Stockholm University is a public university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, it is one of the largest universities in Scandinavia. The institution is regarded as one of the top 100 universities in the world by the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU).
Departments, institutes and centers
Education and research at Stockholm University is carried out within the natural sciences and the humanities/social sciences. Within these fields, there are four faculties with 56 departments, institutes and centers within the humanities, law, natural sciences and social sciences. Research and training also takes place at a number of centers and institutes with a separate governing board, but that organisationally belong to a department.
Courses and programmes
Stockholm University offers courses at both undergraduate and advanced level. There are 190 study programmes in total, including 75 master’s programmes taught in English, and 1,700 courses to choose from within human science and science. Students can choose between studying one or more free-standing courses, that each may last between five weeks and one semester, or apply for a full study programme.
Research
The university’s researchers engage in governmental investigations, are active in the media, provide responses to proposed legislation and are included in several Nobel committees and international expert bodies.
Field stations
Stockholm University Marine Research center (SMF) provides “Askö Laboratory”, where Research on ecosystems, ecology and the impact of human interference is carried out. The field station was built in 1961 by Professor Lars Silén, Head of the Department of Zoology, and is now established as a renowned marine research center.
Tarfala research station belongs to the Department of Physical Geography. The station is located 1135 meters above sea level in Tarfaladalen, on the east side of Kebnekaise in arctic / alpine surroundings and conducts glaciological, hydrological, meteorological and climatological research. The station has the capacity to accommodate groups of up to 25 people and the staff consists of 2–5 people.
Tovetorp Zoological Research Station belongs to the Department of Zoology, and is located about 95 km southwest of Stockholm. It conducts research and training activities in ecology and ethology. Every year Tovetorp is visited by up to 600 students who live and study between 2–10 days on the station. On the research side, over 20 people work today with different research projects. The number of employees are currently 6 people.
Student unions
Prior to 2008, Stockholm University had only one student union called Stockholm University Student Union (Stockholm universitets studentkår, SUS). However, since 2008 the computer and system science students and the teacher students have their own, independent, student unions called DISK and “The Teacher’s College’s Student Union” (Lärarhögskolans studentkår). The law students also have their own student union, as do journalism students (Studentkåren vid JMK).
The future of the Teacher’s College’s Student Union is however not entirely safe, as Stockholm University’s Student Union has declared it will begin talks with the Teacher’s College’s Student Union on transferring its members to it, as it already has a teacher’s division. In contrast to common belief, DISK is not an abbreviation.
Rankings
In the Academic Ranking of World Universities 2020, an annual publication of university rankings by Shanghai Ranking Consultancy/Academic Ranking of World Universities, Stockholm University was placed as the 69th overall best university worldwide.
The Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2018 listed Stockholm University at position 134 on the list of the world’s top universities. Times Higher Education World University Rankings are annual university rankings published by British Times Higher Education (THE) magazine.
In the QS World University Rankings, Stockholm University was ranked 181 overall in the world in 2020. Its subject rankings were: 107th in Arts & Humanities, 235th in Life Sciences & Medicine, 261st in Engineering and Technology, 150th in Natural Sciences, and 65th in Social Sciences and Management.
In the CWTS Leiden Ranking 2014, Stockholm University was placed at 140 on the list of universities in the world.
Campus
The main part of Stockholm University is in the Frescati area, which extends from the Bergius Botanical Garden in the north to Sveaplan in the south. It is located in the world’s first national urban park and the area is characterized by nature, architecture and modern art, featuring such notable buildings as the Aula Magna (auditorium). Within Frescati, the areas Albano, the Bergius Botanical Garden, Frescati Backe, Frescati Hage, Kräftriket, Lilla Frescati and Sveaplan are located. The names of many of these areas have a history dating back to the late 1700s. After Gustav III’s trip to Italy in 1783–84, several places at Brunnsviken were given Italian names. Stockholm University has another campus in Kista, which houses the Department of computer and systems sciences.