The creation of an International Academic Office at UNBC will enhance UNBC’s role in the University of the Arctic, a unique partnership among northern colleges and universities to expand global access to post-secondary education.

The UArctic is a partnership among more than 70 northern colleges, universities, and research institutes. Although it lacks its own physical campus, the UArctic offers courses through its partners – either on the campuses of those institutions or via the Internet. Credits are earned towards completing a Bachelor of Circumpolar Studies, a program consisting of courses about the lands, peoples, and issues of the circumpolar world, with special emphasis on the North’s indigenous peoples. There are currently students in Scandinavia, Russia, Finland, Canada, and the United States.

The International Academic Office (IAO) at UNBC will coordinate all of the student records for the UArctic, regardless of where the students are studying. The Office will also keep track of which courses at the partner colleges/universities are transferable to the Bachelor of Circumpolar Studies. Pictured at left is Diana Thomson, who is staffing the IAO at UNBC.

Three representatives of the UArctic will be at UNBC on Tuesday, February 8 to announce the expansion of services at UNBC. Lars Kullerud (UArctic Director) and Outi Snellman (Head of the UArctic Secretariat) will be joined by former UNBC professor Greg Poelzer, who is Dean of the Bachelor of Circumpolar Studies program. They will be available for media interviews at 2:30pm, immediately before a public presentation about the UArctic for faculty and students.