Þekkingarsetur Þingeyinga or Húsavík Academic Center (HAC) in its present form is a merger of two institutions, FræÞing and Húsavík Academic Center.
FræÞing, or Fræðslumiðstöð Þingeyinga, was established in 1999 as a center for adult education in the region.  FræÞing was one of eight lifelong learning centers in Iceland dedicated to making education more available to adults everywhere by offering both academic and vocational study programmes in the form of local seminars and distance learning.  These programmes are developed in co-operation with schools at the upper secondary and higher educational levels, municipalities, trade unions and employers as well as other adult organizations.
Húsavík Academic Center was established in 2003 with a trifold mission; to become a center for interdisciplinary researchers in the region, to initiate and promote research in the region and to support and facilitate university level education in co-operation with FræÞing.  Co-operation between these two institutions was evident from the beginning and in 2004 an agreement was signed whereby HAC would operate FræÞing within its newly acquired facilities.  A full merger then took place in June of 2006, when the two legally merged in into one institution.