Complete guide to studying in Sweden
Everything you need to know about becoming an international student in Sweden
A quick introduction to Sweden
Sweden is a country that is located in the Scandinavian peninsula alongside Norway, Denmark and Finland, in the north of Europe.
Sweden is an EU country and as such it follows the Bologna process and is part of the European Higher Education area. This means that Sweden adheres to the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), so any qualifications completed in Sweden are recognized throughout other EU nations.
In the 2022/23 academic year, 41,700 international students moved to Sweden for their studies. Many of these students were from countries within the EU, including Germany, France and Spain. Many students also arrived from further afield, with India and China being particularly large sources of foreign students.
International students will find Sweden a welcoming country to all, with progressive attitudes and a multicultural population, with 20% of the population of Sweden having been born abroad, or with at least one parent from abroad.
You will find that this welcoming attitude extends to studying at university in Sweden, where openness and tolerance is the norm, no matter who you are or what your interests are.
Sweden’s higher education system
The academic year in Sweden begins in August and ends the following year in June. It is divided into two semesters:
- Autumn semester – The start of the academic year, beginning in August, taking a brief pause during the end of December and then ending in mid-January.
- Spring semester – Begins in mid-January and runs until early June.
As Sweden is a member of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), it follows the standardized three cycle system of higher education, which works as follows:
- Bachelor’s/Undergraduate – The first cycle of university education in Sweden, the bachelor’s degree takes 3 years of full-time study to complete, and which will equate to 180 ECTS credits, which are recognized institutions throughout Europe.
- Master’s/Graduate – The second cycle of university education in Sweden, the master’s degree can be taken once you have completed a bachelor’s degree in Sweden, or elsewhere in the EHEA (or the equivalent bachelor’s degree outside of Europe). Master’s degrees in Sweden can take either 1 or 2 years of full-time study to complete, resulting in a degree worth either 60 or 120 ECTS credits.
- Doctoral level – The third cycle of university education in Sweden allows students who have completed a master’s degree to study for a doctorate degree, most commonly a PhD research course in the students line of interest.
Teaching methods
The way in which bachelor’s degrees are studied is a little different to the usual teaching methods. Usually in a university degree you will study a selection of courses every semester alongside each other, potentially with examination and/or coursework in each course to the end of the semester.
In Sweden, you study just one course at a time for a shorter period of time. At the end of the teaching period for a course, you have an exam in that course, and then begin a course in the next subject. This means that you can concentrate fully on the subject in front of you.
Universities
Universities in Sweden can be either a university or a university college. The differences between the two are subtle; both types of institution can award bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Whilst universities in Sweden are able to award doctoral degrees, university colleges must be granted that authority by the Swedish Higher Education Authority. University colleges, known as Högskola in Sweden, also tend to be smaller than universities.
There are 39 universities in total in the country, and the majority of these are publicly funded. There are also 7 private universities operating in Sweden, with examples including the Stockholm School of Economics and the University College Stockholm.
You will receive an excellent level of education regardless of whether you study at a private or public university or university college in Sweden.
University rankings
As an international student, you will find that university rankings are a useful tool to compare metrics that you might find meaningful when it comes to choosing a university, including the reputation of the university and the standard of teaching.
Worldwide rankings allow you to compare how universities match up around the world. Swedish universities are often innovative and pride themselves on offering a slightly different experience from the norm, and they also rank very well in world university rankings.
Our table below shows the top 15 universities in Sweden according to 3 well known university ranking systems:
| University | Times Higher Education World University Ranking | Best Global Universities | QS World University Ranking |
| Karolinska Institute | 50 | 51 | |
| KTH Royal Institute of Technology | 97 | 251 | 74 |
| Lund University | 106 | 125 | 75 |
| Uppsala University | 140 | 150 | 103 |
| Stockholm University | 185 | 153 | 128 |
| Chalmers University of Technology | 189 | 341 | 139 |
| University of Gothenburg | 201-250 | 160 | 194 |
| Linköping University | 251-300 | 300 | 304 |
| Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences | 301-350 | 439 | |
| Umeå University | 401-500 | 401 | 456 |
| Jönköping University | 601-800 | 1164 | |
| Örebro University | 601-800 | 865 | |
| Karlstad University | 1001-1200 | 1494 | |
| Halmstad University | 1201-1500 | ||
| Lulea University of Technology | 689 |