Students on Svalbard

UNIS was founded in 1993 as a result of cooperation between the four Norwegian universities. It started with studies in geology, geophysics and biology and later got a technology section. UNIS is a small institution and as a student you should be aware that you have a much greater influence on what's going on than is usually the case at a large university. If you are disappointed or don't agree with something, speak up!

The most important question as a new student is of course: Do I have to study a lot at UNIS? Sorry, but that is the only thing the UNIS student survival kit cannot tell you. Every student at UNIS costs much more than at a mainland institution or other universities; remember this and appreciate what you will gain by staying here - but please don't study all the time. Generally we get quite good grades on exams and still enjoy life and trips and all...

During the past decade UNIS was growing continuously - but only in the amount of people and equipment, not in size of the building. Some time ago planning started for a new building in which also the Norwegian Polar Instiute and the museum should have their place. There are three floors:

Ground floor
the first thing you notice when you enter UNIS is the bronze reception and the crooked walls. The new part of UNIS shows heavy signs of a ambitious designer. Here you find Lasegrotten a auditorium or you can go past the fore classrooms, Kapp Lee, Kapp Schults, Kapp Mitra and Kapp Wijk. Find the library and finally enter the cantina.

Our library is very small, but the librarian is kind and can order books for you. Among science you will also find a few books about geography and history of Svalbard. Several international newspapers in English, German, French, Finnish, and Swahili are to be found in the library. You can search the "card catalog" online; occasionally there will be courses for new students on how to do this. Just ask!

The canteen holds a amazing fireplace, where the Friday gatherings are held. This is a social event where we all come to enjoy cheep drinks, the fire and what ever fun and games we come up with.

From the canteen you also find Møysalen, the other auditorium and the two classrooms Templet and Festningen.

The canteen is run by ISS and sell warm meals and sandwiches, coffee and soft drinks. There are also two microwaves ovens and a toaster.

SITØ have there office just before the canteen. They are mainly responsible for booking of rooms in the barracks. If you don't pay your rent by transfering money from your account to the account, then you can go to her and pay cash. They mostly have early working hours.

From the reception you can also take the stairs up or go out to logistics. Here you can borrow rifles and some equipment (LINK) Monday, Wednesday and Friday 12-1230 and you will find the rifle rack here, ALL rifles in the building have to be stored and locked there. Padlocks can be bout in the reception (in 2009 they costed 40Nkr). It is also here you can get at key for UNIS.

2nd floor
At the canteen and by the reception there are stairs up to the second floor. Here you will find the computer labs and the lectures offices. The computer lab in the new part of UNIS is often use for classes, respect that or find a corner in the back to sit and work. As you enter UNIS you get a computer account from where you can access the network and student servers. You also get a print code.

In the new part of UNIS and on the second floor you find the student counsellors. They are always ready to help you with course registration, semester fees and what ever that concern studying. If you have a exams to do from back home, these guys will help make it happen.

3rd floor

Up here there you find, the computer geeks, here they have their offices. They are busy men, as all IT people are. But they help you with your computer problems if you ask kindly.

Up here we have our reading rooms and the floor is mostly our territory. Internal postboxes are in the old part. You should check them once in while, as some internal UNIS post and letters end up here, but most is done by email.

UNIS computer system
In 2002 UNIS got a couple of new computers with flat screens, nice to work with. The students log on to the domain UNIS. Every student has their own folder network drive. The data you store on that drive is accessible for you on any computer you log on to. Only you can access the data you store there. Your network folder has a limit, and good educated guesses say it's 200 MB. So you'd better not store your digital pics and MP3s on the network.

Since about 2004 there is a fibre cable connection to the mainland which means that the internet connection at UNIS is very fast. And you have bandwidth. But since the IT guys have a very strict firewall policy you won't be able to use any file sharing programs. You can connect your own PC or laptop to the UNIS network, usually without any problems. XP or W2K are recommended for this. Other systems, like Linux and windows Vista, also work but might need some configuration effort.

Since Spring 2005 we finally have internet in our rooms in Nybyen. In every room there is a socket to which you can connect your computer and then access the internet if, and only if, you have an user account at UNIS.