By the end of August, 700 students will move into apartments on Reykjanes peninsula, which used to house the US military staff based at the US Naval Air Station Keflavík (NASKEF), which was handed over to Iceland last September.

By Anna Andersen

The Atlantic Center of Excellence, “Keilir”, which has sprung up in the old navy base area, is offering economical student housing, and because people expressed great interest in this first batch of 300 apartments, they plan to offer 750 new apartments this fall. 

Many students will take advantage of this opportunity, which makes living away from home a more feasible option. The majority of these students will use the complimentary bus service to attend the University of Iceland, based in Reykjavík, and Reykjavík University, 45 kilometers from the apartments.

The Atlantic Center of Excellence will open this fall with a program geared to mature students preparing for university. Upon completion, these students will be allowed into university despite not having a stúdents próf, the Icelandic equivalent of a secondary school diploma. About 100 students, mostly Icelanders with an average age of 35, are expected to attend.

In addition to this program, the Atlantic Center of Excellence will open a trade school department, including a flying academy, at the start of the 2008. Ultimately, there will be three departments, the last being a center for research in areas such as energy, geology, aerodynamics, safety, art, and design.  

Although the new complex will be primarily a student community, many students will come with their families, and it is expected that there will be about 200 children in the area, 70 of which will be of pre-school age, reports visir.is. For this reason, the Atlantic Center of Excellence will also run a pre-school and elementary school.

“This will become a student community, complete with coffee houses and sports,” managing director of the Atlantic Center of Excellence Runólfur Ágústsson told icelandreview.com.