – maximum occupancy is 25 children for each group. The younger group (2021, 2022) 8:45 – 9:25, and older group (2018-2020) 9:30 – 10:10. Light refreshments will be offered at the end of each session. *Note that all children must be registered to participate.
Click here to register a child for SHÍ’s School of Activities 2023
The goal of SHÍ’s Schools of Activities is to give children a platform to improve their exercising abilities, coordination, and well-being. Games and obstacle courses are a big part of the curriculum, and there is an emphasis on teamwork, consideration, and social growth.
Price per child is 5.000ISK, but there is a 500ISK sibling-discount for each sibling registered – price for 2 siblings would, therefore, be 9.000ISK. Customers of Landsbankinn receive a 1.500ISK discount and will, therefore, only pay 3.500ISK per child, if they pay via bank transfer from an account from Landsbankinn. It is not possible to receive both the Landsbanka- and the sibling discount simultaneously.
Parents are active during sessions by assisting their children. With that, they receive an important opportunity to get to know their children even better in unusual situations. Instructions on how to pay will be sent out shortly after the registration is approved.
If there are any questions, do not hesitate to contact us through mail – shi@hi.is – or through a message on Facebook (Stúdentaráð Háskóla Íslands).
You can now apply for grants in the third allocation of the Student Fund 2022-2023.
The application form can be foundhereand we encourage you to familiarize yourself with the fund, especially its laws andcode of practice before applying. The application deadline is until 12:00pm on Monday February 13th 2023. Late applications will automatically be turned away.
Example of grants you can apply for now; International collaboration or domestic collaboration among university students, Informative and discussion sparking events within the University and Solid grants for all study associations.
ATTN. subsistence grants and grants for diagnosis will be allocated in the next allocation.
Any questions can be directed to Dagný Þóra Óskarsdóttir, the fund’s chairperson. She can be reached by email at studentasjodur@hi.is
Aurora is a long-term cooperation of 10 universities that set out with the goal of increasing and deepening cross-disciplinary cooperation within higher education in Europe.
Aurora offers students a variety of opportunities, for example open workshops and projects such as hackathons and seminars that are advertised on social media and through mass emails, shorter and longer courses at other Aurora universities where the credits gained count towards your degree at your home university, and cooperative projects spanning an entire academic year, such as the Student Schemes. In addition to all that, the Aurora Student Council is continuously working on cooperative projects.
The universities that take part in the cooperation alongside the University of Iceland are located in Spain, Italy, France, England, Czechia, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Denmark.
The Aurora Network was originally formed because of the universities’ mutual goals and longing to cooperate but has, in the last few years, received funding from the European Commission as the Aurora Alliance; one of 44 university alliances funded through a project titled the European Universities initiative.
The last semester was eventful, to say the least, and it is therefore suitable to finish the first month of a new year by wrapping up a few of the projects students worked on in the autumn semester of 2022.
At the start of last semester Aurora advertised for students who wanted to get involved in the Student Schemes. In total, we received over 100 applications from students at Aurora universities. From the University of Iceland, 25 students signed up as either an Ambassador or Champion.
One of the largest projects Aurora has undertaken in the past few months has been the writing of a bid for continued funding and students have been involved in that work since the very beginning.
That work started last summer and, as the President of the Aurora Student Council, I had a seat on the so-called Editorial Committee that met regularly and laid the groundwork for the new application.
In September, Institutional Coordinators of all 10 universities gathered in Copenhagen Business School and spent two days deciding Aurora’s emphases and projects for the next four years. Two student representatives took part in that work, the President and Vice President of the Aurora Student Council, Alma Ágústsdóttir from the University of Iceland and Hanus Patera from Palacký University Olomouc.
We worked continuously on the proposal after that but the next large-scale project wasn’t until November when the Student Council met in Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. We had two days of meetings to collect student emphases and then presented them to the Vice Rectors of all the Aurora universities.
The students representing the University of Iceland were Alma Ágústsdóttir, the International Officer of the Student Council of the University of Iceland, and Rebekka Karlsdóttir, the President of the Student Council of the University of Iceland.
The Aurora Student Council in Amsterdam
One of the students’ main emphases was that each university would work towards having a paid student position. This is because they believed the workload of those students who take on the most responsibility for Aurora exceeds what can be expected of a volunteer. Such a position would also increase equality, diversity, and inclusion since some students’ economic position makes them unable to take on volunteer work alongside their studies, regardless of their interest in the work. The new position of Student Coordinator would ensure that each university has a fully engaged student, responsible for lending support to other students who do work on behalf of Aurora, assist with marketing at an institutional level and sit on the Student Council, among other responsibilities.
This endeavour was successful and the position of Student Coordinator was included in the new application for continued funding, that Aurora submitted on January 30th.
In November Aurora also held a virtual Biannual conference, hosted by Universität Duisburg-Essen. There, the Student Council organised a World Café event on mental health (which is the Council’s emphasis for this academic year) titled Mental Health: Sharing Best Practices. There, students, professors and staff of Aurora universities gathered to identify which mental health support efforts were successful, where support is lacking and how we can do better. This event enabled people to learn from each other on a cross-institutional level. At the World Café’s conclusion the Student Council gathered the results and, building on those results, we will continue to work on increased mental health support throughout the course of this semester.
In December, Palacký University Olomouc in Czechia hosted a conference titled European Universities – Future of Higher Education Forum where several alliances, funded through the European Universities initiative, gathered to discuss the future of European universities. There I spoke on student participation within governance and discussed how we may employ the power of students to the fullest.
Alma Ágústsdóttir explaining student participation in Aurora’s governance
The rectors of all 10 Aurora universities also gathered in Amsterdam in December to approve all that was included in Aurora’s new bid and, as the Student Council President, I sat that meeting on behalf of students.
Since then the planning of Aurora’s work for the next four years has continued, culminating in the handing in of the application yesterday, on January 30th. Having been a part of that work since its beginning I feel confident in saying that the future of Aurora is bright!
If you are interested in international cooperation and want to know more about Aurora, I encourage you to check out our website.
Here you can see all Aurora courses currently open to applicants. If you want to take part in forming the universities’ policies and continued work in certain sectors such as sustainability, digitalisation and teaching, you can still register as an Ambassador or Champion here. If you want to stay up to date on open opportunities and the work of the Student Council you can follow us on Instagram.
The Student Council’s next meeting will be held on January 19th in classroom HT-101 at 17:00.
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
Meeting begins 17:00
Vote/approval on minutes from last meeting 17:00 – 17:05
Announcements and issues ahead 17:05 – 17:25
Presentation of the project Student Refugees Iceland 17:20 – 17:35
The Student Council’s financial plan for 2022-2023 17:35 – 17:50
Tillaga um herferð Stúdentaráðs (vote) 17:50 – 18:00
Intermission 18:00 – 18:10
Legislative amendments to the Student Council’s Law (Vote) 18:15 – 18:50
Propasal regardingLGBTQ+ education at the School of Health Sciences (Vote) 18:50 – 19:00
Propasal regarding allocation rules at the Student housing (Vote) 19:00 – 19:10
The Student Council’s nomination for Iceland’s Youth Representative to the United Nations in the field of education, science and culture (Vote) 19:10 – 19:20
