Arcticportal News

Rectors Jarle Aarbakke and Sveinung Eikeland (Photo: University of Tromso)The University if Tromsö - Norways Arctic University will be formed this summer. It will be established with the merge of the Univerisyt of Tromsö and the Finnmark University College.
 

The government has agreed on the merge and adopted the Norways Arctic University name.

"Now together we can create growth in higher education and research in Norway's main priority," say the schools rectores Jarle Aarbakke and Sveinung Eikeland in a joint statement.

"The name clearly shows the government's emphasis of the university as a key tool to protect the nation's interests in the North," the statement adds.

The University of Tromsö has several Arctic related studies, for example Arctic Animal Physiology, Energy and Climate, Indigenous studies, Law of the Sea and Northern Populations and Ecosystems.

The Finnmark University College offers a variety of courses, Arctic Nature Guide, Tourist Studies and more.

The new University will open on August 1st 2013.

(Photo: HMM, Beautiful Norway attracts hundreds of international students every year, Tromso - Northern Norway)Students from the US, Canada and Russia have for five years been able to apply for scholarships for studies at seven universities and colleges in Northern Norway. In the program period for 2013-2016 also students from Japan and South Korea will have this opportunity.

The goal of the Fellowship Programme for Studies in the High North is to contribute to increased academic collaboration and student mobility in the High North.

The programme is open to the higher education institutions in northern Norway only: Finnmark University College, Harstad University College, Narvik University College, Nesna University College, Sami University College, University of Nordland, University of Tromsø and The University Centre at Svalbard (UNIS).

These institutions will invite students at partner institutions in Canada, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the US to apply for High North Fellowships.

The programme is mainly targeted at students at Master's and Bachelor's level but is also open to PhD students. Bachelor's and Master's students must take for-credit courses in Norway, while PhD students can come as research fellows.

To learn more about the Program, please click here. 

The president of Iceland is shown around the Chinese icebreaker Xue Long, the Snow Dragon, in Iceland in 2012. Dr. Huigeng Yang, Director. Polar Research Institute of China, is to his left and the ambassador in Iceland, mr. Su Ge beside him (Photo: Hjalti Þór Hreinsson - Arctic Portal)The first China-Nordic Arctic Cooperation Symposium will be held in China this summer. The Polar Research Institute of China hosts the symposium in cooperation with the Icelandic Center for Research.

Participants will be Chinese and Nordic institutions.

The conference dates are 4th-7th of June 2013 and the venue will be in Shanghai.

The theme of the conference is "China-Nordic Cooperation for Sustainable Development in the Arctic: Human Activity and Environmental Change".

Call for abstracts for presentations have been opened. Proposals are welcomed from researchers affiliated With Nordic and Chinese universities, research institutes and/or think tanks. All presentations should focus on Arctic-related issues, Within one ofthe session topics:

Session I: Arctic Shipping and Resource Exploration

Session II: Research Cooperation on Climate Change

Session III.: Arctic Policies and Governance

Session IV: Anthropos andthe Arctic in the Anthropocene

The symposium will be a significant step towards the establishment of the China-Nordic Arctic Research Center, located at PRIC in Shanghai. Following the symposium in Shanghai on 4-6 June, there Will be an organized excursion for the participants on 7 June.

The deadline for the abstracts (250-400 words) is the 15th of March and should be send to Zhang Xia, Head of Strategic Studies Division at PRIC, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and Dr. Thorsteinn Gunnarsson, Head of Division at RANNIS, e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The abstracts should also follow a short CV.

Further information is given by Mr. Egill Thor Nielsson, Visiting Scholar at PRIC: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Russian workers in the Russian mining town Barentsburg in Svalbard (Photo: Hjalti Þór Hreinson - Arctic Portal)Russia has agreed a new Arctic strategy for the regions development until 2020. President Vladimir Putin signed the agreement this week.
 

It includes development of an integrated transport system in the Arctic, establishment of a competitive scientific and technological sector, development of international cooperation and the preservation of the Arctic as a zone of peace, according to the Barentsobserver.

It also guarantees state support to the development of infrastructure for transport, industry and energy, as well as to scientific, scientific-technical and innovational activities.

During the first stage of implementation of the program (to 2015) Russia plans to focus on development of infrastructure for communication and information in the High North, establishment of centers for search and rescue along the Northern Sea Route, strengthening of FSB’s coast guard service and development of an integrated national system for environmental monitoring of the Arctic zone.

The program on Arctic development states the main priorities for state investment policy, regulations of labor relations and social politics in the Arctic zone.

The Russian Arctic zone includes the Murmansk region, Chukotka, the northern part of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, the Republic of Karelia’s coastal territories of the White Sea, the Arkhangelsk region including the cities of Severodvinsk, Novodvinsk, Onezhsky District, Primorsky District, Mezensky District and all the islands of the region.

It also includes the towns of Vorkuta and Komi in the Nenets and Yamalo-Nenets federal subjects, the cities Norilsk, Igarka and the Taymyrsky district of Krasnoyarsk Kray.x

The Arctic summit.The Economist newspaper is hosting a one day summit in Oslo on March on Arctic issues. The summit has been designed to focus attention and to promote constructive thinking prior to the next Arctic Council Ministers’ meeting in 2013.

A high-level group of 150 policy-makers, CEOs and influential commentators will spend a day tackling the issues at the heart of the Arctic's future, in discussions led by James Astill, environment editor of The Economist and author of the special report on the Arctic. Espen Barth Eide, Minister of Foreign Affairs will give an opening address and topics include the melting arctic, energy resources, environmental issues and shipping.

Panel debates will take place with an impressing list of participants, which includes Rajendra Pachauri, Chair, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Jan-Gunnar Winther, Director, Norweigan Polar Institute, Huigen Yang, Director, Polar Research Institute of China, Aqqaluk Lynge, Chair, Inuit Circumpolar Council, Gustav Lind, Chair, Arctic Council and Anton Vasiliev, Ambassador at Large, Arctic Cooperation, Russian Federation.

More information can be sought from the source box below.