Training
Primary school includes seven-year compulsory school
(compulsory) and two-year continuing school, which can lead
to a tenth school year; the majority of students go nine or
ten years. Syllabuses and teaching materials were Danish
until the 1930s, but have now been adapted to Faroese
conditions. Danish as a language of instruction was
abandoned in 1938.
High schools are located in Tórshavn and in Kambsdalur on
Eysturoy. Undergraduate education at the university level is
provided within a limited number of subjects at
Fróðskaparsetur Føroya, the Faroese Academy, which was
founded in 1965 and now has university status and fifteen
permanent staff of scientific staff, including six
professors. In the Faroese language and literature as well
as in history and cultural history, the studies can be
advanced to a cand.phil.; in other subjects, studies are
completed at foreign universities, preferably in Denmark.
For vocational training is well catered for with
teacher's seminar, maritime command schools, fishing
industry school, technical schools, trade school and nursing
school. The Faroese Folk High School (founded in 1899) has
been of great national importance by being the only school
where teaching from the start has been conducted entirely in
the Faroese language.
Economy
The end of the 1990s was characterized by a boom, and in
2002 the Danish contribution to the Faroe Islands economy
was reduced from one billion to just over DKK 600 million.
This was done on the Faroese initiative. The intention was
to initiate a process of financial independence.
The opposition warned that welfare would be threatened if
the business cycle reversed, which happened in 2003–2004.
Fishing prices on the world market fell while catches fell
as a result of some species being over-fished. After that,
however, the economy turned upwards again. In 2006, growth
was 10 percent and unemployment 2.8 percent. In 2008 and
2009, the Faroe Islands were also hit by the international
crisis, and GDP fell. But the year after, the economy turned
upwards, mainly thanks to good catches of mackerel and
herring.
Almost all exports consist of seafood, and half of the
value now consists of high quality farmed salmon. Between
2010 and 2015, growth averaged just over 5 per cent per
year, and GDP per inhabitant in 2015 was higher than in
Denmark. By mid-2016, the economy was about to overheat.
The limited size of the economy and its dependence on
fishing and fish prices make it extremely cyclical. |
