University Of Tromsø
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The University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway ( Norwegian: ''Universitetet i Tromsø – Norges arktiske universitet'';
Northern Sami Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...
: ''Romssa universitehta – Norgga árktalaš universitehta'') is a state university in
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
and the world's northernmost
university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
. Located in the city of
Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...
,
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
, it was established by an act of parliament in 1968, and opened in 1972. As of 2024, it is the largest research and educational institution in
Northern Norway Northern Norway (, , ; ) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the three northernmost counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway (from south to no ...
and the eighth-largest university in Norway. The university's location makes it a natural venue for the development of studies of the region's natural environment, culture, and society. The main focus of the university's activities is on auroral light research,
space science Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...
,
fishery science Fisheries science is the academic discipline of managing and understanding fisheries. It is a multidisciplinary science, which draws on the disciplines of limnology, oceanography, freshwater biology, marine biology, meteorology, Conservation biolo ...
,
biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...
,
linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
, multicultural societies, Saami culture, telemedicine,
epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and Risk factor (epidemiology), determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent dise ...
and a wide spectrum of Arctic research projects. The close vicinity of the
Norwegian Polar Institute The Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI; ) is Norway's central governmental institution for scientific research, mapping and environmental monitoring in the Arctic and the Antarctic. The NPI is a directorate under Norway's Ministry of Climate and Envir ...
, the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research and the Polar Environmental Centre gives Tromsø added weight and importance as an international centre for Arctic research. Research activities, however, are not limited to Arctic studies. The university researchers work within a broad range of subjects and are recognised both nationally and internationally.


History


Mergers

On 1 January 2009, the University of Tromsø merged with Tromsø University College. The college's teacher education department (the descendant of the Tromsø Seminarium first established in 1848) became part of the university's department of education and pedagogy. On 1 August 2013, the university merged with Finnmark University College to form ''Universitetet i Tromsø – Norges arktiske universitet'' (The University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway), thereby adding campuses in Alta, Hammerfest, and
Kirkenes (Norwegian language, Norwegian; ), (Northern Sami language, Northern Sami; , or is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Sør-Varanger Municipality in Finnmark county, in the far northeastern part of Norway. The town lies on a peninsu ...
. On 1 January 2016, Narvik University College and Harstad University College merged with UiT - The Arctic University of Norway. As of September 2024 the university has eleven campus locations in northern Norway, the main campus being
Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...
.


Spy case in 2022

In October 2022 a guest researcher at UiT was arrested by the Norwegian Police Security Service and charged with espionage against Norway. The researcher posed as a Brazilian researcher named José Assis Giammaria, but later revealed that he is a Russian citizen by the name Mikhail Valerijevitsj Mikusjin. Mikusjin is a suspected illegalist who worked for the Russian intelligence service
GRU Gru is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the ''Despicable Me'' film series. Gru or GRU may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Gru (rapper), Serbian rapper * Gru, an antagonist in '' The Kine Saga'' Organizations Georgia (c ...
.


International collaboration

UiT is an active member of the
University of the Arctic The University of the Arctic (UArctic) is an international cooperative network based in the Circumpolar Arctic region, consisting of universities, colleges, and other organizations with an interest in promoting education and research in the Arcti ...
. UArctic is an international cooperative network based in the Circumpolar Arctic region, consisting of more than 200 universities, colleges, and other organizations with an interest in promoting education and research in the Arctic region. The university also participates in UArctic's mobility program north2north. The aim of that program is to enable students of member institutions to study in different parts of the North.


Faculties and other units

The university is primarily divided into six faculties with multiple subordinate departments and several associated centres. * Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics **Department of Arctic and Marine Biology **The Norwegian College of Fishery Science **School of Business and Economics ** Norwegian College of Fishery Science *Faculty of Engineering Science and Technology **Department of Industrial Engineering **Department of Building, Energy and Material Technology **Department of Automation and Process Engineering **Department of Computer Science and Computational Engineering **Department of Electrical Engineering *Faculty of Health Sciences ** Department of Medical Biology ** Department of Community Medicine ** Department of Clinical Medicine ** Department of Pharmacy ** Department of Clinical Dentistry ** Department of Psychology ** Department of Health and Care Sciences ** School of sport sciences ** Department of Social Education *Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education ** The Barents Institute ** Centre for Women's and Gender Research ** Centre for Peace Studies, Tromsø (CPS) ** Department of Tourism and Northern Studies ** Centre for Sami Studies ** Department of Archaeology, History, Religious Studies and Theology ** Department of Philosophy ** Department of History and Religious Studies ** Department of Culture and Literature ** Department of Education ** Department of Language and Linguistics *** Center for Advanced Study in Theoretical Linguistics ** Department of Social Sciences ** Department of Language and Culture ** Department of Child Welfare and Social Work *Faculty of Law **Norwegian Centre for the Law of the Sea *The Arctic University Museum of Norway and the Academy of Arts **The Arctic University Museum of Norway **Conservatory of Music **Academy of Arts *Faculty of Science and Technology **Department of Chemistry **Department of Computer Science **Department of Geosciences **Department of Mathematics and Statistics **Department of Physics and Technology **Department of Technology and Safety ***Tromsø School of Aviation
Lie-Størmer Center
for fundamental structures in computational and pure mathematics * The University Library The university is host to th
iC3 Polar Research Hub
a Norwegian Centre of Excellence that produces ground-breaking insights into how the links between ice sheets, carbon cycles and ocean ecosystems are impacting life on earth. As of late 2024, the interdisciplinary centre consisted of 46 scientists including 25 early career researchers.


Rankings and reputation


Buildings & architecture


Campus Tromsø

University Campus Brevika in Tromsø consists of total 34 buildings and objects. *Administration building, 1989 (John Kristoffersen Arkitektkontor AS) *Arctic Biology building, 1993 (Arkitektkontoret Amundsen AS) *Ardna *Breivang building, 1951 / renovated 2016 (Arkitektkontoret Amundsen AS) *Breivika III, 1983 (Arkitektkontoret Dalsbøe & Østgaard AS / Borealis Arkitekter AS) *Exact Sciences (Realfag) building, 1978 (John Kristoffersen Arkitektkontor) *Lower and Upper Gazebo buildings (Nedre og Øvre Lysthus), 1991 (Blå strek arkitekter AS) *Medical and Health Faculty building, 1991 (Borealis Arkitekter AS & John Kristoffersen Arkitektkontor AS) *Museum Botanical Unit (Kvaløyvegen 30), built in 1952 as aquarium (Reidar Kolstrand), taken by museum in 1959, converted to Marine biology station in 1982 (Eigill Hallset), rebuilt and restored in 1999. *Natural Sciences () building, 1974, extended 1988, restored and rebuilt 2003 (A2-arkitektkontor AS, by architect MNAL Øyvind Ragde, Aall & Løkeland AS Redevelopment: Paul Pincus, Borealis AS) *Norwegian College of Fishery Science, 1994 (Steinsvik Arkitektkontor AS) *Northern Lights Observatory, 1971 (Terje Jacobsen & Eigill Hallset) **Northern Lights Planetarium / Science Centre of Northern Norway, 1989 (John Kristoffersen Arkitektkontor AS) *Operations Centre, 1985 (Arkitektkontoret Dalsbøe & Østgaard AS) *Pharmacy Building, 1998 (Borealis Arkitekter AS) *Polar Museum *Theoretical Subjects () building, Houses 1-6, 2004 (Telje-Torp-Aasen Arkitektkontor AS) *Tromsø University Museum, 1961 (Blakstad & Munthe-Kaas Arkitektkontor, Oslo) *University Library, 1981 (Arkitektkontoret Dalsbøe & Østgaard AS in cooperation with Ark. MNAL Leif Olav Moen)


Honorary doctors

* Mari Boine, Norway (2018) * Olav Holt, Norway (2018) * Richard Horton, UK (2018) * Arieh Warshel, US (2018) * Laila Stien, Norway (2015) * Trond Mohn, Norway (2015) * Oran R. Young, US (2015) *
Jonas Gahr Støre Jonas Gahr Støre (; born 25 August 1960) is a Norwegian politician who has served as the prime minister of Norway since 2021. He has been Leader of the Labour Party since 2014. He served under Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg as Minister of ...
, Norway (2011) * Narve Bjørgo, Norway (2008) * Ole Henrik Magga, Norway (2008) * Barbara Neis, Canada (2008) *
Steven Pinker Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18, 1954) is a Canadian-American cognitive psychology, cognitive psychologist, psycholinguistics, psycholinguist, popular science author, and public intellectual. He is an advocate of evolutionary psycholo ...
, US (2008) * Johan P. Olsen, Norway (2006) * Jan Raa, Norway (2006) *
Rodolfo Stavenhagen Rodolfo Stavenhagen (29 August 1932 – 5 November 2016) was a German-born Mexican sociologist and anthropologist who specialized in the study of human rights and the political relations between indigenous peoples and states. He was a professor-r ...
, Mexico (2006) * Ottar Brox, Norway (2003) * Erica I.A. Daes, Greece (2003) * Tor Hagfors, Norway (2003) * Nawal el-Saadawi, Egypt (2003) * Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tibet (2001) *
Mordechai Vanunu Mordechai Vanunu (; born 14 October 1954), also known as John Crossman, is an Israeli former nuclear technician and peace activist who, citing his opposition to weapons of mass destruction, revealed details of Israel's nuclear weapons program ...
, Israel (2001) * William Nygaard, Norway (1998) *
Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern wor ...
, UK (1998) *
Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
, Russia (1998) * Robert Paine, Canada (1998) * Susanne Romaine, UK (1998) * Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Guatemala (1996) * Carsten Smith, Norway (1995) * Desmond Mpilo Tutu, South Africa (1994) * Jørn Dyerberg, Denmark (1993) * Torstein Bertelsen, Norway (1993) * Georg Henrik von Wright, Finland (1993) * Ragnhild Sundby, Norway (1993) * Helga Marie Hernes, Norway (1993) * Parzival Copes, Canada (1993) * Amy van Marken, Netherlands (1987) * Kjell Bondevik, Norway (1982) * Peter F. Hjort, Norway (1982) Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (, ; born 21 March 1950) is a Russian diplomat who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs (Russia), Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2004. He is the longest-serving Russian foreign minister since Andrei Gromyko d ...
received an honorary doctorate at the University of Tromsø in 2011 for having secured an agreement on the dividing line in the
Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; , ; ) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territorial waters.World Wildlife Fund, 2008. It was known earlier among Russi ...
but lost his status after 28 February 2022 due to a board decision related to his co-responsibility for the
Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
.


Notable faculty

* Nils Jernsletten (born 1934),
professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...
of Sámi and editor of Sámi newspaper '' Ságat'' (1964–1966) * Jelena Porsanger (born 1967), Russian Sami ethnographer, university rector * Hans Munthe-Kaas (born 1961), Norwegian mathematician, former leader of the Abel price committee


Notable alumni

* Monica Kristensen Solås (born 1950), glaciologist, meteorologist, polar explorer and crime novelist * Svein-Erik Hamran (born 1960), led the development of the RIMFAX for the Mars rover Perseverance * Sandra Márjá West (born 1990), politician and festival manager of
Riddu Riđđu Riddu Riđđu () is an annual Sami people, Sámi music and culture festival held in Olmmáivággi (Manndalen) in the Gáivuotna Municipality (also known as Kåfjord Municipality) in Norway. The goal of the festival is to bring forward both Sámi ...
* Marianne Haukland (born 1989), politician and member of the Standing Committee on Family and Cultural Affairs


Logo

The
ravens Ravens may refer to: * Raven, a species of the genus ''Corvus'' of passerine birds Sports * Anderson Ravens, the intercollegiate athletic program of Anderson University in Indiana * Baltimore Ravens, a professional American football franchise * B ...
in the university's logo are
Huginn and Muninn In Norse mythology, Huginn and Muninn ( or ; roughly "mind and will" – ''see '') are a pair of common raven, ravens that serve under the god Odin and fly all over the world, Midgard, and bring information to the god Odin. Huginn and Muninn are ...
. In
Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...
, Hugin and Munin travel the world for
Odin Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...
, bringing him news and information. Huginn represents
thought In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, and de ...
and Muninn
memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembe ...
. Ravens are an early Norse symbol, used, for example, on the raven banner.


See also

* Open access in Norway


References


External links


University of Tromsø

Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Tromsø
{{DEFAULTSORT:University Of Tromso * Tromso Education and research in Tromsø Educational institutions established in 1968 1968 establishments in Norway Universities and colleges formed by merger in Norway