MAR-BIO master students visit Hólar University

Stefán Óli Steingrímsson head of Department of Aquaculture and Fish biology at Hólar University (left)
with MAR-BIO students.

The University of Hólar, together with the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and Nord University in Bodø in Norway, is a member of the Nordic collaboration project on the master's program MAR-BIO. In the first stages of the program, students get to learn about various aspects of sustainability, innovation, and entrepreneurship in the three participating countries, but they also have to spend at least one semester at a university other than their home university.
This year, the students were taught online for one week, covering aquaculture history and current development in Iceland, the importance of the value chain approach, and discussed the interactions between fisheries, tourism and aquaculture. This was followed by one week visit to Iceland last week in September.
The students were based at Hólar where they got introduction to the university life at the Hólar University, including visiting the Arctic charr breedingstation and the aquaponic company Isponica.
The students also traveled wider around North Iceland, they visited the marine biotechnology company Primex and the Herring museum in Siglufjörður. At Verid in Sauðárkrókur the students got a detailed introduction to studies and research in the department of aquaculture and fish biology. Then the students visited Skagaströnd, where the activities of Biopol were presented to them. Among the group's destinations were the whale museum in Húsavík, land-based aquaculture station of Haukamýri, the Laxá feed factory in Akureyri and the Samherji fish processing plant in Dalvík.
We are looking forward to welcoming those individuals who choose Hólar as their base the next semester.