Quality and Representation in Icelandic Higher Education: An Interview with Jóhanna Ásgeirsdóttir, President of the the National Student Association
For this issue, we had the pleasure of talking with Jóhanna Ásgeirsdóttir, the President of the National Student Association (Landssamtök íslenskra stúdenta, LÍS). Jóhanna told us about her role in the Association, the organization’s mission and goals, and how it has evolved over the time she has been there.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Photo / Distributed
Please tell us about your role as President of LÍS. What are your main responsibilities?
The president of LÍS is the overall project manager of the association, so I make sure that we stay on schedule with all of our projects. My role is also to know our history and have a vision for where the organization is going. We have policies which state our long-term goals and our projects are how we take steps to meet them. Often that means putting pressure on the government, universities, or the Icelandic Student Loan Fund to make changes for the better. Other ways that we try to have an impact are to host lectures or workshops on specific topics to educate and empower students. We also try to engage other higher education stakeholders in discussions and to spread awareness of student perspectives and the importance of student participation and students' rights.
In your opinion, how could students take a more active role in decision-making?
I think that decision-making bodies in universities need to be very proactive in seeking student perspectives, because there are so many barriers to participation. UI has a very strong culture of student participation, but other smaller and/or younger universities can struggle with getting their overworked, spread-out student bodies to be willing to sit on committees, since it is unpaid work or might not feel relevant to them. There is also an issue of continuity, new students every year who need training and support to be able to be active in decision-making. I think students who are already in positions of power need to make space for their peers who don't have the time, energy, or experience to participate, seek them out, support them, and demand that the university compensate students for their work.
We have noticed that on your website most of your policies are published in Icelandic. How much would you say LÍS is doing to embrace the internationalization of higher education? What active measures are you pursuing to make all students from different backgrounds aware of LÍS?
We try to have most of our content available in English but sometimes lack consistency. Our social media is bilingual and we are planning to review and improve the English version of our website. We have had increased interest in participation from international students; many of our committees are actually operating in both English and Icelandic right now. We are trying to shape protocol on language use in the organization now, so that we are transparent about some things, like our laws, needing to be in Icelandic, but at the same time have our work as accessible for everyone as possible. Language seems to be a core issue with internationalization in Iceland, but of course we realize that there are many other factors. A lot of our work is focused on discussion and policy to improve all aspects of internationalization in higher education in Iceland. Just last week, we participated in a conference by the Quality Board in Iceland on how internationalization can be a driver for quality. From our experience in Student Refugees Iceland, we have found that there are so many barriers for foreign nationals and non-native Icelandic speakers when it comes to accessing higher education in Iceland. We need to make space for and support people who are actually dealing with being international students in Iceland in order to make impactful change.
Lastly, what aspects of LÍS would you like to see improved? And what are some of the goals the association has successfully met?
LÍS has grown a lot in the past three years, so it has outgrown its budget. We advocate for wellness, work-life balance, and students being compensated for their work, yet most of our team are volunteers. I really want the amazing future people of LÍS to be paid for their work. But there are a few things that LÍS has accomplished, I mean it is still so young that just existing and having a budget is great, and lots of our goals have had to do with internal development, making our policies, and improving our protocol. Things run very smoothly now and we can focus on reacting to situations as they come up, as has been the case during COVID. LÍS was active in recommending how the government should support students during the beginning of the epidemic, and although not all demands were met, universities and the loan fund were mostly flexible with assessment, grants were increased, and jobs were created. One other big thing is that past members participated in shaping the new student loan fund, Menntasjóður. Students had been demanding a grant system modelled off Norway for years. We have that now! LÍS suggested during the current Minister of Education’s first months in office that a unified policy on education should be drafted, not that we can take any credit for writing it, but that policy is now going through the Alþingi. We have an increasing number of students who reach out to us with individual issues with their departments or the loan fund, which we always try our best to resolve. So some people know about us, but we can definitely do better with outreach, letting students know that we are here to fight for them. Let us know what you want and need, and we will work our butts off to make it happen!
If you want to learn more about LÍS, its policies, and plans, visit its website: