Acting Minister of Education Svandís Svavarsdóttir has appointed a task force to find a solution to the issues faced by students at the Icelandic Film School. The school may not be able to resume operations due to lack of funds.
The students met with the minister on Monday and requested that the ministry guaranteed their continued studies and safeguarded the education’s standards, Fréttabladid reports.
The students stated that the Film School is unable to fulfill their obligations towards their studies and therefore sought the ministry’s assistance.
“The students requested […] a temporary solution so that they can continue with their studies as soon as possible,” Svavarsdóttir said.
The task force has requested information from the Film School about status of the students and based on that information, a solution will be sought in the coming days.
“This is an emergency plan which takes the position of these students into consideration. Alongside this arrangement we need to work on a future policy for filmmaking studies in Iceland,” Svavarsdóttir added.
She said it would be preferable if a new arrangement could be prepared in time for new enrollments in film studies for the autumn of 2012.
According to Fréttabladid, the National Audit Office has concluded that there are no indications that state funding to the Film School was used for anything else than the operations stated in the Ministry of Education’s agreement with the school.
Yet the ministry stated this does not change the fact that the school does not currently fulfill the conditions for continued operations; the Audit Office attributes its financial troubles to the number of students increasing in excess of the agreement’s frame of reference. The Film School has requested increased state funding.
Click here to read more about the Film School’s troubles.
ESA
