Runolfur warns tuition plan could worsen health service staffing
Friday 13th November 2026 on 00:45 in
Iceland
Runólfur Pálsson, chief executive of Landspítali hospital, says planned tuition fees for students from outside the European Economic Area could make it harder to recruit staff for Iceland’s health service. He told mbl.is that the plans, which also include stricter requirements for students to show they can support themselves, concerned him.
The government has proposed allowing Icelandic universities to charge students from outside the EEA full tuition fees. Some courses would be exempt, with students in those programmes paying only a registration fee. The charges could reach about five million Icelandic krónur, and are not due to begin until next year.
Runólfur said 12 per cent of Landspítali’s employees are foreign citizens, as are about 13 per cent of its nurses. Those figures would be slightly higher if they included staff who have since gained Icelandic citizenship.
The hospital employs about 2,000 nurses and is short by nearly 100 full-time positions, he said. Recruitment has not kept pace with demand, while the population is growing and the number of older people is increasing. Health services elsewhere in the country also need foreign workers, he added.
Runólfur said the hospital cannot currently fill its staffing needs with Icelandic workers alone. Demand for health services is expected to rise in the coming years because of demographic changes, while the workforce is not expected to grow at the same rate. The number of medical students was increased several years ago, but there has been no significant increase in other fields in recent years, he said.
One route used by people from outside the EEA has been to enter Iceland on a student residence permit and study Icelandic as a second language at the University of Iceland. Runólfur cited nurses from the Philippines who have followed this path, saying that learning the language and adapting to life in Iceland can make it easier to obtain a professional licence.
Tags: Iceland, health care, education