The University Centre of the Westfjords is a non-profit organisation established in March 2005. It has 40 founding members, including all of the country's institutions of higher education. The Centre began operations in Vestrahús in Ísafjörður in January 2006. The same building houses offices of the Marine Research Institute, the Icelandic Fisheries Laboratories, and the Icelandic Snow Avalanche Research Centre, among others. The Westfjords Regional Development Centre is also located here, and all of the organizations represented in the building share common reception facilities.

The University Centre offers an internationally oriented, cross-disciplinary master´s program in Coastal and Marine Management, which is taught in English. The program prepares students to engage with one of the most compelling and important subjects today: natural resource management and utilization. The program is taught in three week moduels, and each moduel is also offered as a short term course.

The Centre also assists university students and teachers from outside the area in establishing contacts in the Westfjords. The Centre provides information on the region as an interesting option and area for research and assists students and scholars in their work on research projects in the Westfjords.