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171 – University of Iceland’s Regulation on Disability Services No. 481 of
2010, Iceland
Responsible body: University of Iceland
Country of implementation: Iceland
Beneficiaries targeted: University student with disabilities
SUMMARY
The University of Iceland’s Regulation on disability services No. 481 of 2010 allows students to apply to disability
services for special study circumstances and special examination procedures and established a Council for the Affairs of
Disabled Persons. Special study circumstances include for instance the provision of information on the curriculum in
good time to allow sufficient preparation, flexibility in programme arrangements and personal progress, recording of
lectures and a choice of suitable locations for instruction. Adjustment of examination procedures includes the extension
of exam time, private exams, reading and writing assistance and alternative examination forms, such as multiple choice,
brief written responses or oral exams in place of long essay-type examinations.
CONTEXT/P ROBLEMS TARGETED (WITH ADDITIONS FROM THE ZERO P ROJECT T EAM)
For students with disabilities consisted barriers previously mainly to the lack of adequate preparation before studies and
lack of commitment by stakeholders to ensure higher education for students with disabilities, who had fewer
opportunities due to accessibility problems (to get into the university building and classrooms), lack the useful technical
facilities and lack of knowledge and understanding of the academic and administrative staff.
Higher education institutions have accepted students with disabilities and handled the task in a variety of ways. The
University of Iceland, the largest of its kind in the country with about 13,600 students, is the only one, which has
formalized its services to students with disabilities or special needs. A regulation on special support at the University of
Iceland no. 497/2002, available in Icelandic) was passed in 2002 as a first step towards inclusion. After the signature of
the CRPD by Iceland in 2007, this regulation was repealed in 2010 by the current Regulation on Disability Services for
Study at the University of Iceland No. 481 of 2010, established by the University Council on the basis of the authority of
the Act on Public Higher Education Institutions no. 85/2008.
OBJECTIVES/GOALS
To ensure that at the University students with disabilities or specific learning difficulties have the same opportunities as
other students, and to enable them to study without experiencing discrimination, such that all students have equal
opportunity to fulfil their potential in their studies. Assistance in no way involves a reduction in normal academic
requirements or the arrangement of these requirements such that they apply differently to this group of students.