Reykjavík Grapevine - 25.08.2006, Page 4

Icelanders have long taken pride in their high
level of education. With eight universities and
an ever-growing student body, there seems to
be legitimate reason to brag. Now it seems that
the Bifröst School of Business is witnessing its
golden age with the biggest boost in applica-
tions since its establishment nearly 90 years
ago. While multiplying its student body in
only a few years, the school is also transform-
ing a small rural area into a thriving commu-
nity.
Bifröst is located in Norðurárdalur valley
in Borgarfjörður, only 90 minutes away from
the capital, and the increase in the number
of students this last decade at Bifröst has
been truly remarkable. In 1997, 100 students
attended the school; in the fall of 2006, the
number has risen to around 700.
Bifröst offers accommodation for all the
students attending the school, as well as for
their families, and today almost 800 people
live on the school campus or in nearby sum-
merhouses where they can get tanned, work
out, relax in the sauna, play golf or chitchat
with fellow students while grabbing a bottle of
beer at the Bifröst Café between classes.
The price for all of this is 236,000 ISK per
semester, making Bifröst the most expensive
school in the country. Still, its popularity is
growing and young Reykjavík residents are
moving away from their homes in the city to
attend. The school is surrounded by towering
mountains and dramatic nature, far from the
bustling nightlife in the capital, a choice that
would have been unheard of a decade ago.
“The establishment of two new faculties
can explain the increase in students in some
part,” Bárður Örn Gunnarsson, a former
student and now the marketing manager of Bi-
fröst, explains. Now there is a Faculty of Law,
Business and Social Sciences and Economics,
offering various programs at the bachelor and
master levels. We also have foreign professors
teaching classes and taking part in research
projects.
“But for the most part, people attend the
school because of the quality of study,” Bárður
adds.
Although the study is the primary reason
for all the people at Bifröst, the campus is get-
ting a reputation for its social life, with active
political organisations, a gym, hot tub, sauna,
nine-hole golf course, a weekly pub quiz and
its famous Thursday drinking. Judging from
those students I talked to, life at Bifröst seems
pretty damn good.
Both the small class sizes and the location
rank high in the students’ comments about the
advantages Bifröst has.
“Because the school based in the coutryside
the atmosphere is quiet and students have an
easier time concentrating,” Davíð Klemensson,
a third-year business student told the Grape-
vine. Before he moved to Bifröst, Davíð lived
in downtown Reykjavík and was surprised by
how much he liked living outside of the city.
“The school’s emphasis on interaction in
classes, challenging assignments and teamwork
is a big plus. Everyone wants to help each other
out and you get to know fellow students much
better than in large classrooms where students
scatter around in different directions after
school. Here you get to know people you will
probably come across in the work field after
graduation,” Davíð said.
When asked about the high percent-
age of graduates who work as executives or
administrators in various Reykjavík businesses:
“Together with the companionship, what I
find most important are all the practical skills
you learn when working for example on big
research projects, skills that are truly helpful
when students f lock to the work place.”
For that, the school has earned a good
reputation in recent years. The research at
Bifröst has also gotten an impressive amount
of coverage.
When a couple of students in the business
department got the idea of putting up a golf
course in Viðey, mayoral candidate and Inde-
pendence Party Golden Boy Gísli Marteinn
Baldursson lent his reputation to the endeav-
our.
Regarding whether or not Iceland, a
country of only 300,000, needs another major
university, Davíð Klemensson is adamant that
Bifröst is an essential element to the local
educational system. “I had looked into all the
universities before applying to Bifröst and
found this one suited me the best. Bifröst is
quite different from the others and in my view,
after graduating, students are better prepared
for the work place. The other universities don’t
suit everyone and of course the same applies
to Bifröst, so I think it is very important to
maintain a good variety in education.”
Sonja Ýr Þorbergsdóttir, a student of busi-
ness law, agreed. After moving from Reykjavík
while pregnant and starting school at Bifröst,
she now lives in an apartment on campus with
her one-year-old daughter, husband and dog.
“I started studying law in the University
of Iceland, but got bored of having to sit in
the stairs of crowded Háskólabío and found
the study both boring and uninteresting. At
Bifröst, we have fewer students, which results
in a more personal connection between teach-
ers and students as well as among the group
itself. That can lead to some lively discussions
in and out of the classroom, not to mention
the benefits of knowing everyone when you
are here with a child. There is always someone
ready to babysit and the nursery school is just
next door. Being close to nature is also great
for the kids.”
In a small community like Bifröst, eve-
ryone knows each other and, as Klemensson
points out, it is a great place for exchange
students to study and get to know the locals.
Every term a group of foreign students from all
over the globe travels to Bifröst, as courses in
English are offered in all faculties.
“In a small community like this, the
exchange students blend in much more easily.
Usually they room with a local and everything
is done to make their stay easier, ” Klemensson
explains, which is quite different from what
those exchange students attending universities
in the capital usually experience, as they often
find it hard to mingle with people other than
other foreign students during school hours.
Apart from being benefitial to students
trying to get a degree, make friends or get to
know a different culture, the university also
has caused many new developments in the
countryside, as all the new inhabitants have
brought a booming business for the neigh-
bouring area. The students use services in
Borgarnes, like the bank, supermarket and
restaurants. A large group lives at Bifröst all
year round, 70 children go to the preschool on
campus and the older kids attend the elemen-
tary school of Varmaland. Teachers and wait-
ers have jobs year-round, which is not typical
for small towns in Iceland. New apartments,
a bigger preschool, more teaching facilities,
a larger gym and a new service area to meet
the growing need of the inhabitants has also
opened up new employment possibilities for
developers. All this has to be considered as a
positive step for the area and a much better
industry to build on than we are witnessing in
other parts of the country.
“The universities at Bifröst and Hvan-
neyri have almost become the base market in
Borgarfjörður. Hundreds of jobs have been
created in the area which has had great effects
on Borgarbyggð,” Bárður Örn Gunnarsson
explains.
Kolfinna Jóhannesdóttir researched this
issue for her graduation project at Bifröst.
She found that the school played a significant
role in population growth in the Borgarbyggð
area since the year 1997. With its operation,
the school has increased the number of young
inhabitants in the area, which has not been
the case in comparable municipalities in the
country, not to mention raised the level of
education in Borgarbyggð. All this strengthens
the human capital in the meantime.
While no one can see the end of this
boom, students, spouses, children, teachers
and staff members will keep living in harmony
in this small but growing community that
sounds more like a luxury holiday lodge than
a school. The development and establishment
will continue and the aim is set at having
1,500-2,000 people inhabiting the area in the
next ten years. Hopefully achieving this goal
won’t diminish the school’s charm or hurt its
personal teaching policy.
The Upstart University Steals the Hearts of Young Iceland
Bifröst earns a following, and saves a small town
by steinunn jakobsdóttir
spaces