Ministry of Education, Research and Culture | |
---|---|
Minister | Rigmor Dam |
National education budget (2012) | |
Budget | 1.1 billion DKK(public) 8.1% of GDP |
General details | |
Primary languages | Faroese, Danish |
Literacy | |
Total | N/A, note – probably 99%, the same as Denmark proper [1] |
Attainment (2011) | |
Secondary diploma | 69.9% 1 |
Post-secondary diploma | 32.5% 1 |
1 Of the population aged 25, and above. |
The levels of education in the Faroe Islands are primary, secondary and higher education. Most institutions are funded by the state; there are few private schools in the country. Education is compulsory for 9 years between the ages of 7 and 16.
In the twelfth century education in the Faroe Islands was provided by the Catholic Church. The Church of Denmark took over education after the Protestant Reformation. Modern educational institutions started operating in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and developed throughout the twentieth century. The status of the Faroese language in education was a significant issue for decades, until it was accepted as a language of instruction in 1938. Initially education was administered and regulated by Denmark. In 1979 responsibilities on educational issues started transferring to the Faroese authorities, a procedure which was completed in 2002.
Compulsory education consists of seven years of primary education, and two years of lower secondary education; it is public, free of charge, provided by the respective municipalities, and is called the Fólkaskúli in Faroese. The Fólkaskúli also provides optional preschool education as well as the tenth year of education that is a prerequisite to get admitted to upper secondary education. Students that complete compulsory education are allowed to continue education in a vocational school, where they can have job-specific training and education. Since fishing industry is an important part of country's economy, maritime schools are an important part of Faroese education. Upon completion of the tenth year of Fólkaskúli, students can continue to upper secondary education which consists of several different types of schools. Higher education is offered at the University of the Faroe Islands; a part of Faroese youth moves abroad to pursue higher education, mainly in Denmark. Other forms of education comprise adult education and music schools. The structure of the Faroese educational system bears resemblances with its Danish counterpart.
The main language of instruction up to the lower secondary school is Faroese, while Danish is the main language of instruction in upper secondary schools. Education in the Faroe Islands is administered and regulated by the Ministry of Education, Research and Culture (Faroese : Mentamálaráðið), with Rigmor Dam being the minister since 15 September 2015.
The Ministry of Education, Research and Culture has the jurisdiction of educational responsibility in the Faroe Islands. [2] Since the Faroe Islands is a constituent country of the Danish Realm, education in the Faroe Islands is influenced and has similarities with the Danish educational system; there is an agreement on educational cooperation between the Faroe Islands and Denmark. [3] [4] [5] In 2012 the public spending on education was 8.1% of GDP. [6] The municipalities are responsible for the school buildings for children's education in Fólkaskúlin from age 1st grade to 9th or 10th grade (age 7 to 16). [7] In November 2013 1,615 people, or 6.8% of the total number of employees, were employed in the education sector. [6] Of the 31,270 people aged 25 and above 1,717 (5.5%) have gained at least a Master's degree or a Ph.D., 8,428 (27%) have gained a B.Sc. or a Diploma, 11,706 (37.4%) have finished upper secondary education while 9,419 (30.1%) has only finished primary school and have no other education. [8] There is no data on literacy in the Faroe Islands, but the CIA Factbook states that it is probably as high as in Denmark proper, i.e. 99%. [1]
The majority of students in upper secondary schools are women, although men represent the majority in higher education institutions. In addition, most young Faroese people who relocate to other countries to study are women. [9] Out of 8,535 holders of bachelor degrees, 4,796 (56.2%) have had their education in the Faroe Islands, 2,724 (31.9%) in Denmark, 543 in both the Faroe Islands and Denmark, 94 (1.1%) in Norway 80 in the United Kingdom and the rest in other countries. [10] Out of 1,719 holders of master's degrees or PhDs, 1,249 (72.7% have had their education in Denmark, 87 (5.1%) in the United Kingdom, 86 (5%) in both the Faroe Islands and Denmark, 64 (3.7%) in the Faroe Islands, 60 (3.5%) in Norway and the rest in other countries (mostly EU and Nordic). [10] Since there is no medical school in the Faroe Islands, all medical students have to study abroad; as of 2013, out of a total of 96 medical students, 76 studied in Denmark, 19 in Poland and 1 in Hungary. [11]
Although the Faroese language is designated as the country's principal language, the Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands states that the Danish language "is to be learnt well and carefully". [12] Up to ninth grade, most school material is in Faroese; there are Danish classes since third grade. [13] In upper secondary education this pattern is reversed; courses are taught in Danish, except the Faroese language courses. [13] The Faroese language is taught 64 hours per week, overall, throughout compulsory education, while Danish is taught 29 hours per week; exams in both languages are equal in length. [14] English language courses start from 4th grade and they are taught for 60 hours annually at that grade, 90 hours in 5th grade, 120 hours in 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th grade; pupils who chose to take the 10th grade have the option to get another 120 hours of English lessons. [15]
Grade | Faroese (hours of instruction per week) | Danish (hours of instruction per week) |
---|---|---|
1st Grade | 11 | – |
2nd Grade | 11 | – |
3rd Grade | 9 | 3 |
4th Grade | 6 | 4 |
5th Grade | 6 | 4 |
6th Grade | 6 | 4 |
7th Grade | 5 | 4 |
8th Grade | 5 | 4 |
9th Grade | 5 | 4 |
Fólkaskúlin | 64 | 29 |
In the Middle Ages there was education in Kirkjubøur offered by the Catholic Church. According to the Sverris saga, Sverre of Norway received schooling by Roe the bishop of Faroe Islands; later speeches of his, show that he was taught Latin, a feature revealed by his knowledge of the Decretum Gratiani. [16] The school in Kirkjubøur continued until the Protestant Reformation. After the reformation Latin Schools were established in the Danish kingdom, extending over today's Denmark, Iceland, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Skåneland and Gotland in Sweden, and Øsel (now Saaremaa) in Estonia. The Latin School in the Faroe Islands is first mentioned in 1547, in a letter to Thomas Koppen who got the Faroe Islands as a fief. [17]
In 1870 the Faroese Teachers School (Faroese : Føroya Læraraskúli) was established to offer training and qualification for teachers. [18] The first maritime schools were founded as private institutions in Tórshavn in 1893. [19] The first Evening School was founded in 1904, with joint financing by the Løgting and Denmark. [3] In 1912 a Danish Royal decree established compulsory primary education, with the provision that teaching was in Danish. [4] [20] That decision led to tensions in education as Faroese teachers Louis Zachariasen and Jákup Dahl continued teaching in Faroese and were persecuted for doing so; the issue was resolved in 1938 when Faroese was recognized as equal to Danish in Faroese schools. [4] [20] In 1927 the Danish government, upon the request of the Faroese parliament, established a public navigational school in Tórshavn, followed by a marine engineers school in 1929. [19]
The Faroese Nursing School was established in 1960 by the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs; it traces its roots back in 1910 when nurses were trained in the hospital of Tórshavn. [21] The University of the Faroe Islands, was established in 1965; Klaus H. Jacobsen, a Dane, was appointed as the first lecturer in 1970 to teach courses for the examen philosophicum, a prerequisite at the time to pursue higher education in Denmark. After Denmark abandoned the examen philosophicum in 1971, on the initiative of Jacobsen and Kjartan Hoydal the university accepted its first full-time science students in the autumn of 1972. [22] Education in the Faroe Islands was administered by Denmark under the Home Rule Act, until in the late 1990s its administration was transferred to the Faroese government as a matter of local interest. [3]
In 1979 responsibility on educational matters started transferring from Denmark to the Faroese authorities, with the Faroese government getting full economic responsibility of education in 1988. [4] By 1996 education became the responsibility of the Faroese government; this procedure was completed in 2002, preceded by the establishment of the Ministry of Education, Research and Culture. [4] The administration of the Nursing School was passed to the Ministry of Education, Research and Culture in 2000 and the degree was recognized as a bachelor's degree in 2003. [21] In 2005 the marine schools of navigation and engineering merged to form the Centre of Maritime Studies and Engineering. [19] On 1 August 2008 the Faroese School of Education and the Faroese School of Nursing where incorporated into the university becoming its departments. [23]
Compulsory education in the Faroe Islands is provided for nine years from the age of 7 to 16. [24] Primary education in the Faroe Islands commences at the beginning of the school year in the calendar year in which the child has reached the age of seven years. [25] It is part of the compulsory education, and it lasts at least seven years, [25] Primary education is provided by 51 Fólkaskúli and 3 Free Schools; some of these Fólkaskúli also provide optional preschool education. [26] In 2014 there were 5,205 students attending primary education in the Faroe Islands. [27]
Upon completion of the first seven years of primary education, students can continue their studies in lower secondary education in the 8th and 9th grade and if they wish to, they can also take the 10th year of Fólkaskúli. Two thirds of the pupils from the 9th grade chose to take the 10th grade of Fólkaskúlin also. [28] Lower secondary education lasts two to three years and, as with primary education, it is provided by Fólkaskúli and is free of charge. [25] The first two years are part of the compulsory education, while the third year is optional, though a prerequisite to continue to the upper high school. [25] In 2014 there were 1,932 students in lower secondary education. [27]
The final examination from the Fólkaskúli gives access to upper secondary education like "Studentaskúlin", [29] "Fiskivinnuskúlin" [30] or other similar secondary schools which takes three years or (Higher Preparatory Examination (HF)) which takes two years. It also gives access to the one year FHS Yrkisnám from Føroya Handilsskúli (Faroese business college) or the 3-year secondary education Búskaparbreytin (Economy secondary school) from Føroya Handilsskúli. [31]
Upper secondary education is offered by eight schools that offer five different type of courses. [26] The Studentaskúli is an academically oriented three-year-long school. [26] Upon completion students can apply for admission in higher education institutions. [26] This type of education is offered at three schools: Føroya Studentaskúli og HF-Skeið in Tórshavn, Studentaskúlin og HF-skeiðið í Eysturoy in Kambsdalur and Miðnámsskúlin í Suðuroy in Suðuroy. [26] Another type of upper secondary education is HF, which is a 2-year academically oriented course for adults, that is offered at Føroya Studentaskúli og HF-Skeið and Studentaskúlin og HF-skeiðið í Eysturoy. [26] The Business College (Faroese : Føroya Handilsskúli), also called FHS, offers a three-year curriculum and its completion allows its alumni to continue to higher education. [26] It is also possible to take a one-year education from the Business College. [32] There are two Business Colleges, one in Tórshavn and one Kambsdalur. [26] The Technical college (Faroese : Tekniski skúlin) offers courses on several technical fields along with apprenticeship. [26] It is offered in two schools, one in Tórshavn and one in Klaksvík. [26] Its alumni can pursuit higher education in technical sciences or take higher education courses of the Technical College. [26] The Fisheries College (Faroese : Fiskivinnuskúlin) in Vestmanna. [26] It focuses in the fishing industry and food science and upon its completion students can continue in higher education studies related to the fishing industry. [26]
There are two vocational maritime schools in the Faroe Islands: The Centre of Maritime Studies and Engineering (Faroese : Vinnuháskúlin) in Tórshavn and the Sjónam Maritime School (Faroese : Sjónám) in Klaksvík. [26]
Vinnuháskúlin offers three-year studies to become a shipmaster or a marine engineer, in addition to shorter versions of these, while it also offers a one and a half-year studies to become a captain and individual marine courses. [26] [33] [34] In 2010 100% of the graduates for skipper, shipmaster, machinist and marine engineer were men. [35] All graduates from Vinnuháskúlin in June 2015 were men. [36]
Sjónam in Klaksvík offers a 1½ year shipmaster education, which qualifies its alumni to be either First Officer or Captain on merchant ships up to 3000 gross tonnage. In order to get access to the education, the applicants must fulfill the terms according to Ship Master Law (Kunngerð um skiparaútbúgving) number 107 of 20 September 2005, i.e. the applicants must have experience of working on board a ship which is at least 20 gross tonnage for at least 36 months, of which at least 18 months should be from a larger vessel of at least 200 gross tonnage. They should also have finished the nine years of compulsory primary and lower secondary school with at least "passed" results in Faroese, Danish, English, physics, chemistry and math. [37] [38]
Sjónám also offers a shorter maritime education of six months. It is a ship assistant education (Faroese : skipsatstøðingur) which provides the students to be able to perform all kinds of work on deck and in the engine room on board a ship. The applicants must be at least 17+1⁄2 years old and must have completed the 9 years of Fólkaskúlin. The applicants must also have a health certificate for seamen. This education together with 9 months which are required for becoming an able-bodied seaman, qualifies the alumni for the 1½ year long shipmaster education. [39]
The Public Faroese Health School (Faroese: Heilsuskúli Føroya) in Suðuroy is a vocational school offering two types of education. The health care assistant education (Heilsuhjálpari) takes fifteen months. Following graduation, pupils can choose to leave the school and work in home care and retirement homes. Alternatively they can continue with another 22 months and become an assistant nurse (heilsurøktari). The assistant nurse can work in various places, mostly in retirement homes or hospitals. [26] [40] The graduates from the Health School are mainly women. [41] [42] In 2012 almost 90% of the School's graduates were women. [43]
The Faroe Music School (Faroese : Musikkskúlin) runs fourteen institutions around the islands that are responsible for teaching music in the Faroe Islands. [26] [44] The pupils pay between 1,200 and 1,600 DKK each year in order to get lessons, the price depends on which municipality the pupil lives in. [45] In Tórshavn there are classes, called Musikkspælistova, for children up to 6 years costing 600 DKK for a year; it also offers a three-year musical education program in Tórshavn, which is a middle-range training for Faroese people aged 14 to 25, costing 2,400 DKK annually and admitting up to 8 pupils a year. [45] [46]
The Evening School (Faroese : Kvøldskúli or Frítíðarundirvísing), offers a variety of courses for everyone and Faroese language lessons for foreigners. [26] [47] Courses range from handicraft, music lessons, foreign languages to swimming. [48] The courses are offered by the municipalities, with 50% of the teachers' wages paid by them and the rest paid by the Ministry of Culture and Education; the Ministry of Culture pays 100% of the wages in cases of disabled people. [49]
Additionally there are the School of Home Economics (Faroese : Húsarhaldsskúli Føroya) and the Folk High School (Faroese : Føroya Fólkaháskúli) offering half-year courses in food and diet, hygiene, sewing, embroidering and humanities, arts and creative subjects respectively. [26]
Higher education in the Faroe Islands is mainly undertaken by the University of the Faroe Islands, a public research university granting academic degrees. Individual higher education courses are offered by The Business School. Many Faroese pursue higher education out of the islands, mainly in Denmark; in August 2015 a report showed 1,345 Faroese students in Denmark, 904 in the Faroe Islands and 182 in other countries. [50] Studni, the Faroese Student Grant Fund, provides student grants and loans to Faroese students, to study either in the Faroe Islands or abroad. [51] [52]
Higher education is offered by the, Tórshavn based, University of the Faroe Islands (Faroese : Fróðskaparsetur Føroya). [26] It was founded in 1965, as Academia Færoensis, by members of the Faroese Academy of Sciences. [53] The university is divided in two faculties: the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education and the Faculty of Natural and Health Sciences, offering several B.Sc. degrees, M.Sc. degrees and Ph.D.s. [26] [54] It is publicly funded and in 2010 it received approximately 68 million DKK. [23] Admission requirements include taking the upper secondary school leaving examination. [55] Specific departments could place additional requirements, e.g. in 2015 the Software Engineering department required a grade of 6/13 in mathematics. [55]
It is possible to take individual higher education courses in Commerce from the Business School in Kambsdalur and in Tórshavn. [26] [56] The alumni can work at the same time and take one course each semester. After three years they will have achieved 60 ECTS which is the same as the first part of the HD education. They can also take the second part of the HD education from the Business College, and they can also combine it with courses from the Aarhus University via distant education. If they wish to study further for at MBA they must take it from a university in Denmark, i.e. the Aarhus University. [57]
Research in the Faroe Islands is administered by the Faroese Research Council (Faroese : Granskingarráðið). [26] Each year the Parliament of the Faroe Islands allocates money to the Faroese Research Foundation, and it is the Faroese Research Council that decides its recipients. [58] From 2002 to 2012 the Research Foundation had received over 70 million DKK. [58] Research is conducted by several governmental institutions (i.e. museums, laboratories, hospitals, marine institutes) and the University of the Faroe Islands. [26] [59]
The economy of the Faroe Islands was the 166th largest in the world in 2014, having a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.613 billion per annum. GDP increased from DKK 8 billion in 1999, to 21 billion in 2019. The vast majority of Faroese exports, around 90%, consists of fishery products.
Tórshavn, usually locally referred to as simply Havn, is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of the city lies the 347-meter-high (1,138 ft) mountain Húsareyn, and to the southwest, the 350-meter-high (1,150 ft) Kirkjubøreyn. They are separated by the Sandá River. The city itself has a population of 14,099 (2024), and the greater urban area has a population of 23,194, including the suburbs of Hoyvík and Argir.
The University of the Faroe Islands is a state-run university located in Tórshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands. It consists of five faculties: Faculty of Faroese Language and Literature, Faculty of Social Sciences and History, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Science and Technology and Faculty of Health Sciences. The University offers bachelors, masters, and Ph.D. programs. The student body is relatively small. The University organises an annual dissertation competition open to all students. The educational language of the university is Faroese, making it the only university in the world to conduct classes officially in the Faroese language. Some classes are taught in other languages. The University works closely with the University of Copenhagen and the University of Iceland for research projects and is a member of UArctic.
The Faroe Islands has a small population, and due to the high initial cost of filmmaking, the islands cinema history is modest. The first film director of the Faroe Islands was Katrin Ottarsdóttir. Her first film set in the Faroe Islands was Atlantic Rhapsody in 1989.
Velbastaður is a village on the island of Streymoy in the Faroe Islands. It is a part of Tórshavn Municipality and is considered among the oldest settlements in the islands. There are two schools and one kindergarten in the village, with children coming from the neighboring village of Kirkjubø as well the capital at Tórshavn.
The Faroese language conflict is a phase in the history of the Faroe Islands in the first half of the 20th century. It was a political and cultural argument between advocates of Faroese and Danish to serve as the official language of the Faroe Islands.
Uni Jógvanson Arge is a Faroese journalist, writer, musician, singer and a former international football striker.
The Faroe or Faeroe Islands, or simply the Faroes, are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. The official language of the country is Faroese, which is closely related to and partially mutually intelligible with Icelandic.
The Faroe Islands are administratively divided in 29 municipalities (kommunur), with about 120 cities and villages. Until December 31, 2008, there were 34 municipalities, and until December 31, 2004, there were 48 municipalities. In the coming years the number of Faroese municipalities is expected to drop to somewhere between 7 and 15, as there is currently a rationale towards municipal amalgamation and a decentralization of public services. In 1998 it was suggested that no municipality should have fewer than 2,000 inhabitants, but whether this will be true is a political question. The Faroese government has furthermore decided not to conduct forced, top-down amalgamation, but to leave the process to the free will of the municipalities. In many small municipalities there is some resistance to the amalgamation process, and as a result two kinds of municipalities are being created: large municipalities (town-municipalities) that are eager to attract smaller municipalities into amalgamation, and small municipalities which are either trying to avoid amalgamation or seek to amalgamate with other small municipalities. The geographically large Sunda municipality is an example of this. The larger municipalities are organized in Kommunusamskipan Føroya (KFS) and the smaller are organized in Føroya Kommunufelag (FKF).
Høgni Reistrup is a Faroese singer, musician, writer and scientist from Tórshavn, Faroe Islands. He is the co-writer of the book Exit Føroyar ; he wrote it together with Heri á Rógvi. The books was published in 2012 and created a major debate in the Faroe Islands and in Denmark about the problems the Faroe Islands were facing with population decline in the islands, where the biggest problems seemed to be that half of the young people who moved away to study abroad never moved back again; especially the women did not move back again. After a period of six years with negative net migration in the Faroe Islands, the country saw an increase in the population in 2014 and 2015.
Samuel Jacob Sesanus Olsen, commonly known as Jacob Olsen, was a Faroese teacher, writer and translator. He was deeply engaged in the local community and the Faroe Islands as a whole.
Føroya Studentaskúli og HF-Skeið is a high school in the valley of Hoydalar, outside Tórshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands. It has over 900 students enrolled. The institution is the Faroe Islands' eldest and biggest high school.
The Centre of Maritime Studies and Engineering is a vocational maritime school located in Tórshavn. It offers three year shipmaster and marine engineer courses as well as other maritime related courses. It was established in 2005 after the merger of the Faroese Nautical School, the Engineers School and the Faroese Firefighting School.
Ministry of Education, Research and Culture in the Faroe Islands is responsible for education, research and culture in the Faroe Islands. The Ministry is also responsible for the pedagogical part of the day care, the ecclesiastical affairs and other, the Radio and TV broadcasting and sports.
Bárður á Steig Nielsen is a Faroese politician and businessman who serves as leader of the Union Party since 2015 and was prime minister from 2019 to 2022. He is also goalkeeper of the VÍF Vestmanna handball team and a former handball player of the Faroe Islands national team.
The Faroese Teachers School is a college in Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands, which became part of the University of the Faroe Islands on 1 August 2008. Since 2008 it has offered bachelor's degrees in general and specialized education; before 2008, education students did not receive a BA. The school's four-year program in general education qualifies graduates for teaching positions in primary schools and preschools in the Faroe Islands and Denmark.
Finnbogi Ísakson was a Faroese journalist, writer, and politician for the Republic party.
The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory of Denmark, in March 2020. The confirmed infection rate was 1 case per 280 inhabitants, one of the highest rates in the world, but the archipelago also tested at a very high frequency, with the number of tests equaling c. 34 per cent of the population. As of 28 February 2022, there have been 34648 confirmed cases. Among these, 31 persons have died with COVID-19.
Helena Dam á Neystabø is a Faroese Social Democratic politician. She has been served in the Lagting from 1990 to 2002, 2008 to 2011 and 2015 to 2019, has been a minister in three governments, and has been a member of the Tórshavn municipal council.
Gunvør Balle is a Faroese Republic politician and diplomat who served in the Løgting from 2011 until 2015 and is currently serving in Tórshavn City Council. Prior to her entry in politics, she worked in sales management and was a Ministry of Foreign Affairs diplomat who served as the Faroe Islands' envoy to Iceland from 2007 until 2010.