Sovereignty Day at UI

Jón Atli Benediktsson, Rector of the University of Iceland, sent the following message to University staff and students today (26 November 2021):

"Dear students and colleagues, 

Now is the time for students to reap the fruits of their labours over the autumn semester. For the fourth time, the University of Iceland will be holding final examinations under circumstances that would have been inconceivable two years ago. Sitting exams is stressful at the best of times, but the current situation can make it even harder to tackle revision and the exams themselves. The UI website includes various tips from the University psychologists that could help you prepare for your exams. It is particularly important to maintain a daily routine, take care of your own wellbeing, and exercise regularly.   

I would also encourage you all to look carefully over the information about exams on the University website, which answers the most frequently asked questions. I wish you the best of luck in your upcoming exams, dear students. 

Next week we move into December, with all its lights and festive spirit. Each year on the first of December, UI students celebrate the anniversary of sovereignty in Iceland. With the Act of Union, which entered into force on 1 December 1918, Denmark recognised Iceland as a free and sovereign state. Seven years later, the Icelandic nation had founded the University of Iceland, a sign of the nation's burning ambition to determine their own fate and to educate people who could contribute to improving well-being and quality of life for everyone in Iceland. This is still our mission today. 

Next Wednesday, students will walk from the University to lay a wreath at the statue of Jón Sigurðsson, hero of the Icelandic independence movement. Jón Sigurðsson's campaign for Icelandic independence was in fact inseparable from the campaign to found the University of Iceland. We are often preoccupied with the present. We must understand the present in order to tackle contemporary challenges, and it is the starting point of our journey into the future. But we must not forget all those who brought us from humble beginnings to the prosperity we enjoy today.  

On Sovereignty Day, the University's theology students will hold their annual celebratory service. The Ceremony for Doctoral Graduates will also be livestreamed from the Aula, where all those who have completed a doctoral defence in the past 12 months will be presented with the University of Iceland gold pin. The growth of doctoral studies at the University in recent years has been extraordinary and PhD students are vital contributors to the wide range of research conducted at UI. This research delivers enormous benefits, not only to the scientific community but society as a whole. We aim to provide even better support for our doctoral students over the next semesters, focusing in particular on improving funding. It is important for the University to bring the benefits of external knowledge into our doctoral programmes and we encourage our PhD students to pursue international collaboration. We must not forget the large numbers of international PhD students who come to study at UI, either. They enrich our community and work, as well as broadening our perspectives in research. 

I would like to remind staff to fill in the Gallup survey on the institution of the year. This survey will provide helpful information about the strengths of the work environment at UI, as well as areas for improvement. The survey is designed to give administrators the tools to improve administration and the work environment. It is therefore important that response rates are good.

Dear students and colleagues. We must continue to do what we can to prevent infection and follow the Directorate of Health's public health rules at all times. We should all be vaccinated at the earliest opportunity, since the vaccination programme is an essential component in strengthening our defences against COVID-19.  

Time marches on and this weekend will be the first Sunday in Advent. The poet Vilborg Dagbjartsdóttir described the passage of time as threading the days like glistening pearls onto an unbroken silver thread. Vilborg passed away earlier this autumn. She qualified as a teacher from the Iceland University of Education, also studying drama and later library science at the University of Iceland. She was truly among the huge number of our students who went on to make a real impact on Icelandic society. 

Take care and have a good weekend. 

Jón Atli Benediktsson, Rector"