Agricultural University of Iceland

The Agricultural University of Iceland (AUI) was founded on 1 January 2005 with a merger of three long standing institutions: The Agricultural University at Hvanneyri, the Agricultural Research Institute, with its headquarters in Reykjavík, and the Horticultural College at Reykir. It is an educational and research institution in the field of agriculture, land resources and environmental sciences. The main focus is on natural sciences, i.e. natural history, the conservation and sustainable use of land and animal resources, including traditional agriculture, horticulture and forestry, environmental and landscape planning, restoration sciences, and sustainable development.

The overall role of AUI is to pursue high quality education in our academic fields supported by competitive nationally and internationally oriented research programs. We aim to be an active participant in sustainable development of the Icelandic society and represent the country in the global forum in our academic fields. AUI plays an important role in its local community and for the country as a whole as it is a vital pillar for rural development in Iceland. It has a unique position among universities in Iceland; it has a number of sites distributed in rural communities around the country and thus offers a close proximity to the people it serves and the natural resources on which they base their livelihood. 

The AUI awards B.Sc. degrees in these fields, and is entitled to award MS and PhD degrees as well as providing vocational and continuing education.

Research

 AUI is specially equipped with facilities for research in the field of agricultural sciences, natural and environmental sciences, such as feed and soil chemical analysis, molecular, forestry, soil conservation and soil erosion, carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, AUI has the facilities and equipment for a variety of analytical research.

The uniqueness of the university consists of relatively large proportion of research work, which is of great strength when it comes to research studies, i.e. learning to master's and doctoral degrees.

AUI cooperates with two research Centres situated at the campus site: Research Centre of Energy in Agriculture and Research Centre of Wetlands in Andakill Nature Reserve and Ramsar Site.