Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' school to a modern comprehensive university, providing instruction for about 14,000 students in twenty-five faculties.

It has a campus concentrated around Suðurgata street in central Reykjavík, with additional facilities located in nearby areas as well as in the countryside.

The University of Iceland was founded by the Alþingi on 17 June 1911, uniting three former post-secondary institutions: Prestaskólinn, Læknaskólinn and Lagaskólinn, which taught theology, medicine and law, respectively.

[3] Demands for a national Icelandic university stretch as far back as to the first session of the elected assembly of Althingi in 1845.

[3] For its first 29 years, the university was housed in the Icelandic Parliament building, Alþingishúsið, in central Reykjavík.

In 1933, the university received a special licence from Alþingi to operate a cash-prize lottery called Happdrætti Háskólans.

In 1940, the university moved into the main building, designed by Icelandic state architect Guðjón Samúelsson.

Increased competition from local colleges has encouraged the university to greatly improve its marketing strategies, which had previously been deemed unnecessary.

[4] The university's main campus lies immediately south-west of Tjörnin lake in the centre of Reykjavík.

The Faculty of Sport, Leisure Studies and Social Education, on the other hand, is located in the village of Laugarvatn.

The five academic schools and their faculties are headed by deans and have much control over curricula and day-to-day administration.Jón Atli Benediktsson is the current Rector of the University of Iceland.

[7] Some of the most notable are: In addition to the major faculties, there are numerous research institutes attached to the university.

There are also several multidisciplinary master's programmes available in the fields of health and environmental sciences, some of them in cooperation with other European universities.

[13] The 2017 edition of Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) placed it in the 401-500 band globally.

A large part of the unions' function revolves around social activities, the most common of which are the so-called "science trips", a tradition where companies and organizations in the industry invite students in a relevant field over for a presentation and drinks.