Verzló

Verzlunarskóli Íslands, usually referred to as Verzló (official name in English: Commercial College of Iceland), is an Icelandic gymnasium. It was founded in 1905 and is the oldest private school in Iceland. The school is located in Reykjavík and has more than 900 students.

The gymnasium serves the whole of Iceland and has a student population of just below one thousand. It is organized on the basis of a form system, with all students in the same form having the same timetable. Students are in school full-time from 8:15 to 15:40, Monday to Friday.

The school year consists of two semesters: fall and spring. Each semester, students take a full-time load of courses worth five or six credits each. Over three years, they take a total of 140+ credits and matriculate with an Icelandic stúdentspróf which is the standard prerequisite for university admission in Iceland. This qualification is also accepted for admission to universities around the world.

In their first year, all students follow a common curriculum. They then opt to specialise in one of four streams: business, science, social science and languages or arts. However, in all streams during the first two years, there is a strong focus on practical business courses like accounting, economics and computer studies. These courses qualify students for the Commercial Diploma (‘Verzlunarpróf') at the end of their second year. In terms of the students' age and academic standard, the Commercial Diploma corresponds roughly to A-levels in the United Kingdom and the High School Diploma in the United States.

During the remaining two years of their three-year programme, the students complete their stúdentspróf. These two years could be considered comparable to two years of study at an academic college, for example, equivalent to two years of university-level foundation courses in an American junior college.