The University of Akureyri is offering studies in Polar Law to A 120 ECTS Master Program leading to an M.A. degree; a 90 ECTS Master Program leading to an LL.M. degree; a 60 ECTS study at the master level leading to a graduate diploma; and a 60 ECTS study at the bachelor level leading to an undergraduate diploma.

The Polar Law program is co-sponsored by the Arctic-Center of the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi, with them providing teachers for specilized courses. Furthermore the Master Program is to receive endorsement by the Arctic University

In connection with this Master Program, the University of Akureyri will work closely with the universities in Tórshavn, Nuuk, the University of the Arctic and with universities in Canada, Alaska and Russia. Plans are also being made for cooperation with the universities in Copenhagen, Lund, Oslo, Tromsø and Aabo. The University of Akureyri will cooperate with the University of Iceland and the Reykjavík University when possible.

In recent years, the domain of the legal practitioner and the judiciary has radically expanded, and there is thus pressing need for a better understanding of law, legislation, and policy-making. The transfer of responsibility from central governments to local communities, and the growing independence of small states and peripheral societies, call for specialized knowledge and skills in law and related areas. These remarks apply throughout the region, including rural Iceland as to thinly populated areas in neighboring countries and elsewhere in the world.

The program provides a unique focus on polar law. It comes about in a timely fashion when climate changes are having a dramatic effect on the Arctic and Antarctic regions, when the opening of the northwest and northeast passages is becoming possible, when current and potential boundary disputes on land and sea remain unresolved, when issues and questions of national and local governance are moving forward on national and international agendas, and not least, when multiple threats to the environment are raising serious danger signals and calling for urgent measures. One of the interesting areas of study, that the Master Program can contribute to, concerns the possible lessons that the legal regime for the Antarctica could provide for solutions in the Arctic region, for example concerning the environment.