This is the digital version of Utropia/Studentavisa i Tromsø, a newspaper produced by students affiliated to the University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway. The paper was published from 1976 to 2016.

On this page, you can search or browse through the various issues.* Note that most of its contents is in Norwegian only.

* Some issues are missing. In case you have a copy that we can scan, please let us know.

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The University of Tromsø (later renamed UiT The Arctic University of Norway; UiT) was founded in 1968; its first students were enrolled in 1972. Soon after, a students’ newspaper was initiated, written and edited by the students themselves. The newspaper was first named Studentavisa i Tromsø (1976–82) before changing its name into Utropia (1983–2016). Published at irregular intervals – varying from one weekly issue to monthly or even more sporadic issues – the newspaper’s lay-out and design as well as its editorial profile would change over time, as key editors and contributors came and went. Nevertheless, the newspaper does provide valuable and often amusing documentation of the agendas and interests of shifting generations of student politicians and students’ social activities both on and off campus. It also reflects and to some extent documents the history of the university as a whole.

In conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the university, the University Library wished to digitize the newspaper and make it available online. In collaboration with historian Magnus Andersson, himself a veteran in the local student politics, a nearly complete suite of copies of the newspaper was assembled from the archives of the Students’ Association as well as the University Library. Rights clearance was taken care of in conjunction with the chair of the board of Midnattssolposten, a digital-online students’ newspaper that was launched in 2017 as the rightful heir to the Studentavisa i Tromsø / Utropia. The online newspaper is no longer published; the non-profit enterprise was formally dissolved in 2020.

The project of digitizing the students’ newspaper is the most challenging that has hitherto been undertaken at the University Library of UiT. Scanning and post-production (optical character recognition etc.) was done in 2017 to 2020. In 2021, the website with online presentation and search function of the whole set of digitized newspaper issues was launched. The project as such is now finished. However, the library still hopes to be able to add the missing issues to the database. In case you possess as copy of one of the following issues, please let us know, as we would like to scan them for inclusion online:

• Vol. 32 (2007): No 6/2007
• Vol. 36 (2011): No 5/2011
• Vol. 37 (2012): No 5/2012
• Vol. 39 (2014): No 3/2014, No 10/2014

License restrictions: The University Library is responsible for the website of the digitized students’ newspaper. All contents can be reused within the regulations given in Chapter 3 in the Norwegian Lov om opphavsrett til åndsverk, e.g. download for private use or citation. For other kinds of reuse, contact originator (i.e. author, photographer, artist).

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