University of the Faroe Islands

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University of the Faroe Islands
logo
founding May 20, 1965
Sponsorship state
place Tórshavn , Faroe Islands
Principal Sigurðí Jákupsstovu
Students 670 (2013)
Networks IAU , UArctic
Website www.setur.fo

The University of the Faroe Islands (Faroese: Fróðskaparsetur Føroya - Fróðskaparsetur, literally means "seat of science" and is a synonym for universitet, Danish for "university") was founded on May 20, 1965 as Academia Færoensis and has had university status since 1990 . The University of the Faroe Islands , based in Tórshavn, is a member of the University of the Arctic .

The state government of the Faroe Islands is the sponsor . The university belongs to the minister of culture. The university's executive committee is re-elected every three years. In addition to the rector, it includes the deans of studies from the three faculties.

history

The university is the scientific academy Føroya Fróðskaparfelag back, which was founded in 1952 as a result of a newly awakened national movement after the British occupation of the Faroe Islands in World War II , when the young elite of the country to a large extent in Copenhagen was stuck and at the local university has been formed .

After returning home in 1945, they set a political movement in motion, from which the left-wing republican party Tjóðveldisflokkurin emerged . They were in the continuity of previous generations ( Christmas meeting of the Faroe Islands in 1888 , Faroese language dispute ), who also made cultural and political demands .

The academy set itself the goal of establishing its own university, including a. to give Faroese linguistics an appropriate institution. Before that there was only one teacher training college (Føroya Læraraskúli) in Tórshavn . In the meantime, the teachers' seminar has been integrated into the university.

Education

Location of the university buildings at the small city park called Viðarlundin á Debesartrøð

The University of the Faroe Islands has two faculties (megindeildir):

  • Megindeildin fyri hugvísindi, samfelagsvísindi og námsvísindi - Faculty of Humanities, Social and Educational Sciences.
The dean is Malan Marnersdóttir .
The faculty has three institutes:
Føroyamálsdeildin - Institute for Faroese Linguistics and Literature (unique in the world). Since 1974 there has been a two-year course in Scandinavian Studies with a focus on Faeroistics and since 1987 there has also been a four-year course that ends with a master's degree. The faculty is also the seat of the Málstovan , the Faroese Language Council , which controls the country's language policy.
Námsvísindadeildin - Institute of Education . Affiliated to the university in August 2008.
Søgu & Samfelagsdeildin - Institute for History and Sociology . This institute has existed since 1986 and offers a whole range of different courses, from a one-year basic course to a four-year main course. Economics is taught here as well as foreign languages.
  • Megindeildin fyri náttúruvísindi og heilsuvísindi - Faculty of Natural and Health Sciences.
The Dean is Hans Pauli Joensen.
The faculty has two institutes:
Náttúruvísindadeildin - Institute of Natural Science . Here, computer science , physics , geophysics , petroleum - engineering science , electrical engineering and biology taught.
Sjúkrarøktarfrøðideildin - Institute for Nursing . Affiliated to the university in August 2008.

In September 2013, 670 students (Bachelor / Master / Ph.d.) Were enrolled at the university, including 474 women, which corresponds to a percentage of 71%. In 1999 there were only 100 students.

In 2003, 24 students graduated here, including 7 women. This represented about 7% of all graduates from higher education institutions in the Faroe Islands (technical colleges and the like). Degrees from the University of the Faroe Islands are internationally recognized. Quite a few graduates continue their studies abroad, for example often after completing two years of basic Scandinavian studies.

However, these figures do not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the proportion of academics in the population, as around 90% of Faroese students go abroad immediately after graduating from high school (around 90%). 93% of them are trained in Denmark, the others in Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Great Britain or the USA.

The Faroese University also offers courses for the general population. For the 40th anniversary in 2005 there was a special series of events Setrið á ferð (“the university on the move”), where lecturers held lectures all over the country. For example, the then university director, Prof. Jóan Pauli Joensen , gave a lecture on the Grindadráp on May 19 in Bøur in preparation for his new book on this subject.

The Summer Institute , a 20-day intensive course in Faroese that is usually offered every two years, is particularly interesting for foreigners . For example, the 2006 program included:

  • 50 hours of Faroese grammar and language exercises
  • 20 hours of linguistics and cultural studies
  • two excursions to historical and natural monuments.

meaning

The university is of no direct importance for the economy of the Faroe Islands , as fishing and seafaring are taught at their own universities of applied sciences.

The cultural significance, however, is immense. In 1998 the first Faroese dictionary, the Føroysk Orðabók , appeared here . Before that there were only the Faroese-Danish and Danish-Faroese dictionaries. This project has been one of the main concerns for decades and can be considered a success. The dictionary has over 65,000 headwords from all subject areas, describes each word using synonyms, offers numerous illustrations (by Bárður Jákupsson ), idioms and literature references. Classes are named for all words and are broken down in the appendix in a previously unattainable depth; for example, there are 53 declensions of masculine nouns.

The publication of the first comprehensive Faroese grammar, Faroese, was also groundbreaking in 2004 . An Overview and Reference Grammar , which does not follow the same system for classification, but which makes Orðabók accessible to the outside world. Both are the standard works on the Faroese language that are valid today.

The Faroese linguistics and literary studies taught at the university contribute significantly to the development of language and thus to the cultural awareness of the entire nation. This also applies to research on the history of the Faroe Islands and the teaching of the natural sciences in one's own language.

All Faroese teachers in the country now have a degree from their home university, as well as history, biology, mathematics and chemistry teachers.

Professors

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Academia Færoensis - The history of our University. Retrieved August 8, 2019 .
  2. ↑ principal. Retrieved August 8, 2019 .
  3. ^ List of IAU Members. In: iau-aiu.net. International Association of Universities, accessed July 25, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Talið á lesandi á Fróðskaparsetur Føroya (from September 2012 to September 2013) , logting.fo