The
University of Tromsø is the world's northernmost
universityA university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
. Located in the city of
Tromsøis a city and municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø....
,
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
, it was established in 1968, and opened in 1972. It is one of seven universities in Norway. The University of Tromsø is the largest research and educational institution in northern 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 the Auroral light research,
Space scienceSpace science is an all-encompassing term that describes all of the various science fields that are concerned with the study of the Universe, generally also meaning "excluding the Earth" and "outside of the Earth's atmosphere". Originally, all of these fields were considered part of astronomy...
,
Fishery scienceThe Norwegian College of Fishery Science was established in 1972 as a joint responsibility of the three Norwegian universities in Tromsø, Bergen and Trondheim...
,
BiotechnologyBiotechnology is technology based on biology, agriculture, food science, and medicine. Modern use of the term usually refers to genetic engineering as well as cell- and tissue culture technologies...
,
LinguisticsLinguistics is the scientific study of natural language. Linguistics encompasses a number of sub-fields. An important topical division is between the study of language structure and the study of meaning...
, Multi-cultural societies,
Saami cultureThe Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are one of the indigenous people of northern Europe inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia but also in the border area between south and middle Sweden...
,
Telemedicine.Telemedicine is a rapidly developing application of clinical medicine where medical information is transferred through the phone or the Internet and sometimes other networks for the purpose of consulting, and sometimes remote medical procedures or examinations.Telemedicine may be as simple as two...
, social medicine and a wide spectrum of Arctic research projects.
The
University of Tromsø is the world's northernmost
universityA university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
. Located in the city of
Tromsøis a city and municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø....
,
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
, it was established in 1968, and opened in 1972. It is one of seven universities in Norway. The University of Tromsø is the largest research and educational institution in northern 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 the Auroral light research,
Space scienceSpace science is an all-encompassing term that describes all of the various science fields that are concerned with the study of the Universe, generally also meaning "excluding the Earth" and "outside of the Earth's atmosphere". Originally, all of these fields were considered part of astronomy...
,
Fishery scienceThe Norwegian College of Fishery Science was established in 1972 as a joint responsibility of the three Norwegian universities in Tromsø, Bergen and Trondheim...
,
BiotechnologyBiotechnology is technology based on biology, agriculture, food science, and medicine. Modern use of the term usually refers to genetic engineering as well as cell- and tissue culture technologies...
,
LinguisticsLinguistics is the scientific study of natural language. Linguistics encompasses a number of sub-fields. An important topical division is between the study of language structure and the study of meaning...
, Multi-cultural societies,
Saami cultureThe Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are one of the indigenous people of northern Europe inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia but also in the border area between south and middle Sweden...
,
Telemedicine.Telemedicine is a rapidly developing application of clinical medicine where medical information is transferred through the phone or the Internet and sometimes other networks for the purpose of consulting, and sometimes remote medical procedures or examinations.Telemedicine may be as simple as two...
, social medicine and a wide spectrum of Arctic research projects. The close vicinity of the
Norwegian Polar InstituteThe Norwegian Polar Institute is Norway's national institution for polar research. It is run under the auspices of the Norwegian Ministry of Environment. The institute organizes expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic regions and runs a research station at Ny-Ålesund...
, the
Norwegian Institute of Marine ResearchThe Norwegian Institute of Marine Research is a national consultative research institute which is owned by the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs. The Institute performs research and provides advisory services in the fields of marine ecosystems and aquaculture.With a staff of almost 700,...
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.
On January 1, 2009 the University of Tromsø was merged with
Tromsø University CollegeTromsø University College was a university college located in Tromsø, Norway with programs within health care, engineering, business administration, teaching and music, dance and drama...
.
Faculties
Faculty of Humanities
- Center for Advanced Study in Theoretical Linguistics
The Center for Advanced Study in Theoretical Linguistics was established in 2002 as a Center of Excellence by the Norwegian Research Council. It is located in Tromsø, Norway, and is housed at the University of Tromsø...
- Department of Culture and Literature
- Department of Language and Linguistics
Faculty of Medicine
- Department of Clinical Medicine
- Department of Community Medicine
- Department of Dentistry
- Department of Medical Biology
- Department of Pharmacy
Faculty of Science
- Department of Biology
- Department of Chemistry
- Department of Computer Science
- Department of Geology
- Department of Mathematics
- Department of Physics
- Department of Statistics
- Tromsø Geophysical Observatory
- Centre for Theoretical and Computational Chemistry
The Centre for Theoretical and Computational Chemistry was founded by the Norwegian Research Council in 2007. The duration of the project is ten years. The CTCC is split in two units. One unit is located at the Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo...
- Albe
Faculty of Social Sciences
- Department of Archaeology
- Department of Education
- Department of History
- Department of Philosophy
- Department of Planning
- Department of Political Science
- Department of Psychology
- Department of Religious Studies
- Department of Social Anthropology
- Department of Sociology
Honorary doctors
- Narve Bjørgo
Narve Bjørgo is a Norwegian historian.He was born in Meland. He graduated from the University of Bergen in 1964, and worked as a research assistant until 1970. Then, for two years, he was a research fellow and associate professor. In 1973 he was appointed professor of history at the University of...
, Norway (2008)
- Ole Henrik Magga
Ole Henrik Magga is a Sámi linguist and politician from Kautokeino, Norway.-As a linguist:As a linguist, Ole Henrik Magga is best known for his work on syntax...
, Norway (2008)
- Barbara Neis, Canada (2008)
- Steven Pinker
Steven Arthur Pinker is a Canadian-American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, and author of popular science...
, USA (2008)
- Ottar Brox
Ottar Brox is a Norwegian authority in social science and a politician for the Socialist Left Party. He was professor of sociology at the University of Tromsø from 1972 to 1984, and later associate professor while working as head of research at the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional...
, Norway (2003)
- Erica I.A. Daes, Greece (2003)
- Tor Hagfors, Norway (2003)
- Nawal el-Saadawi, Egypt (2003)
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, China (2001)
- Mordechai Vanunu
Mordechai Vanunu is an Israeli former nuclear technical assistant who revealed details of Israel's nuclear weapons program to the British press in 1986. He was subsequently lured to Italy by an American woman named Cheryl Bentov and kidnapped by Israeli intelligence operatives...
, Israel (2000)
- William Nygård, Norway (1998)
- Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie is a British Indian novelist and essayist. He achieved fame with his second novel, Midnight's Children , which won the Booker Prize in 1981. Much of his early fiction is set on the Indian subcontinent...
, Great Britain (1998)
- Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was the second-to-last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, serving from 1985 until 1991, and the last head of state of the USSR, serving from 1988 until its collapse in 1991...
, Russia (1998)
- Robert Paine, Canada (1998)
- Susanne Romaine, England (1998)
- Rigoberta Menchú Tum
Rigoberta Menchú Tum is an indigenous Guatemalan, of the K'iche' Maya ethnic group. Menchú has dedicated her life to publicizing the plight of Guatemala's indigenous peoples during and after the Guatemalan Civil War , and to promoting indigenous rights in the country...
, Guatemala (1996)
- Carsten Smith
Carsten Smith is a Norwegian judge and lawyer. He is a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Norway and a professor of law at the University of Oslo....
, 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 von Marken, Nederland (1987)
- Kjell Bondevik
Kjell Bondevik was a Norwegian politician for the Christian Democratic Party.He was born in Leikanger. He graduated with the cand.philol. and mag.art. degrees in 1927. He worked as a teacher and headmaster in schools in Oslo, Haugesund and Sauda...
, Norway (1982)
- Peter F. Hjort, Norway (1982)
Logo
The
ravenRaven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied.Species include:* Common Raven* Thick-billed Raven* Brown-necked Raven* Chihuahuan Raven...
s in the university's logo are
Huginn and MuninnIn Norse mythology, Huginn and Muninn are a pair of ravens that fly all over the world, Midgard, and bring the god Odin information...
. In
Norse mythologyNorse, North Germanic, or Scandinavian mythology comprises the myths of North Germanic pre-Christian religion.Most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled in medieval Iceland in Old Norse, notably as the Edda....
, Hugin and Munin travel the world for
OdinOdin , is considered the chief god in Norse paganism and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon Wōden and the Old High German Wotan, it is descended from Proto-Germanic *Wōđinaz or *Wōđanaz.The name Odin is generally accepted as the modern translation; although, in some cases, older...
, bringing him news and information. Hugin represents
thoughtThought and thinking are mental forms and processes, respectively . Thinking allows beings to model the world and to deal with it according to their objectives, plans, ends and desires. Words referring to similar concepts and processes include cognition, sentience, consciousness, idea, and...
and Munin
memoryIn psychology, memory is an organism's mental ability to store, retain, and recall information. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing the memory....
. Ravens are an early Norse symbol, used f.ex. on the
raven bannerThe raven banner was a flag, possibly totemic in nature, flown by various Viking chieftains and other Scandinavian rulers during the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries CE. The flag, as depicted in Norse artwork, was roughly triangular, with a rounded outside edge on which there hung a series of...
.
External links