Axel Hall was the 500th doctor to graduate from the University of Iceland since its foundation in 1911.
Hall’s defence took place on 2 June from the Faculty of Economics, and his thesis was on “Taxes and employment in Nordic countries.” The first student to submit a doctoral thesis at the University of Iceland was Páll Eggert Ólason (in 1919), and Selma Jónsdóttir was the first woman to submit a thesis for a doctoral defence (1960).
From 1919 a total of 286 men (57%) and 214 women (43%) have completed a PhD degree from the University of Iceland. Doctoral studies have flourished at the University in the last 20 years; graduate studies have been a key factor in the University’s policy since 2006. Strengthening graduate studies has most certainly played an important role in the University’s standing as an international research institute, with a third of those currently in doctoral studies at the University of Iceland coming from abroad. This ratio is reflected in doctors graduated from the University in recent years.