Bifröst University
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| Bifröst University | |
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| Established: | 1918 |
| Type: | private, self-governing, non-profit institution |
| Location: | Bifröst, Borgarfjörður, Iceland |
| Former names: | Samvinnuskólinn (the Cooperative College) |
| Website: | http://www.bifrost.is |
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Bifröst University is located in the valley of Norðurárdalur, approximately 30 kilometers north of Borgarnes, Iceland. Originally a business school, it also offers degrees in law and social sciences. As of 2007, the university has approximately 480 full-time resident students in its bachelor's programs, with 700 other non-resident students pursuing bachelor's and master's degrees. A village, also called Bifröst, has grown up around the university.
The university was founded in Reykjavík in 1918 as a secondary school called the Cooperative College (Samvinnuskólinn). The school was run by the Icelandic cooperative movement (Samband íslenskra samvinnufélaga) and was originally intended as a training college for the staff of cooperative stores and other members of the movement. The founder and first head of the school was Jónas Jónsson from Hrifla, an important and controversial politician who was for many years a member of Parliament for the Progressive Party. He had studied at Askov folk high school in Denmark and Ruskin College in Oxford and his ideas about education were innovative for the time.
In 1955 the school moved to a newly built building in the countryside roughly halfway between Reykjavík and Akureyri. Within walking distance of campus are the lake Hreðavatn, the waterfall Glanni, and the volcanic cones of Grábrók and Grábrókarfell. At first, the school offered a two-year residential program in retail management for students aged roughly sixteen to eighteen. During the 1980s and the 1990s, the school slowly transformed into a university level institution offering diploma and bachelor's programs in business.
In 1998, a tunnel was opened which reduced the driving time from Reykjavík to Bifröst, changes in Icelandic society increased the demand for higher education, and new legislation authorized universities to charge fees. Bifröst took advantage of these developments, expanded its programs and student numbers considerably, and began to charge substantial tuition to students in addition to receiving state support.
In 2006, the institution's name was changed from Bifröst School of Business to Bifröst University. Later that same year the rector, Runólfur Ágústsson, resigned in the wake of a controversy involving allegations of financial mismanagement and inappropriate personal conduct. The current rector (2007) is Ágúst Einarsson, previously dean of the business school at the University of Iceland.
