Declaration of Intent on Increased Cooperation Between Universities, Upper Secondary Schools, and Industry

Today, representatives from Reykjavík University, the Technical College, IÐAN Education Centre, the Federation of Icelandic Industries, and Rafmennt signed an agreement declaring their intention to work together to map, strengthen, and promote opportunities for university studies with a vocational focus, following trade and other vocational education.

IÐAN signs the declaration of intent on behalf of its owners: The Icelandic Automobile Association, Byggiðn, FIT, Grafía, Matvís, and VM. The parties to the declaration believe that increased cooperation is necessary to facilitate the path for trade-educated individuals into practical university studies, and the collaboration has a fourfold objective:

• To increase the number of students pursuing trade education, while also increasing the number of those who supplement their education with practical university studies in line with the needs of the industry and vocational training.
  
• To make trade and vocational education an attractive option for young people and to increase the provision of information to prospective students so that such education becomes desirable.
• To create a platform for collaboration on the organization and management of university studies with the involvement of the industry to meet its needs, as well as to respond to the ever-changing job market.
• To facilitate assessment between educational levels where course components overlap to prevent repetition in studies.
  
  

The collaborative project is a development project, limited to vocational education in the construction, metal, mechanical, automotive, and electrical trades, and university-level studies suitable as a continuation of vocational training in those fields.

At the same time, the aim is for the project to become a model that can be transferred to other trades and vocational education.