Orð og tunga - 01.06.2014, Side 134

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Orð og tungn
Keywords
universities and colleges, English, Icelandic, language of instruction, language of
academic publications
Summary
The article describes the relationship between the use of English and Icelandic in Ice-
landic universities and academia.
While Iceland's seven universities and colleges specialize in different fields of
science and technology, they all have to meet both domestic demands for research,
teaching, various service and dissemination of knowledge in Iceland, and also, at the
same time, to recruit intemational faculty, participate in intemational academic coop-
eration, and provide study offers for non-Icelandic students. According to Icelandic
law, Icelandic is the "language of schools at all levels", which is a provision that holds
for universities and colleges. Presently, six out of seven Icelandic universities and
colleges have issued their language policies. All these policies provide that Icelandic
is the main language of the institutions, and the policies all emphasize Icelandic ter-
minologies. Obviously, however, English must play a key role along with Icelandic,
due to a number of external factors.
At present, approximately 6% of students and faculty at Icelandic higher edu-
cation institutions are non-Icelandic citizens, and English is partly the language of
instruction. The proportion of individual classes taught in English ranges from 0%
to 23%, depending on the nature of the institutions and the studies that they offer. It
also depends on levels of study (English is less frequent as language of instruction in
undergraduate studies, and more frequent in graduate studies, on the whole). Aca-
demic staff are strongly encouraged to publish their research results in international
fora. About 80% of academic publications of faculty members at the two largest uni-
versities in Iceland (i.e., at the University of Iceland, and Reykjavik University) are
in English. However, the language of writing differs considerably from one field to
another; about half of academic publications are in English in the social sciences,
education sciences, and humaniora, while the figure is about 97% in engineering, and
natural sciences. Presently, doctoral dissertations in the medical sciences, engineer-
ing, and natural sciences are exclusively written in English.
Ari Pnll Kristinsson
Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum, Málræktarsviði / Háskóla íslands
Neshaga 16, 107 Reykjavík
aripk@hi.is
Haraldur Bernharðsson
Islensku- og menningardeild
Háskóla íslands
Arnagarði v/Suðurgötu, 101 Reykjavík
harafdr@hi.is