Uppsala University
Encyclopedia
Uppsala University is a research university
in Uppsala
, Sweden
, and is the oldest university in Scandinavia
, founded in 1477. It consistently ranks among the best universities in Northern Europe
in international rankings and is generally considered one of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in Europe
.
The university rose to pronounced significance during the rise of Sweden as a great power
at the end of the 16th century and was then given a relative financial stability with the large donation of King Gustavus Adolphus
in the early 17th century. Uppsala also has an important historical place in Swedish national culture, identity and for the Swedish establishment: in historiography, literature, politics, and music. Many aspects of Swedish academic culture in general, such as the white student cap
, originated in Uppsala. It shares some peculiarities, such as the student nation system, with Lund University
and the University of Helsinki
.
Uppsala belongs to the Coimbra Group
of European universities. The university has nine faculties distributed over three 'disciplinary domains'. It has about 20 000 full-time students, and about 2,000 doctoral students. It has a teaching staff of 4,000 (part-time and full-time) out of a total of 6,000 employees. Of its annual turnover of around 4.3 billion SEK (approx. 715 million USD), approximately 60% goes to graduate studies and research.
Architecturally, Uppsala University has traditionally had a strong presence in the area around the cathedral
on the western side of the River Fyris
. Despite some more contemporary building developments further away from the centre, Uppsala's historic centre continues to be dominated by the presence of the university.
had been one of the most important sees
in Sweden proper
since Christianity first spread to this region in the ninth century. Uppsala had also long been a hub for regional trade, and had contained settlements dating back into the deep Middle Ages. As was also the case with most medieval universities, Uppsala had initially been chartered through a papal bull
. Uppsala's bull, which granted the university its corporate rights, was issued by Pope Sixtus IV in 1477, and established a number of provisions. Among the most important of these was that the university was officially given the same freedoms and privileges as the University of Bologna
. This included the right to establish the four traditional faculties of theology
, law
(Canon Law
and Roman law
), medicine
, and philosophy
, and to award the bachelors, masters, licentiate, and doctorate degrees. The archbishop of Uppsala was also named as the university's Chancellor
, and was charged with maintaining the rights and privileges of the university and its members.
resulted in a drop in the already relatively insignificant number of students in Uppsala, which was seen as a center of Catholicism and of potential disloyalty to the Crown. Swedish students generally travelled to one of the Protestant universities in Germany, especially Wittenberg. There is some evidence of academic studies in Uppsala during the 16th century; the Faculty of Theology is mentioned in a document from 1526, King Eric XIV
appointed Laurentius Petri Gothus
(later archbishop) rector of the university in 1566, and his successor and brother John III
appointed a number of professors in the period 1569–1574. At the end of the century the situation had changed, and Uppsala became a bastion of Lutheranism, which Duke Charles, the third of the sons of Gustavus Vasa to eventually become king (as Charles IX
) used to consolidate his power and eventually oust his nephew Sigismund
from the throne. The Meeting of Uppsala
in 1593 established Lutheran orthodoxy in Sweden, and Charles and the Council of state gave new privileges to the university on August 1 of the same year.
Theology still had precedence, but in the privileges of 1593, the importance of a university to educate secular servants of the state was also emphasized. Three of the seven professorial chairs which were established were in Theology; of the other four, three were in Astronomy, Physics (or general natural sciences) and Latin eloquence. A fourth chair was given to Ericus Jacobi Skinnerus, who was also appointed rector, but whose discipline was not mentioned in the charter. Of the professors, several were taken over from the Collegium Regium
in Stockholm, which had been functioning for a few years but closed in 1593. An eighth chair, in Medicine, was established in 1595 but received no appointee for several years. In 1599 the number of students was approximately 150. In 1600 the first post-reformation conferment of degrees took place. In the same year, the antiquarian and mystic Johannes Bureus
designed and engraved the seal of the university, which is today used as part of the logotype.
, were also founded during this period in various cathedral towns, notably Västerås
(the first one) in 1623. Beside Uppsala, new universities were founded in more distant parts of the Swedish Realm, the University of Dorpat
(present-day Tartu) in Estonia (1632) and the University of Åbo in Finland (1640). After the Scanian provinces were taken from Denmark, Lund University
was founded in 1666.
Instrumental in the reforms of the early 17th century Swedish state was the long-dominant Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna
, who had spent his own student days in German universities and who for the last years before his death was also chancellor of the university. King Gustavus Adolphus
showed the university a keen interest and increased the professorial chairs from eight to thirteen in 1620, and again to seventeen in 1621. In 1624 the king donated "for all eternity" all his own inherited personal property in the provinces of Uppland
and Västmanland
, some 300 farms, mills and other sources of income. The king's former private tutor, Johan Skytte
, who was made chancellor of the university in 1622, donated the Skyttean chair in Eloquence and Government which still exists. The university received a stable structure with its constitution of 1626. The head of the university was to be the chancellor
, his deputy was the "pro-chancellor" (always the archbishop
ex officio). The immediate rule was the responsibility of the consistory
, to which belonged all the professors of the university, and the rector magnificus, who was elected for a semester at the time; the latter position circulated among the professors, each of whom sometimes held it several times.
During the late 16th and early 17th centuries (and perhaps even earlier), the university was located to the old chapter house parallel to the south side of the cathedral, later renamed the Academia Carolina. In 1622-1625 a new university building was built east of the cathedral, the so-called Gustavianum, named after the reigning king. In the 1630s, the total number of students were about one thousand.
Queen Christina
was generous to the university, gave scholarships to Swedish students to study abroad and recruited foreign scholars to Uppsala chairs, among them several from the University of Strassburg
, notably the philologist Johannes Schefferus
(professor skytteanus), whose little library and museum building at S:t Eriks torg now belongs to the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala
. The Queen, who would eventually declare her abdication in the great hall of Uppsala Castle
, visited the university on many occasions; in 1652 she was present at an anatomical demonstration arranged at the castle for the young physician Olaus Rudbeck
. Rudbeck, one of several sons of Johannes Rudbeckius
, a former Uppsala professor who became Bishop of Västerås
, was sent for a year to the progressive University of Leiden in the Netherlands
. Returning in 1654, he received an assistantship in Medicine in 1655, and had already gone to work on a program of improving aspects of the university. He planted the first botanical garden
, the one which would eventually be tended by Carl Linnaeus and is kept today as a museum of 18th century botany under the name Linnaeus' Garden. With the patronage of the university chancellor Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie
, Rudbeck was made full professor in 1660, was elected rector for two terms, despite his youth, and started a revision of the work of the other professors and a building spree with himself as architect. His most significant remaining architectural work is the anatomical theatre, which was added to Gustavianum in the 1660s and crowned with the characteristic cupola for which the building is today known.
A gifted scientist, architect and engineer, Rudbeck was the dominant personality of the university in the late 17th century who laid some of the groundwork for Linnaeus and others, but he is perhaps more known today for the pseudohistorical speculations of his Atlantica, which consumed much of his later life. When large parts of Uppsala burned down in 1702, Gustavianum, which contained the university library and its many valuable manuscripts, escaped the fire; local lore has it that the aging Rudbeck stood on the roof directing the work of fighting the fire.
(1698–1765) was made a professor in 1728, the physicist and astronomer Anders Celsius
in 1729, and Carl Linnaeus was made professor of Medicine with Botany in 1741. The university was not immune to the parliamentary struggle between the parties known as the "Hats" and the "Caps", with the former having a preference for hard sciences and practical knowledge. The Hat government then in power established a chair in economics (Œconomia publica) in 1741 and called Anders Berch as its first incumbent. This was the first professorship in economics outside Germany, and possibly the third in Europe (the first chairs having been established in Halle and Frankfurt (Oder) in 1727). In 1759, following a donation, another chair in economy was established, the Borgströmian professorship in "practical economy", by which was meant the practical application of the natural sciences for economic purposes (it eventually developed into a chair for physiological botany).
There were very radical attempts at reforms which were never implemented, but important changes took place. University studies had until this time been very informal in their overall organization, with the all-purpose philosophiæ magister-degree being the only one frequently conferred and many never graduating, as there were no degree applicable to their intended area of work (and well-connected aristocratic students often not graduating as they did not need to). A few professional degrees for various purposes were introduced in 1749–1750, but the radical suggestion of binding students to a single program of study adapted to a particular profession was never implemented. The reforms of this era have been compared to those of the 1960s and 1970s (Sten Lindroth).
Although it took some time after the fire of 1702, Uppsala Cathedral
and Uppsala Castle
were both eventually restored, both by Carl Hårleman
, perhaps the most important Swedish architect of the era. He also modified Gustavianum, designed a new conservatory for Linnaeus' botanical garden and built the new Consistory house, which was to be the administrative core of the university.
Another magnificent royal donation was that of the large baroque garden of the castle, given by Gustavus III
to the university when it was obvious that the old botanical garden was insufficient. A large new conservatory was built by the architect Louis Jean Desprez
. Additional grounds adjacent to the baroque garden has since been added. The old garden of Rudbeck and Linnaeus was largely left to decay, but was reconstructed in the years between 1918 and 1923 according to the specifications of Linnaeus in his work Hortus Upsaliensis from 1745.
The first female student in Sweden was Betty Pettersson
(1838–1885), who had already worked as a private tutor for several years when she took the "studentexamen" in 1871. With a royal dispensation, she was allowed to enter university in Uppsala in 1872, the year before studies at the Philosophical faculty would actually be made generally available to women. She studied modern European languages and was the first woman in Sweden to complete an academic degree when she finished a fil. kand. in 1875. She became the first woman to be employed as a teacher in a public school for boys. The first woman in Sweden to complete a doctoral degree was Ellen Fries
(1855–1900), who entered Uppsala university in 1877 and became a Ph.D. in history in 1883. Other female students of this period includes Lydia Wahlström
(1869–1954) who later became a noted educator, activist and writer on women's emancipation and suffrage. Defending a dissertation in history in 1900, she became the second woman to finish a doctorate at a Swedish university. In 1892, she founded the Uppsala Women's Student Association, who set up spex performances and other things enjoyed by male students but from which the women were excluded at the time. The members of the Association were the first woman to wear the student caps in public, an important sign of their status. Elsa Eschelsson
(1861–1911) was the first Swedish woman to finish a law degree, and the first to become a "docent", but was not permitted to even hold the position of acting professor despite being formally qualified for this in everything but her sex. After years of conflicts with the professor of civil law A. O. Winroth and with the university board, she died in 1911 from an overdose of sleeping-powder.
According to the constitution of 1809, only "native Swedish men" could be appointed to higher civil servant positions, including professorships. This was changed in 1925, and the first woman to hold a professorial chair at Uppsala University was Gerd Enequist, appointed professor of human geography in 1949.
, with representatives of the faculties as well as members representing the students and non-academic employees (3 professors and 3 students), and a number of university outsiders appointed by the Swedish government (10 people). All these members in the consistory have the right to vote.
The unions active at the university also have three representatives in the consistory; these members have the right to speak but not any right to vote.
Since the last reorganization in 1999 the university has a separate body called the academic senate, which is a wider, but mostly advisory group representing teaching staff / researchers and students. The executive head of the university is the rector magnificus (that also have the title "vice-chancellor"), whose deputy is the prorector. In addition, there are (also since 1999) three vice rectors, each heading one of the three "disciplinary domains" (Arts and Social Sciences, Medicine and Pharmacy, and Science and Technology), into which the nine faculties are divided. Each faculty has a faculty board and is headed by a dean
(dekanus). The position of dean is held part-time by a professor of the faculty.
Organizational chart
.
The most widely recognized building of the university library
is Carolina Rediviva
, the "revived Carolina", thus named in reference to Academia Carolina (see illustration), which held the university library from the earliest times until 1691, when it was moved to the upper floor of Gustavianum, where it miraculously survived the great city fire of 1702. In the mid-18th century, there were plans to move it back to the Academia Carolina or a new building on the same spot. The building was demolished in 1778 to make place for a new library, but this was never built and the area next to the cathedral where it stood is today a lawn. The present Carolina Rediviva was built in a different place and completed in 1841.
The present university library system comprises 19 branches, including the one in the Carolina building.
The university hospital is actually older than the university, as it goes back to the earliest hospital, founded in Uppsala in 1302, much later merged with the university clinic. This was used for 400 years until the great fire of 1702 which destroyed large parts of central Uppsala. A new hospital, which later became the Uppsala county hospital, was built in its place, but was moved out of the town in 1811.
_-_university_hospital.jpg)
The first clinic with the specific intention to facilitate the practical education of medical students was the Nosocomium Academicum, founded in 1708 and located to the Oxenstierna Palace at Riddartorget beside the cathedral (see illustration above). The building (the former residence of the President of the Royal Chancellery Bengt Gabrielsson Oxenstierna
) today houses the Faculty of Law.
The present Akademiska sjukhuset was founded in 1850 as an organizational merger of the county hospital and the university clinic, and a new building was inaugurated in 1867 on the hill below Uppsala Castle
to the southeast. From this building, which is still in use, the present hospital complex has grown.
crisis
since at least late July 2010 to the current date. Both native Swedes and foreign students are finding it increasingly difficult to find accommodation while enrolled in the university. Though the university insists with enough work, students will find places to live, it is mathematically impossible to accommodate the amount of people with the amount of rooms in the city. Many students have been critical of the university, suggesting that had the university been more honest about the housing crisis, they would have elected to study elsewhere. Since being rewarded a room in the first hand usually takes 2-3 years in the queue systems, any Swedes who decide to come to Uppsala at the last minute or masters students from abroad will likely rely on temporary second hand rental opportunities, or moving into an open room with a complete stranger. Lack of availability of permanent accommodation easily limits the quality of education for many students at the university. Many are forced to live in upwards of 4-6 different addresses during a given school year as well as spend periods on couches or floors between addresses. To avoid these difficult situations, searching for accommodation can easily become a student's primary responsibility and academic work can end up being reduced or completely ignored.
University Park and Cathedral area
West of Central Uppsala
Other locations in wider Central Uppsala
South of central Uppsala
North of Central Uppsala
Up until June 2010 students at Uppsala University were obliged to become members of one of the nation
s, corporations of students traditionally according to province of origin (not strictly upheld now, for practical reasons). The system of dividing students into nations according to origin can ultimately be traced back to the nations at the medieval University of Paris
and other early medieval universities, but the Uppsala nations appear only about 1630–1640, most likely under influence of the Landsmannschaften which existed at some of the German universities visited by Swedish students. In Sweden, nations exist only in Uppsala and Lund
. The nations were originally seen as subversive organisations promoting less virtuous aspects of student life, but in 1663 the consistory
made membership in a nation legal, each nation being placed under the inspectorship of a professor.
The current thirteen nations all have a history stretching back to the early-to-mid 17th century, but some of them are the result of mergers of older, smaller nations that took place in the early 19th century to facilitate the financing of building projects.
Nations at Uppsala University:
Since the 1960s there is a fourteenth nation, the Skånelandens nation (referring to the Scanian lands) which has no membership fee and exists as a legal fiction to get around the compulsory membership for students who prefer not to become affiliated with the traditional nations.
The Uppsala Student Union
was founded in 1849 as a corporation representing all students except those attending the faculty of Pharmacy, irrespective of nation. The student at the faculty of Pharmacy were also exempt from the compulsory membership in the nations, but most pharmacy-students belonged to one. However they were obliged to take up membership in the Pharmaceutical Association of Uppsala Students, an organisation having the same role as the nations and the student union at the rest of the university.
The compulsory membership in a student union was abolished July 1, 2010, but the unions will still be the representing organisations in the university boards and committees.
was founded in 1627. Its main purpose is to play at academic ceremonies, but holds concerts on other occasions as well. Its leader has the title of director musices. The position has been held by composers such as Wilhelm Stenhammar
, Hugo Alfvén
and Lars-Erik Larsson
. Affiliated with the University are three choirs, the mixed Uppsala University Choir (Allmänna Sången), founded in 1830, the male choir Orphei Drängar
, founded in 1853, and the Academy Chamber Choir of Uppsala, founded in 1957. A number of other choirs and orchestras are affiliated with the nations.
An important name in the recent history of the choirs is Eric Ericson
, who was conductor of both Orphei Drängar and the Chamber Choir. In honour of Ericson, the FöreningsSparbanken
endowed the Eric Ericson Chair in Choral Directing, and the Uppsala University Choral Centre was inaugurated in 2000. The centre arranges courses in choral directing.http://www.korcentrum.uu.se/historik.html#eng
, fencing, dance
, drawing
and modern languages such as French
and Italian
. The initiative came from Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna
, who saw the value in a well-educated class of civil servants and the danger to his own class if its members would fall behind in academic education compared to those students who came from the lower estates. An "exercise yard", built for the riding and fencing exercises, was demolished in the late 19th century to give place to the new University Hall. The modern languages were made part of the regular academic curriculum in the 19th century; the surviving "exercises"http://www.uu.se/Adresser/SI371.html are:
, "Uppsala Swimming Society", which is the oldest swimming club in the world, was founded in 1796 by the mathematician Jöns Svanberg. It had no formal connection to the university, but all its earliest members came from academic life. Svanberg even arranged a mock graduation ceremony, a simpromotion, in parody of the university ceremonies, where those who had graduated from its swimming training were awarded "degrees" of master (magister) and bachelor (kandidat). These degrees stuck, and Swedish swimming schools still use these degrees for different levels of swimming skills.
An attempt was made in the 1870s to introduce academic rowing after the Oxbridge
model. The Stockholm Nation acquired a rowing boat in 1877, soon followed by the Gothenburg Nation, and for a number of years rowing competitions were held between teams from the two nations. Although rowing never got the strong position it has at the English universities, an annual Uppsala-Lund regatta has been arranged since 1992, between rowing teams from Uppsala and Lund University
. The race is held on the Fyris River in Uppsala on even years, and on a river in the vicinity of Lund on odd years. Each year there is at least one full eight crew with cox competing, with both men's and women's teams present. With the recent victory for Uppsala in 2005, the score stands 24 - 23 in Uppsala's favor.
and the Nordplus programme. Uppsala University has signed university-wide student exchange programmes with the following universities (selection): University of Sydney
, Australia
University of Melbourne
, Australia McGill University
, Canada
Queen's University
, Canada
University of Toronto
, Canada University of Victoria
, Canada
York University
, Canada University of Alberta
, Canada Fudan University
, China
Peking University
, China University of Copenhagen
, Denmark
University of Tartu
, Estonia
University of Helsinki
, Helsinki
University of Poitiers
, France
Paris-Sorbonne University, France
Grenoble Ecole de Management
, France
University of Freiburg
, Germany
University of Heidelberg, Germany
Technical University Munich, Germany
National University of Ireland
, Ireland
University of Siena
, Italy
Kyoto University
, Japan
Waseda University
, Japan University of Groningen
, Netherlands
Leiden University
, Netherlands
University of Auckland
, New Zealand
University of Oslo
, Norway
Jagiellonian University
, Poland
Complutense University of Madrid
, Spain
University of Granada
, Spain University of Edinburgh
, Scotland
, United Kingdom
University College London
, England
, United Kingdom Cornell University
, United States
Harvard University
, United States University of Cape Town
, South Africa
University of Lausanne
, Switzerland
Uppsala University is a member of the Coimbra Group
of universities.
In May 2010 Uppsala joined the Matariki Network of Universities
(MNU) together with Dartmouth College
(USA), Durham University
(UK), Queen’s University (Canada), University of Otago
(New Zealand), University of Tübingen (Germany) and University of Western Australia
(Australia).
Uppsala University is associated with 8 Nobel Prize
laureates, and numerous royalty, academics and public figures.
As the dominant academic institution in Sweden for several centuries, Uppsala University has ever since its first period of expansion in the early part of the 17th century educated a large proportion of Swedish politicians and civil servants, from 17th century Chancellor of the Realm (rikskansler) Johan Oxenstierna
(1611–1657) and Lord Chief Justice (riksdrots) Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie
(1622–1686) to the first Social Democratic Prime Minister of Sweden
, Hjalmar Branting
(1860–1925) and many later politicians. Other alumni are Dag Hammarskjöld
(1905–1961), UN Secretary General who was (posthumously) awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1961, and the Swedish diplomat Hans Blix
(b. 1928), who was Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency
1981-1997, of the UNMOVIC 2000-2003, and previously Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs 1978–1979. Hammarskjöld and Blix both graduated from the Uppsala Faculty of Law, as did the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Anna Lindh
, who was assassinated in 2003.
Most Swedish clergymen, including most bishops and archbishops, have been educated at the university, including, in more recent times, Nathan Söderblom
(1866–1931), Professor of the History of Religions in the Faculty of Theology, later Archbishop of Uppsala
, and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1930 for his work as leader of the ecumenical
movement.
The university became prominent in the sciences in the 18th century with names such as the physician and botanist Carolus Linnaeus
(1707–1778), the father of taxonomy
, and his numerous important pupils, the physicist and astronomer Anders Celsius
(1701–1744), inventor of the centigrade scale the predecessor of the Celsius scale, and the chemist Torbern Bergman
(1735–1784). Another scientist from this era is Emanuel Swedenborg
(1688–1772), better remembered today as a religious mystic. Several of the elements were discovered by Uppsala scientists during this period or later. Jöns Jakob Berzelius
, considered one of the fathers of modern chemistry, received his doctorate in medicine in Uppsala in 1804, but later moved to Stockholm. Uppsala scientists of the 19th century include the physicist Anders Jonas Ångström
(1814–1874). During the 20th century several Nobel laureates
in the sciences have been Uppsala alumni or professors at the university.
Many well-known Swedish writers have studied in Uppsala: Georg Stiernhielm
(1698–1672) is often called the father of Swedish poetry. The poet and song composer Carl Michael Bellman
(1740–1795), without doubt the best-loved and best-remembered of Swedish 18th century poets, matriculated but left the university after less than a year. The writer, historian and composer Erik Gustaf Geijer
(1783–1847), professor of history, and the poet Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom
(1790–1855), professor of poetry, were principal figures of early 19th century Swedish romanticism. The less than happy experiences of the Uppsala student life of novelist and playwright August Strindberg
(1849–1912), resulted in his Från Fjärdingen och Svartbäcken (1877), a collection of short stories set in Uppsala ("From Fjärdingen and Svartbäcken", the title refers to two districts in Uppsala). Other Uppsala alumni are the poet Erik Axel Karlfeldt
(1864–1931), who refused the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1918, but received it posthumously in 1931, the novelist and playwright Pär Lagerkvist
(1891–1974), Nobel laureate in 1951, and the poet and novelist Karin Boye
(1900–1941), for whom one branch of the university library has been named. The Communist leader Ture Nerman
(1886–1969) wrote a novel called Olympen, based on his experience as a student in Uppsala. Niklas Zennström
, co-founder of KaZaA
and Skype
is also a former student at Uppsala University. On August 15, 2008 Zennström donated 15 million SEK
to Uppsala University for climate research. The late Jan Stenbeck
, a Nordic media mogul who controlled Modern Times Group
, was also an alumnus of Uppsala University.
, Uppsala is the historic and traditional centre of Swedish academic life, making it a popular object of reference in Swedish literature, art, and film. Specifically, Uppsala University has appeared notably in Män som hatar kvinnor or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
.
The Norwegian pop singer Kirsti Sparboe
dedicated one of her biggest successes to Uppsala University, publishing in 1969 the song "Ein Student aus Uppsala". The song, originally written in German, lasted 14 weeks in the German charts.
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
in Uppsala
Uppsala
- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, and is the oldest university in Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
, founded in 1477. It consistently ranks among the best universities in Northern Europe
Northern Europe
Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. Northern Europe typically refers to the seven countries in the northern part of the European subcontinent which includes Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden...
in international rankings and is generally considered one of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
The university rose to pronounced significance during the rise of Sweden as a great power
Swedish Empire
The Swedish Empire refers to the Kingdom of Sweden between 1561 and 1721 . During this time, Sweden was one of the great European powers. In Swedish, the period is called Stormaktstiden, literally meaning "the Great Power Era"...
at the end of the 16th century and was then given a relative financial stability with the large donation of King Gustavus Adolphus
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
Gustav II Adolf has been widely known in English by his Latinized name Gustavus Adolphus Magnus and variously in historical writings also as Gustavus, or Gustavus the Great, or Gustav Adolph the Great,...
in the early 17th century. Uppsala also has an important historical place in Swedish national culture, identity and for the Swedish establishment: in historiography, literature, politics, and music. Many aspects of Swedish academic culture in general, such as the white student cap
Student cap
In various European countries, student caps of different types are or have been worn, either as a marker of a common identity, as is the case in the Nordic countries, or to identify the bearer as member of a smaller corporation within the larger group of students, as is the case with the caps worn...
, originated in Uppsala. It shares some peculiarities, such as the student nation system, with Lund University
Lund University
Lund University , located in the city of Lund in the province of Scania, Sweden, is one of northern Europe's most prestigious universities and one of Scandinavia's largest institutions for education and research, frequently ranked among the world's top 100 universities...
and the University of Helsinki
University of Helsinki
The University of Helsinki is a university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but was founded in the city of Turku in 1640 as The Royal Academy of Turku, at that time part of the Swedish Empire. It is the oldest and largest university in Finland with the widest range of disciplines available...
.
Uppsala belongs to the Coimbra Group
Coimbra Group
The Coimbra Group is a network of 40 European universities, some among the oldest and most prestigious in Europe. It was founded in 1985 and formally constituted by charter in 1987....
of European universities. The university has nine faculties distributed over three 'disciplinary domains'. It has about 20 000 full-time students, and about 2,000 doctoral students. It has a teaching staff of 4,000 (part-time and full-time) out of a total of 6,000 employees. Of its annual turnover of around 4.3 billion SEK (approx. 715 million USD), approximately 60% goes to graduate studies and research.
Architecturally, Uppsala University has traditionally had a strong presence in the area around the cathedral
Uppsala Cathedral
Uppsala Cathedral is a cathedral located centrally in the city of Uppsala, Sweden. It dates back to the late 13th century and at a height of 118.7 m is the tallest church building in Scandinavia. Originally built under Roman Catholicism and used for coronations of the Swedish monarch, since the...
on the western side of the River Fyris
Fyris
Fyrisån is a river in the Swedish province of Uppland, which passes through the city of Uppsala and ends in Lake Mälaren....
. Despite some more contemporary building developments further away from the centre, Uppsala's historic centre continues to be dominated by the presence of the university.
15th century: origins
As with most medieval universities, Uppsala University initially grew out of an ecclesiastical center. The archbishopric of UppsalaArchbishop of Uppsala
The Archbishop of Uppsala has been the primate in Sweden in an unbroken succession since 1164, first during the Catholic era, and from the 1530s and onward under the Lutheran church.- Historical overview :...
had been one of the most important sees
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
in Sweden proper
Sweden proper
Sweden proper, , is a term used to distinguish those territories that were fully integrated into the Kingdom of Sweden, as opposed to the dominions and possessions of, or states in union with, Sweden....
since Christianity first spread to this region in the ninth century. Uppsala had also long been a hub for regional trade, and had contained settlements dating back into the deep Middle Ages. As was also the case with most medieval universities, Uppsala had initially been chartered through a papal bull
Papal bull
A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....
. Uppsala's bull, which granted the university its corporate rights, was issued by Pope Sixtus IV in 1477, and established a number of provisions. Among the most important of these was that the university was officially given the same freedoms and privileges as the University of Bologna
University of Bologna
The Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating university in the world, the word 'universitas' being first used by this institution at its foundation. The true date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088...
. This included the right to establish the four traditional faculties of theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
, law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
(Canon Law
Canon law (Catholic Church)
The canon law of the Catholic Church, is a fully developed legal system, with all the necessary elements: courts, lawyers, judges, a fully articulated legal code and principles of legal interpretation. It lacks the necessary binding force present in most modern day legal systems. The academic...
and Roman law
Roman law
Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, and the legal developments which occurred before the 7th century AD — when the Roman–Byzantine state adopted Greek as the language of government. The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of jurisprudence — from the Twelve...
), medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, and philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, and to award the bachelors, masters, licentiate, and doctorate degrees. The archbishop of Uppsala was also named as the university's Chancellor
Chancellor (education)
A chancellor or vice-chancellor is the chief executive of a university. Other titles are sometimes used, such as president or rector....
, and was charged with maintaining the rights and privileges of the university and its members.
16th century: turbulent times
The turbulent period of the reformation of King Gustavus VasaGustavus Vasa
Gustavus Vasa may refer to:* King Gustav I of Sweden* The play Gustavus Vasa by Henry Brooke, first English play to be banned under the Licensing Act 1737* Alternate name of Olaudah Equiano, African ex-slave living in 18th century Britain...
resulted in a drop in the already relatively insignificant number of students in Uppsala, which was seen as a center of Catholicism and of potential disloyalty to the Crown. Swedish students generally travelled to one of the Protestant universities in Germany, especially Wittenberg. There is some evidence of academic studies in Uppsala during the 16th century; the Faculty of Theology is mentioned in a document from 1526, King Eric XIV
Eric XIV of Sweden
-Family and descendants:Eric XIV had several relationships before his marriage. With Agda Persdotter he had four daughters:#Margareta Eriksdotter , married 1592 to Olov Simonsson, vicar of Horn....
appointed Laurentius Petri Gothus
Laurentius Petri Gothus
Laurentius Petri Gothus was the second Swedish Lutheran Archbishop of Uppsala, Sweden, 1575-1579.He was born in 1529 or 1530 in the province Östergötland, from where the name Gothus is derived as the means of separating him from his predecessor as archbishop, Laurentius Petri Nericius.He was a...
(later archbishop) rector of the university in 1566, and his successor and brother John III
John III of Sweden
-Family:John married his first wife, Catherine Jagellonica of Poland , house of Jagiello, in Vilnius on 4 October 1562. In Sweden, she is known as Katarina Jagellonica. She was the sister of king Sigismund II Augustus of Poland...
appointed a number of professors in the period 1569–1574. At the end of the century the situation had changed, and Uppsala became a bastion of Lutheranism, which Duke Charles, the third of the sons of Gustavus Vasa to eventually become king (as Charles IX
Charles IX of Sweden
Charles IX of Sweden also Carl, was King of Sweden from 1604 until his death. He was the youngest son of King Gustav I of Sweden and his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud, brother of Eric XIV and John III of Sweden, and uncle of Sigismund III Vasa king of both Sweden and Poland...
) used to consolidate his power and eventually oust his nephew Sigismund
Sigismund III Vasa
Sigismund III Vasa was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, a monarch of the united Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1587 to 1632, and King of Sweden from 1592 until he was deposed in 1599...
from the throne. The Meeting of Uppsala
Uppsala Synod
The Uppsala Synod in 1593 was the most important synod of the Lutheran Church of Sweden. Sweden had gone through its Protestant Reformation and broken with Roman Catholicism in the 1520s, but an official confession of faith had never been declared....
in 1593 established Lutheran orthodoxy in Sweden, and Charles and the Council of state gave new privileges to the university on August 1 of the same year.
Theology still had precedence, but in the privileges of 1593, the importance of a university to educate secular servants of the state was also emphasized. Three of the seven professorial chairs which were established were in Theology; of the other four, three were in Astronomy, Physics (or general natural sciences) and Latin eloquence. A fourth chair was given to Ericus Jacobi Skinnerus, who was also appointed rector, but whose discipline was not mentioned in the charter. Of the professors, several were taken over from the Collegium Regium
Collegium Regium Stockholmense
The Collegium Regium Stockholmense was an institution of higher, mostly theological, education founded by King John III of Sweden in 1576 and functioned until 1593.Married to a Polish princess, John III had Roman Catholic leanings, and the college, which was to...
in Stockholm, which had been functioning for a few years but closed in 1593. An eighth chair, in Medicine, was established in 1595 but received no appointee for several years. In 1599 the number of students was approximately 150. In 1600 the first post-reformation conferment of degrees took place. In the same year, the antiquarian and mystic Johannes Bureus
Johannes Bureus
Johannes Thomae Bureus Agrivillensis was a Swedish antiquarian, polymath and mystic. He was royal librarian, tutor, and adviser of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden....
designed and engraved the seal of the university, which is today used as part of the logotype.
17th century: time of expansion
The medieval university had mainly been a school for theology. The aspirations of the emergent new great power of Sweden demanded a different kind of learning. Sweden both grew through conquests and went through a complete overhaul of its administrative structure. It required a much larger class of civil servants and educators than before. Preparatory schools, gymnasiumsGymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
, were also founded during this period in various cathedral towns, notably Västerås
Västerås
Västerås is a city in central Sweden, located on the shore of Lake Mälaren in the province Västmanland, some 100 km west of Stockholm...
(the first one) in 1623. Beside Uppsala, new universities were founded in more distant parts of the Swedish Realm, the University of Dorpat
University of Tartu
The University of Tartu is a classical university in the city of Tartu, Estonia. University of Tartu is the national university of Estonia; it is the biggest and highest-ranked university in Estonia...
(present-day Tartu) in Estonia (1632) and the University of Åbo in Finland (1640). After the Scanian provinces were taken from Denmark, Lund University
Lund University
Lund University , located in the city of Lund in the province of Scania, Sweden, is one of northern Europe's most prestigious universities and one of Scandinavia's largest institutions for education and research, frequently ranked among the world's top 100 universities...
was founded in 1666.
Instrumental in the reforms of the early 17th century Swedish state was the long-dominant Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna
Axel Oxenstierna
Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna af Södermöre , Count of Södermöre, was a Swedish statesman. He became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1609 and served as Lord High Chancellor of Sweden from 1612 until his death. He was a confidant of first Gustavus Adolphus and then Queen Christina.Oxenstierna...
, who had spent his own student days in German universities and who for the last years before his death was also chancellor of the university. King Gustavus Adolphus
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
Gustav II Adolf has been widely known in English by his Latinized name Gustavus Adolphus Magnus and variously in historical writings also as Gustavus, or Gustavus the Great, or Gustav Adolph the Great,...
showed the university a keen interest and increased the professorial chairs from eight to thirteen in 1620, and again to seventeen in 1621. In 1624 the king donated "for all eternity" all his own inherited personal property in the provinces of Uppland
Uppland
Uppland is a historical province or landskap on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic sea...
and Västmanland
Västmanland
' is a historical Swedish province, or landskap, in middle Sweden. It borders Södermanland, Närke, Värmland, Dalarna and Uppland.The name comes from "West men", referring to the people west of Uppland, the core province of early Sweden.- Administration :...
, some 300 farms, mills and other sources of income. The king's former private tutor, Johan Skytte
Johan Skytte
Johan Skytte was a Swedish politician.Skytte was son of the Mayor of Nyköping, Bengt Nilsson Skräddare...
, who was made chancellor of the university in 1622, donated the Skyttean chair in Eloquence and Government which still exists. The university received a stable structure with its constitution of 1626. The head of the university was to be the chancellor
Chancellor of Uppsala University
The Chancellor of Uppsala University was from 1622 to 1893 the head of the University of Uppsala, although in most academic and practical day-to-day matters it was run by the consistory or board, and its chairman, the Rector magnificus.There appears to have been a position as chancellor of the...
, his deputy was the "pro-chancellor" (always the archbishop
Archbishop of Uppsala
The Archbishop of Uppsala has been the primate in Sweden in an unbroken succession since 1164, first during the Catholic era, and from the 1530s and onward under the Lutheran church.- Historical overview :...
ex officio). The immediate rule was the responsibility of the consistory
Consistory
-Antiquity:Originally, the Latin word consistorium meant simply 'sitting together', just as the Greek synedrion ....
, to which belonged all the professors of the university, and the rector magnificus, who was elected for a semester at the time; the latter position circulated among the professors, each of whom sometimes held it several times.
During the late 16th and early 17th centuries (and perhaps even earlier), the university was located to the old chapter house parallel to the south side of the cathedral, later renamed the Academia Carolina. In 1622-1625 a new university building was built east of the cathedral, the so-called Gustavianum, named after the reigning king. In the 1630s, the total number of students were about one thousand.
Queen Christina
Christina of Sweden
Christina , later adopted the name Christina Alexandra, was Queen regnant of Swedes, Goths and Vandals, Grand Princess of Finland, and Duchess of Ingria, Estonia, Livonia and Karelia, from 1633 to 1654. She was the only surviving legitimate child of King Gustav II Adolph and his wife Maria Eleonora...
was generous to the university, gave scholarships to Swedish students to study abroad and recruited foreign scholars to Uppsala chairs, among them several from the University of Strassburg
University of Strasbourg
The University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, is the largest university in France, with about 43,000 students and over 4,000 researchers....
, notably the philologist Johannes Schefferus
Johannes Schefferus
Johannes Schefferus was one of the most important Swedish humanists of his time.Schefferus was born in Strasbourg, then part of the Holy Roman Empire...
(professor skytteanus), whose little library and museum building at S:t Eriks torg now belongs to the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala
Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala
The Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala , is the oldest of the royal academies in Sweden. The society has, by royal decree of 1906, 50 Swedish fellows and 100 foreign....
. The Queen, who would eventually declare her abdication in the great hall of Uppsala Castle
Uppsala Castle
Uppsala Castle is a 16th century royal castle in the historical city of Uppsala, Sweden. Throughout much of its early history, the castle played a major role in the history of Sweden....
, visited the university on many occasions; in 1652 she was present at an anatomical demonstration arranged at the castle for the young physician Olaus Rudbeck
Olaus Rudbeck
Olaus Rudbeck was a Swedish scientist and writer, professor of medicine at Uppsala University and for several periods rector magnificus of the same university...
. Rudbeck, one of several sons of Johannes Rudbeckius
Johannes Rudbeckius
Johannes Rudbeckius or Johannes Rudbeck , bishop at Västerås, Sweden, from 1619 until his death, and personal chaplain to King Gustavus II Adolphus ....
, a former Uppsala professor who became Bishop of Västerås
Diocese of Västerås
Attribution The entry cites:**Historiskt-geographiskt och statistiskt Lexikon ofver Sverige, VII , 316-18;**FANT, Scriptores rerum Svecicarum ;...
, was sent for a year to the progressive University of Leiden in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. Returning in 1654, he received an assistantship in Medicine in 1655, and had already gone to work on a program of improving aspects of the university. He planted the first botanical garden
Botanical garden
A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...
, the one which would eventually be tended by Carl Linnaeus and is kept today as a museum of 18th century botany under the name Linnaeus' Garden. With the patronage of the university chancellor Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie
Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie
Count Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie was a Swedish statesman and military man. He became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1647 and came to be the holder of three of the five offices counted as the Great Officers of the Realm, namely Lord High Treasurer, Lord High Chancellor and Lord High...
, Rudbeck was made full professor in 1660, was elected rector for two terms, despite his youth, and started a revision of the work of the other professors and a building spree with himself as architect. His most significant remaining architectural work is the anatomical theatre, which was added to Gustavianum in the 1660s and crowned with the characteristic cupola for which the building is today known.
A gifted scientist, architect and engineer, Rudbeck was the dominant personality of the university in the late 17th century who laid some of the groundwork for Linnaeus and others, but he is perhaps more known today for the pseudohistorical speculations of his Atlantica, which consumed much of his later life. When large parts of Uppsala burned down in 1702, Gustavianum, which contained the university library and its many valuable manuscripts, escaped the fire; local lore has it that the aging Rudbeck stood on the roof directing the work of fighting the fire.
18th century: enlightenment and mercantilism
The early part of the 18th century was still characterized by the combination of Lutheran orthodoxy and classical philology of the previous century, but eventually a larger emphasis on sciences and practically useful knowledge developed. The innovative mathematician and physicist Samuel KlingenstiernaSamuel Klingenstierna
Samuel Klingenstierna was a very renowned Swedish mathematician and scientist. He started his career as a lawyer but soon moved to natural philosophy. He was the first to enunciate errors in Newton's theories of refraction, geometrical notes that were used by John Dollond in his experiments...
(1698–1765) was made a professor in 1728, the physicist and astronomer Anders Celsius
Anders Celsius
Anders Celsius was a Swedish astronomer. He was professor of astronomy at Uppsala University from 1730 to 1744, but traveled from 1732 to 1735 visiting notable observatories in Germany, Italy and France. He founded the Uppsala Astronomical Observatory in 1741, and in 1742 he proposed the Celsius...
in 1729, and Carl Linnaeus was made professor of Medicine with Botany in 1741. The university was not immune to the parliamentary struggle between the parties known as the "Hats" and the "Caps", with the former having a preference for hard sciences and practical knowledge. The Hat government then in power established a chair in economics (Œconomia publica) in 1741 and called Anders Berch as its first incumbent. This was the first professorship in economics outside Germany, and possibly the third in Europe (the first chairs having been established in Halle and Frankfurt (Oder) in 1727). In 1759, following a donation, another chair in economy was established, the Borgströmian professorship in "practical economy", by which was meant the practical application of the natural sciences for economic purposes (it eventually developed into a chair for physiological botany).
There were very radical attempts at reforms which were never implemented, but important changes took place. University studies had until this time been very informal in their overall organization, with the all-purpose philosophiæ magister-degree being the only one frequently conferred and many never graduating, as there were no degree applicable to their intended area of work (and well-connected aristocratic students often not graduating as they did not need to). A few professional degrees for various purposes were introduced in 1749–1750, but the radical suggestion of binding students to a single program of study adapted to a particular profession was never implemented. The reforms of this era have been compared to those of the 1960s and 1970s (Sten Lindroth).
Although it took some time after the fire of 1702, Uppsala Cathedral
Uppsala Cathedral
Uppsala Cathedral is a cathedral located centrally in the city of Uppsala, Sweden. It dates back to the late 13th century and at a height of 118.7 m is the tallest church building in Scandinavia. Originally built under Roman Catholicism and used for coronations of the Swedish monarch, since the...
and Uppsala Castle
Uppsala Castle
Uppsala Castle is a 16th century royal castle in the historical city of Uppsala, Sweden. Throughout much of its early history, the castle played a major role in the history of Sweden....
were both eventually restored, both by Carl Hårleman
Carl Hårleman
Baron Carl Hårleman was a Swedish architect.Hårleman was born in Stockholm, son of the garden architect and head of the royal parks and gardens Johan Hårleman, who hade been ennobled in 1698, and began his architectural training under Göran Josua Adelcrantz...
, perhaps the most important Swedish architect of the era. He also modified Gustavianum, designed a new conservatory for Linnaeus' botanical garden and built the new Consistory house, which was to be the administrative core of the university.
Another magnificent royal donation was that of the large baroque garden of the castle, given by Gustavus III
Gustav III of Sweden
Gustav III was King of Sweden from 1771 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Adolph Frederick and Queen Louise Ulrica of Sweden, she a sister of Frederick the Great of Prussia....
to the university when it was obvious that the old botanical garden was insufficient. A large new conservatory was built by the architect Louis Jean Desprez
Louis Jean Desprez
Louis Jean Desprez ca 1743–18 March 1804 was a French painter and architect who worked in Sweden during the last twenty years of his life....
. Additional grounds adjacent to the baroque garden has since been added. The old garden of Rudbeck and Linnaeus was largely left to decay, but was reconstructed in the years between 1918 and 1923 according to the specifications of Linnaeus in his work Hortus Upsaliensis from 1745.
Women at the university
The issue of women's right to study at universities was raised during the very last session of the estate parliament in 1865 in a motion from Carl Johan Svensén, a member of the farmers' estate. The reception was mixed, with the most negative views coming from the clergy. In the following years the issue continued to be debated at the universities. In 1870, it was decided to let women take the secondary school examination ("studentexamen") that gave the right to entry at universities and the right to study and complete degrees at the faculties of Medicine in Uppsala and Lund and at the Caroline Institute of Medicine and Surgery in Stockholm. A common view was that the female sensitivity and compassion would make women capable of working as physicians, but her right to work was still restricted to private practice. Women's rights to higher education was extended in 1873, when all degrees except those in the faculties of theology and the licentiate degree in Law were made accessible for women.The first female student in Sweden was Betty Pettersson
Betty Pettersson
Betty Pettersson was a Swedish teacher. She became the first official female university student in Sweden in 1871...
(1838–1885), who had already worked as a private tutor for several years when she took the "studentexamen" in 1871. With a royal dispensation, she was allowed to enter university in Uppsala in 1872, the year before studies at the Philosophical faculty would actually be made generally available to women. She studied modern European languages and was the first woman in Sweden to complete an academic degree when she finished a fil. kand. in 1875. She became the first woman to be employed as a teacher in a public school for boys. The first woman in Sweden to complete a doctoral degree was Ellen Fries
Ellen Fries
Ellen Fries was a Swedish feminist and writer. She became the first female Ph.D. in Sweden in 1883.- Biography :...
(1855–1900), who entered Uppsala university in 1877 and became a Ph.D. in history in 1883. Other female students of this period includes Lydia Wahlström
Lydia Wahlström
Lydia Katarina Wahlström , was a Swedish historian, author and feminist. She was one of the founders of the Swedish Society for Woman Suffrage and its chairman 1907-1911....
(1869–1954) who later became a noted educator, activist and writer on women's emancipation and suffrage. Defending a dissertation in history in 1900, she became the second woman to finish a doctorate at a Swedish university. In 1892, she founded the Uppsala Women's Student Association, who set up spex performances and other things enjoyed by male students but from which the women were excluded at the time. The members of the Association were the first woman to wear the student caps in public, an important sign of their status. Elsa Eschelsson
Elsa Eschelsson
Elsa Olava Kristina Eschelsson was the first woman to finish a Doctor of Laws degree and the first to attain the academic position of docent at a Swedish university, but was denied the right to even serve as acting professor because of her sex...
(1861–1911) was the first Swedish woman to finish a law degree, and the first to become a "docent", but was not permitted to even hold the position of acting professor despite being formally qualified for this in everything but her sex. After years of conflicts with the professor of civil law A. O. Winroth and with the university board, she died in 1911 from an overdose of sleeping-powder.
According to the constitution of 1809, only "native Swedish men" could be appointed to higher civil servant positions, including professorships. This was changed in 1925, and the first woman to hold a professorial chair at Uppsala University was Gerd Enequist, appointed professor of human geography in 1949.
Central administration
The governing board of the university is the consistoryConsistory
-Antiquity:Originally, the Latin word consistorium meant simply 'sitting together', just as the Greek synedrion ....
, with representatives of the faculties as well as members representing the students and non-academic employees (3 professors and 3 students), and a number of university outsiders appointed by the Swedish government (10 people). All these members in the consistory have the right to vote.
The unions active at the university also have three representatives in the consistory; these members have the right to speak but not any right to vote.
Since the last reorganization in 1999 the university has a separate body called the academic senate, which is a wider, but mostly advisory group representing teaching staff / researchers and students. The executive head of the university is the rector magnificus (that also have the title "vice-chancellor"), whose deputy is the prorector. In addition, there are (also since 1999) three vice rectors, each heading one of the three "disciplinary domains" (Arts and Social Sciences, Medicine and Pharmacy, and Science and Technology), into which the nine faculties are divided. Each faculty has a faculty board and is headed by a dean
Dean (education)
In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...
(dekanus). The position of dean is held part-time by a professor of the faculty.
Faculties
Through division of faculties and the addition of a previously independent school of Pharmacy as a new faculty, the traditional four-faculty organization of European universities has evolved into the present nine faculties:- The disciplinary domain of Arts and Social Sciences includes the Faculty of Arts*, the Faculty of Social Sciences*, the Faculty of Languages*, the Faculty of Theology, the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Educational Sciences (formerly the Department of Education, that was raised to the status of a faculty in its own right in 2002).
- The disciplinary domain of Medicine and Pharmacy includes the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Pharmacy. The Faculty of Pharmacy was originally an independent "royal institute" in Stockholm, which was moved to Uppsala and incorporated with the university between 1968-1972.
- The disciplinary domain of Science and Technology includes only the Faculty of Science and Technology.* The engineering programs have from 1982 been marketed as the Uppsala School of Engineering (Uppsala Tekniska Högskola). This has however never been a separate institution, but only a unit within the Faculty of Science and Technology and use of the term has been phased out after the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences was renamed the Faculty of Sciences and Technology in the 1990s.
- *These four are derived from the original Philosophical Faculty.
Organizational chart
University Library
The university library holds about 5.25 million volumes of books and periodicals (131,293 shelf meters), 61,959 manuscripts, 7,133 music prints, and 345,734 maps and other graphic documents. The holdings of the collection of manuscripts and music includes, among other things, the Gothic Bible manuscript Codex ArgenteusCodex Argenteus
The Codex Argenteus, "Silver Book", is a 6th century manuscript, originally containing bishop Ulfilas's 4th century translation of the Bible into the Gothic language. Of the original 336 folios, 188—including the Speyer fragment discovered in 1970—have been preserved, containing the...
.
The most widely recognized building of the university library
University Library
University Library refers to academic libraries at universities, such as:*Basel University Library*Cambridge University Library*Cornell University Library*De La Salle University Library*Durham University Library*University of the East Library...
is Carolina Rediviva
Carolina Rediviva
Carolina Rediviva is the main building of the Uppsala University Library in Uppsala, Sweden. The building was begun in 1820 and completed in 1841. The original architect was Carl Fredrik Sundvall. Later additions to the building have been designed by Axel Johan Anderberg and Peter Celsing...
, the "revived Carolina", thus named in reference to Academia Carolina (see illustration), which held the university library from the earliest times until 1691, when it was moved to the upper floor of Gustavianum, where it miraculously survived the great city fire of 1702. In the mid-18th century, there were plans to move it back to the Academia Carolina or a new building on the same spot. The building was demolished in 1778 to make place for a new library, but this was never built and the area next to the cathedral where it stood is today a lawn. The present Carolina Rediviva was built in a different place and completed in 1841.
The present university library system comprises 19 branches, including the one in the Carolina building.
Uppsala University Hospital
The Uppsala Academic Hospital or Akademiska sjukhuset, which functions as a teaching hospital for the Faculty of Medicine and the Nursing School, is run by the Uppsala County Council in cooperation with the university. , the hospital had 7,719 employees and 1,079 places for patients.The university hospital is actually older than the university, as it goes back to the earliest hospital, founded in Uppsala in 1302, much later merged with the university clinic. This was used for 400 years until the great fire of 1702 which destroyed large parts of central Uppsala. A new hospital, which later became the Uppsala county hospital, was built in its place, but was moved out of the town in 1811.
Bengt Gabrielsson Oxenstierna
Count Bengt Gabrielsson Oxenstierna , Swedish statesman, was the son of Axel Oxenstierna’s cousin, Gabriel Bengtsson Oxenstierna . Married to Magdalena Stenbock.- Career :...
) today houses the Faculty of Law.
The present Akademiska sjukhuset was founded in 1850 as an organizational merger of the county hospital and the university clinic, and a new building was inaugurated in 1867 on the hill below Uppsala Castle
Uppsala Castle
Uppsala Castle is a 16th century royal castle in the historical city of Uppsala, Sweden. Throughout much of its early history, the castle played a major role in the history of Sweden....
to the southeast. From this building, which is still in use, the present hospital complex has grown.
Housing Crisis
The university has been having a housingHouse
A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...
crisis
Crisis
A crisis is any event that is, or expected to lead to, an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, community or whole society...
since at least late July 2010 to the current date. Both native Swedes and foreign students are finding it increasingly difficult to find accommodation while enrolled in the university. Though the university insists with enough work, students will find places to live, it is mathematically impossible to accommodate the amount of people with the amount of rooms in the city. Many students have been critical of the university, suggesting that had the university been more honest about the housing crisis, they would have elected to study elsewhere. Since being rewarded a room in the first hand usually takes 2-3 years in the queue systems, any Swedes who decide to come to Uppsala at the last minute or masters students from abroad will likely rely on temporary second hand rental opportunities, or moving into an open room with a complete stranger. Lack of availability of permanent accommodation easily limits the quality of education for many students at the university. Many are forced to live in upwards of 4-6 different addresses during a given school year as well as spend periods on couches or floors between addresses. To avoid these difficult situations, searching for accommodation can easily become a student's primary responsibility and academic work can end up being reduced or completely ignored.
Campus
Buildings and locations where the university has activities or which are significantly connected to its history. Asterisk marks buildings which are currently not used by the University. Some of the historic buildings in central Uppsala have had to be let to other activities, as their protected status has made it impossible to make modifications necessary to meet requirements to adjust to the needs for students with disabilities.University Park and Cathedral area
- GustavianumGustavianumGustavianum is the former main building of Uppsala University, built 1622–1625 and named after King Gustavus Adolphus. Under the cupola is the theatrum anatomicum, the second oldest in the world added to the building in the mid 17th century by Olaus Rudbeck, professor of medicine and amateur...
- The Old Consistory building
- The University Hall
- The Ekerman House
- The Dean's House (or Julinsköld Palace)
- Skytteanum
- The Oxenstierna House (Juridicum - Faculty of Law)
- Regnellianum
- Carolina RedivivaCarolina RedivivaCarolina Rediviva is the main building of the Uppsala University Library in Uppsala, Sweden. The building was begun in 1820 and completed in 1841. The original architect was Carl Fredrik Sundvall. Later additions to the building have been designed by Axel Johan Anderberg and Peter Celsing...
West of Central Uppsala
- English Park Campus - Centre for the Humanities (including the Centre for Language Studies)
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology (EBC)
- Uppsala University Botanical Garden
Other locations in wider Central Uppsala
- Theatrum Oeconomicum and Gamla Torget ("The Old Forum")
- The Observatory Park with the old observatoryUppsala Astronomical ObservatoryThe Uppsala Astronomical Observatory is the oldest astronomical observatory in Sweden. It was founded in 1741, though there was a professorial chair of astronomy at the University of Uppsala from 1593 and the university archives include lecture notes in astronomy from the 1480s.In the 18th...
- Centre for Economic Studies (Ekonomikum)
- The Linnaeus GardenLinnaean GardenThe Linnaean Garden or Linnaeus' Garden is the oldest of the botanical gardens belonging to Uppsala University in Sweden. It has been restored and is kept as an 18th century botanical garden, according to the specifications of Carolus Linnaeus.The garden was originally planned and planted by Olaus...
- Anders CelsiusAnders CelsiusAnders Celsius was a Swedish astronomer. He was professor of astronomy at Uppsala University from 1730 to 1744, but traveled from 1732 to 1735 visiting notable observatories in Germany, Italy and France. He founded the Uppsala Astronomical Observatory in 1741, and in 1742 he proposed the Celsius...
's former house and observatoryUppsala Astronomical ObservatoryThe Uppsala Astronomical Observatory is the oldest astronomical observatory in Sweden. It was founded in 1741, though there was a professorial chair of astronomy at the University of Uppsala from 1593 and the university archives include lecture notes in astronomy from the 1480s.In the 18th...
South of central Uppsala
- Uppsala University HospitalUppsala University HospitalUppsala University Hospital in Uppsala, Sweden is a teaching hospital for the Uppsala University Faculty of Medicine and the Nursing School. Uppsala University Hospital is owned and operated by the Uppsala County Council in cooperation with the university and serves, together with Enköping...
- The Rudbeck Laboratory
- Uppsala Biomedical Centre (BMC)
- Geo Centre
- Information Technology Centre (ITC) Pollax
- The Ångström Laboratory
North of Central Uppsala
- Teacher Training
Nations and student union
Nations at Swedish universities
The student nations or nationer at the two ancient universities in Uppsala and Lund, of which there are now thirteen at each university, are the oldest student societies in Sweden...
s, corporations of students traditionally according to province of origin (not strictly upheld now, for practical reasons). The system of dividing students into nations according to origin can ultimately be traced back to the nations at the medieval University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
and other early medieval universities, but the Uppsala nations appear only about 1630–1640, most likely under influence of the Landsmannschaften which existed at some of the German universities visited by Swedish students. In Sweden, nations exist only in Uppsala and Lund
Lund University
Lund University , located in the city of Lund in the province of Scania, Sweden, is one of northern Europe's most prestigious universities and one of Scandinavia's largest institutions for education and research, frequently ranked among the world's top 100 universities...
. The nations were originally seen as subversive organisations promoting less virtuous aspects of student life, but in 1663 the consistory
Consistory
-Antiquity:Originally, the Latin word consistorium meant simply 'sitting together', just as the Greek synedrion ....
made membership in a nation legal, each nation being placed under the inspectorship of a professor.
The current thirteen nations all have a history stretching back to the early-to-mid 17th century, but some of them are the result of mergers of older, smaller nations that took place in the early 19th century to facilitate the financing of building projects.
Nations at Uppsala University:
|
Södermanlands-Nerikes nation Södermanlands-Nerikes nation is one of the 13 student nations of Uppsala University.The nation claims its founding to be in 1595 when the original Södermanland nation was founded, this nation merged with the Nerikes nation in 1805 to form the current nation.Though at the turn of the 20th century... Västmanlands-Dala Nation, Uppsala Västmanlands-Dala nation, often referred to only as V-Dala, is one of the 13 Student nations at Uppsala University in Sweden. The nation, intended for students from the provinces of Dalarna and Västmanland, was founded in 1639. The first Inspektor of the nation was Olof Rudbeck d.ä... Smålands nation, Uppsala Smålands nation is one of the thirteen student nations at Uppsala university in Sweden.Historically there have been 2 Smålands nations in Uppsala, the first of which was founded in 1645 and represented the whole of the province of Småland... Göteborgs nation Göteborgs nation is one of the 13 student nations at Uppsala University.... |
Norrlands nation Norrlands nation is a student society and the largest of thirteen nations at Uppsala University. It mainly recruits its members from the province of Norrland, which is the northern-most part of Sweden... Gotlands nation Gotlands nation is one of the 13 student nations at Uppsala University. It is named for the island of Gotland, where most of its students come from.... |
Since the 1960s there is a fourteenth nation, the Skånelandens nation (referring to the Scanian lands) which has no membership fee and exists as a legal fiction to get around the compulsory membership for students who prefer not to become affiliated with the traditional nations.
The Uppsala Student Union
Uppsala Student Union
Uppsala Student Union is one of two students' unions at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden.According to Swedish law, university students are no longer required to be members of a students' union since 2010...
was founded in 1849 as a corporation representing all students except those attending the faculty of Pharmacy, irrespective of nation. The student at the faculty of Pharmacy were also exempt from the compulsory membership in the nations, but most pharmacy-students belonged to one. However they were obliged to take up membership in the Pharmaceutical Association of Uppsala Students, an organisation having the same role as the nations and the student union at the rest of the university.
The compulsory membership in a student union was abolished July 1, 2010, but the unions will still be the representing organisations in the university boards and committees.
Music
The University's Royal Academic OrchestraRoyal Academic Orchestra
The Royal Academic Orchestra is the orchestra of Uppsala University, Sweden. The orchestra was established in 1627 by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. Past music directors include Swedish composers Hugo Alfvén, Lars-Erik Larsson and Carl Rune Larsson...
was founded in 1627. Its main purpose is to play at academic ceremonies, but holds concerts on other occasions as well. Its leader has the title of director musices. The position has been held by composers such as Wilhelm Stenhammar
Wilhelm Stenhammar
Carl Wilhelm Eugen Stenhammar was a Swedish composer, conductor and pianist.-Biography:Stenhammar was born in Stockholm, where he received his first musical education. He then went to Berlin to further his studies in music. He became a glowing admirer of German music, particularly that of Richard...
, Hugo Alfvén
Hugo Alfvén
was a Swedish composer, conductor, violinist, and painter.- Violinist :Alfvén was born in Stockholm and studied at the Music Conservatory there from 1887 to 1891 with the violin as his main instrument, receiving lessons from Lars Zetterquist. He also took private composition lessons from Johan...
and Lars-Erik Larsson
Lars-Erik Larsson
Lars-Erik Larsson was a notable Swedish composer of the 20th century.-Biography:Lars-Erik Vilner Larsson was born in Åkarp in 1908...
. Affiliated with the University are three choirs, the mixed Uppsala University Choir (Allmänna Sången), founded in 1830, the male choir Orphei Drängar
Orphei Drängar
Orphei Drängar is a Swedish male choir and singing society founded in 1853, based in Uppsala and one of the two notable singing societies traditionally affiliated with the university there...
, founded in 1853, and the Academy Chamber Choir of Uppsala, founded in 1957. A number of other choirs and orchestras are affiliated with the nations.
An important name in the recent history of the choirs is Eric Ericson
Eric Ericson
, is a Swedish choral conductor and influential choral teacher. He graduated from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm in 1943 and went on to complete his studies abroad, at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Switzerland, and in Germany, Great Britain, and the United States.Renowned for his...
, who was conductor of both Orphei Drängar and the Chamber Choir. In honour of Ericson, the FöreningsSparbanken
Swedbank
Swedbank AB is a leading Nordic-Baltic banking group with 9.5 million retail customers and 534,000 corporate customers in Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In Sweden, the group has 377 branches. In the Baltic countries, it has another 224 branches...
endowed the Eric Ericson Chair in Choral Directing, and the Uppsala University Choral Centre was inaugurated in 2000. The centre arranges courses in choral directing.http://www.korcentrum.uu.se/historik.html#eng
Athletics
Sports play a very small role in the life of the university, compared to British and especially U.S. universities, but have existed in various forms since the early 17th century. The University is more noted for its musical traditions and has a long choral tradition. Both have partial roots in the 17th century institution of extracurricular exercises for students from the nobility.The exercitiae
To ease the recruitment of students from the nobility, the university started in the 1630s to offer training in a number of exercitiae or "exercises" (Swedish: exercitier) deemed necessary for the well-rounded education of a young nobleman: ridingEquestrianism
Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...
, fencing, dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
, drawing
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
and modern languages such as French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
. The initiative came from Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna
Axel Oxenstierna
Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna af Södermöre , Count of Södermöre, was a Swedish statesman. He became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1609 and served as Lord High Chancellor of Sweden from 1612 until his death. He was a confidant of first Gustavus Adolphus and then Queen Christina.Oxenstierna...
, who saw the value in a well-educated class of civil servants and the danger to his own class if its members would fall behind in academic education compared to those students who came from the lower estates. An "exercise yard", built for the riding and fencing exercises, was demolished in the late 19th century to give place to the new University Hall. The modern languages were made part of the regular academic curriculum in the 19th century; the surviving "exercises"http://www.uu.se/Adresser/SI371.html are:
- Fencing. Arranged in collaboration with Upsala Fäktning, a private fencing club. Fencing master as of 2005 is Igor Tsikinjov, captain of the Swedish Fencing Federation
- Gymnastics and sports, located to the Art Nouveau University Gymastics Hall, colloquially known as Svettis (from the Swedish word for sweatSWEATSWEAT is an OLN/TSN show hosted by Julie Zwillich that aired in 2003-2004.Each of the 13 half-hour episodes of SWEAT features a different outdoor sport: kayaking, mountain biking, ice hockey, beach volleyball, soccer, windsurfing, rowing, Ultimate, triathlon, wakeboarding, snowboarding, telemark...
) - Riding, arranged by the Equestrian department of the University, which has its own stables. Leaders of the activities are the Academy Stable Master and the Inspector Equitandi (currently Marianne Andersson, Head of the university's Legal Affairs Office). Instruction is offered on various levels.
- Music. Leader of the musical activities is the director musices, who is the conductor of the Royal Academic OrchestraRoyal Academic OrchestraThe Royal Academic Orchestra is the orchestra of Uppsala University, Sweden. The orchestra was established in 1627 by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. Past music directors include Swedish composers Hugo Alfvén, Lars-Erik Larsson and Carl Rune Larsson...
The current Director Musices is Professor Stefan Karpe. See more below. - Drawing. The university appoints an established artist as Drawing Master. As of 2005, the position is held by graphic artist Ulla Fries. Weekly CroquisCroquisCroquis drawing is quick and sketchy drawing of a live model. Croquis drawings are usually made in a few minutes, after which the model changes pose and another croquis is drawn....
lessons and other exercises, free for students and other university members, are offered in the southern tower of Uppsala CastleUppsala CastleUppsala Castle is a 16th century royal castle in the historical city of Uppsala, Sweden. Throughout much of its early history, the castle played a major role in the history of Sweden....
.
Other sports
Besides the exercitiae, other sports have had a presence in Uppsala student life. The Upsala SimsällskapUpsala Simsällskap
Upsala Simsällskap, the "Uppsala Swimming Society" , was founded in Uppsala in 1796. It is the oldest existing sports club in Sweden and claims to be the oldest swimming club in the world....
, "Uppsala Swimming Society", which is the oldest swimming club in the world, was founded in 1796 by the mathematician Jöns Svanberg. It had no formal connection to the university, but all its earliest members came from academic life. Svanberg even arranged a mock graduation ceremony, a simpromotion, in parody of the university ceremonies, where those who had graduated from its swimming training were awarded "degrees" of master (magister) and bachelor (kandidat). These degrees stuck, and Swedish swimming schools still use these degrees for different levels of swimming skills.
An attempt was made in the 1870s to introduce academic rowing after the Oxbridge
Oxbridge
Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in England, and the term is now used to refer to them collectively, often with implications of perceived superior social status...
model. The Stockholm Nation acquired a rowing boat in 1877, soon followed by the Gothenburg Nation, and for a number of years rowing competitions were held between teams from the two nations. Although rowing never got the strong position it has at the English universities, an annual Uppsala-Lund regatta has been arranged since 1992, between rowing teams from Uppsala and Lund University
Lund University
Lund University , located in the city of Lund in the province of Scania, Sweden, is one of northern Europe's most prestigious universities and one of Scandinavia's largest institutions for education and research, frequently ranked among the world's top 100 universities...
. The race is held on the Fyris River in Uppsala on even years, and on a river in the vicinity of Lund on odd years. Each year there is at least one full eight crew with cox competing, with both men's and women's teams present. With the recent victory for Uppsala in 2005, the score stands 24 - 23 in Uppsala's favor.
International cooperation
Uppsala University has signed student exchange agreements with about 500 universities across all parts of the world. It takes part in the Erasmus programmeErasmus programme
The Erasmus Programme , a.k.a. Erasmus Project is a European Union student exchange programme established in 1987...
and the Nordplus programme. Uppsala University has signed university-wide student exchange programmes with the following universities (selection): University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
, Australia McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
Queen's University
Queen's University
Queen's University, , is a public research university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded on 16 October 1841, the university pre-dates the founding of Canada by 26 years. Queen's holds more more than of land throughout Ontario as well as Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
, Canada University of Victoria
University of Victoria
The University of Victoria, often referred to as UVic, is the second oldest public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It is a research intensive university located in Saanich and Oak Bay, about northeast of downtown Victoria. The University's annual enrollment is about 20,000 students...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
York University
York University
York University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....
, Canada University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
, Canada Fudan University
Fudan University
Fudan University , located in Shanghai, is one of the oldest and most selective universities in China, and is a member of the C9 League. Its institutional predecessor was founded in 1905, shortly before the end of China's imperial Qing dynasty...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
Peking University
Peking University
Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...
, China University of Copenhagen
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
University of Tartu
University of Tartu
The University of Tartu is a classical university in the city of Tartu, Estonia. University of Tartu is the national university of Estonia; it is the biggest and highest-ranked university in Estonia...
, Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
University of Helsinki
University of Helsinki
The University of Helsinki is a university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but was founded in the city of Turku in 1640 as The Royal Academy of Turku, at that time part of the Swedish Empire. It is the oldest and largest university in Finland with the widest range of disciplines available...
, Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
University of Poitiers
University of Poitiers
The University of Poitiers is a university in Poitiers, France. It is a member of the Coimbra Group.-History:Founded in 1431 by Pope Eugene IV and chartered by King Charles VII, the University of Poitiers was originally composed of five faculties: theology, canon law, civil law, medicine, and...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Paris-Sorbonne University, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Grenoble Ecole de Management
Grenoble école de management
Grenoble Ecole de Management also known as Grenoble EM or Grenoble School of Management, was founded in 1984 by the local chamber of commerce...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
University of Freiburg
University of Freiburg
The University of Freiburg , sometimes referred to in English as the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.The university was founded in 1457 by the Habsburg dynasty as the...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
University of Heidelberg, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Technical University Munich, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
National University of Ireland
National University of Ireland
The National University of Ireland , , is a federal university system of constituent universities, previously called constituent colleges, and recognised colleges set up under the Irish Universities Act, 1908, and significantly amended by the Universities Act, 1997.The constituent universities are...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
University of Siena
University of Siena
The University of Siena in Siena, Tuscany is one of the oldest and first publicly funded universities in Italy. Originally called Studium Senese, the University of Siena was founded in 1240. The University has around 20,000 students, nearly half of Siena's total population of around 54,000...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Kyoto University
Kyoto University
, or is a national university located in Kyoto, Japan. It is the second oldest Japanese university, and formerly one of Japan's Imperial Universities.- History :...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
Waseda University
Waseda University
, abbreviated as , is one of the most prestigious private universities in Japan and Asia. Its main campuses are located in the northern part of Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as Tokyo Senmon Gakko, the institution was renamed "Waseda University" in 1902. It is known for its liberal climate...
, Japan University of Groningen
University of Groningen
The University of Groningen , located in the city of Groningen, was founded in 1614. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands as well as one of its largest. Since its inception more than 100,000 students have graduated...
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
Leiden University
Leiden University
Leiden University , located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close...
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
University of Auckland
University of Auckland
The University of Auckland is a university located in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the largest university in the country and the highest ranked in the 2011 QS World University Rankings, having been ranked worldwide...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
University of Oslo
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
Jagiellonian University
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world....
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Complutense University of Madrid
Complutense University of Madrid
The Complutense University of Madrid is a university in Madrid, and one of the oldest universities in the world. It is located on a sprawling campus that occupies the entirety of the Ciudad Universitaria district of Madrid, with annexes in the district of Somosaguas in the neighboring city of...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
University of Granada
University of Granada
The University of Granada is a public university located in Granada, Spain that enrolls approximately 80,000 students. The university also has campuses in Ceuta and Melilla. Every year, over 2,000 European students enroll in the UGR through the Erasmus Programme, making it the most popular...
, Spain University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, United Kingdom Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, United States University of Cape Town
University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town is a public research university located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa and the second oldest extant university in Africa.-History:The roots of...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
University of Lausanne
University of Lausanne
The University of Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland was founded in 1537 as a school of theology, before being made a university in 1890. Today about 12,000 students and 2200 researchers study and work at the university...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
Uppsala University is a member of the Coimbra Group
Coimbra Group
The Coimbra Group is a network of 40 European universities, some among the oldest and most prestigious in Europe. It was founded in 1985 and formally constituted by charter in 1987....
of universities.
In May 2010 Uppsala joined the Matariki Network of Universities
Matariki Network of Universities
The Matariki Network of Universities is an international group of universities created in 2010, which focuses on strong links between research and undergraduate teaching. It claims that each member is leading international best practice in research and education based on long academic traditions...
(MNU) together with Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
(USA), Durham University
Durham University
The University of Durham, commonly known as Durham University, is a university in Durham, England. It was founded by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837...
(UK), Queen’s University (Canada), University of Otago
University of Otago
The University of Otago in Dunedin is New Zealand's oldest university with over 22,000 students enrolled during 2010.The university has New Zealand's highest average research quality and in New Zealand is second only to the University of Auckland in the number of A rated academic researchers it...
(New Zealand), University of Tübingen (Germany) and University of Western Australia
University of Western Australia
The University of Western Australia was established by an Act of the Western Australian Parliament in February 1911, and began teaching students for the first time in 1913. It is the oldest university in the state of Western Australia and the only university in the state to be a member of the...
(Australia).
Rankings
Uppsala University places well in many rankings.| Ranking (year) | World Rank | European Rank | National Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academic Ranking of World Universities Academic Ranking of World Universities The Academic Ranking of World Universities , commonly known as the Shanghai ranking, is a publication that was founded and compiled by the Shanghai Jiaotong University to rank universities globally. The rankings have been conducted since 2003 and updated annually... (2010) |
# 66 | # 18 | # 2 |
| Times Higher Education World University Rankings Times Higher Education World University Rankings The Times Higher Education World University Rankings is an international ranking of universities published by the British magazine Times Higher Education in partnership with Thomson Reuters, which provided citation database information... (2010) |
# 147 | # 53 | # 4 |
| Web Ranking of European Universities (2009) | # 80 | # 14 | # 1 |
| QS World University Rankings QS World University Rankings The QS World University Rankings is a ranking of the world’s top 500 universities by Quacquarelli Symonds using a method that has published annually since 2004.... (2011) |
# 83 | # 20 | # 1 |
Notable people
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
laureates, and numerous royalty, academics and public figures.
As the dominant academic institution in Sweden for several centuries, Uppsala University has ever since its first period of expansion in the early part of the 17th century educated a large proportion of Swedish politicians and civil servants, from 17th century Chancellor of the Realm (rikskansler) Johan Oxenstierna
Johan Oxenstierna
Johan Axelsson Oxenstierna af Södermöre was a Count and a Swedish statesman.The son of Axel Oxenstierna, he was born in Stockholm. He completed his studies at Uppsala in 1631, and was sent by his father on a grand tour through France, the Netherlands and Great Britain...
(1611–1657) and Lord Chief Justice (riksdrots) Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie
Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie
Count Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie was a Swedish statesman and military man. He became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1647 and came to be the holder of three of the five offices counted as the Great Officers of the Realm, namely Lord High Treasurer, Lord High Chancellor and Lord High...
(1622–1686) to the first Social Democratic Prime Minister of Sweden
Prime Minister of Sweden
The Prime Minister is the head of government in the Kingdom of Sweden. Before the creation of the office of a Prime Minister in 1876, Sweden did not have a head of government separate from its head of state, namely the King, in whom the executive authority was vested...
, Hjalmar Branting
Hjalmar Branting
was a Swedish politician. He was the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party , and Prime Minister during three separate periods . When Branting came to power in 1920, he was the first Social Democratic Prime Minister of Sweden...
(1860–1925) and many later politicians. Other alumni are Dag Hammarskjöld
Dag Hammarskjöld
Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld was a Swedish diplomat, economist, and author. An early Secretary-General of the United Nations, he served from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 1961. He is the only person to have been awarded a posthumous Nobel Peace Prize. Hammarskjöld...
(1905–1961), UN Secretary General who was (posthumously) awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
in 1961, and the Swedish diplomat Hans Blix
Hans Blix
is a Swedish diplomat and politician for the Liberal People's Party. He was Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs . Blix was also the head of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission from March 2000 to June 2003, when he was succeeded by Dimitris Perrikos...
(b. 1928), who was Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency
International Atomic Energy Agency
The International Atomic Energy Agency is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. The IAEA was established as an autonomous organization on 29 July 1957...
1981-1997, of the UNMOVIC 2000-2003, and previously Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs 1978–1979. Hammarskjöld and Blix both graduated from the Uppsala Faculty of Law, as did the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Anna Lindh
Anna Lindh
Ylva Anna Maria Lindh was a Swedish Social Democratic politician, Chairman of the Social Democratic Youth League 1984-1990, Member of Parliament 1982-1985 and 1998-2003...
, who was assassinated in 2003.
Most Swedish clergymen, including most bishops and archbishops, have been educated at the university, including, in more recent times, Nathan Söderblom
Nathan Söderblom
Lars Olof Jonathan Söderblom was a Swedish clergyman, Archbishop of Uppsala in the Church of Sweden, and recipient of the 1930 Nobel Peace Prize...
(1866–1931), Professor of the History of Religions in the Faculty of Theology, later Archbishop of Uppsala
Archbishop of Uppsala
The Archbishop of Uppsala has been the primate in Sweden in an unbroken succession since 1164, first during the Catholic era, and from the 1530s and onward under the Lutheran church.- Historical overview :...
, and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
in 1930 for his work as leader of the ecumenical
Ecumenism
Ecumenism or oecumenism mainly refers to initiatives aimed at greater Christian unity or cooperation. It is used predominantly by and with reference to Christian denominations and Christian Churches separated by doctrine, history, and practice...
movement.
The university became prominent in the sciences in the 18th century with names such as the physician and botanist Carolus Linnaeus
Carolus Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...
(1707–1778), the father of taxonomy
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
, and his numerous important pupils, the physicist and astronomer Anders Celsius
Anders Celsius
Anders Celsius was a Swedish astronomer. He was professor of astronomy at Uppsala University from 1730 to 1744, but traveled from 1732 to 1735 visiting notable observatories in Germany, Italy and France. He founded the Uppsala Astronomical Observatory in 1741, and in 1742 he proposed the Celsius...
(1701–1744), inventor of the centigrade scale the predecessor of the Celsius scale, and the chemist Torbern Bergman
Torbern Bergman
Torbern Olof Bergman was a Swedish chemist and mineralogist noted for his 1775 Dissertation on Elective Attractions, containing the largest chemical affinity tables ever published...
(1735–1784). Another scientist from this era is Emanuel Swedenborg
Emanuel Swedenborg
was a Swedish scientist, philosopher, and theologian. He has been termed a Christian mystic by some sources, including the Encyclopædia Britannica online version, and the Encyclopedia of Religion , which starts its article with the description that he was a "Swedish scientist and mystic." Others...
(1688–1772), better remembered today as a religious mystic. Several of the elements were discovered by Uppsala scientists during this period or later. Jöns Jakob Berzelius
Jöns Jakob Berzelius
Jöns Jacob Berzelius was a Swedish chemist. He worked out the modern technique of chemical formula notation, and is together with John Dalton, Antoine Lavoisier, and Robert Boyle considered a father of modern chemistry...
, considered one of the fathers of modern chemistry, received his doctorate in medicine in Uppsala in 1804, but later moved to Stockholm. Uppsala scientists of the 19th century include the physicist Anders Jonas Ångström
Anders Jonas Ångström
Anders Jonas Ångström was a Swedish physicist and one of the founders of the science of spectroscopy.-Biography:...
(1814–1874). During the 20th century several Nobel laureates
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
in the sciences have been Uppsala alumni or professors at the university.
Many well-known Swedish writers have studied in Uppsala: Georg Stiernhielm
Georg Stiernhielm
Georg Stiernhielm was a Swedish civil servant, linguist and poet. Stiernhielm was born in a middle-class family in the village Svartskär in Vika parish in Dalarna...
(1698–1672) is often called the father of Swedish poetry. The poet and song composer Carl Michael Bellman
Carl Michael Bellman
was a Swedish poet and composer. Bellman is a central figure in the Swedish song tradition and remains a very important influence in Swedish music, as well as in Scandinavian literature in general, to this day....
(1740–1795), without doubt the best-loved and best-remembered of Swedish 18th century poets, matriculated but left the university after less than a year. The writer, historian and composer Erik Gustaf Geijer
Erik Gustaf Geijer
Erik Gustaf Geijer was a Swedish writer, historian, poet, philosopher, and composer. His writings served to promote Swedish National Romanticism. He also was an influential advocate of Liberalism.-Biography:...
(1783–1847), professor of history, and the poet Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom
Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom
Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom was a Swedish romantic poet, and a member of the Swedish Academy....
(1790–1855), professor of poetry, were principal figures of early 19th century Swedish romanticism. The less than happy experiences of the Uppsala student life of novelist and playwright August Strindberg
August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,...
(1849–1912), resulted in his Från Fjärdingen och Svartbäcken (1877), a collection of short stories set in Uppsala ("From Fjärdingen and Svartbäcken", the title refers to two districts in Uppsala). Other Uppsala alumni are the poet Erik Axel Karlfeldt
Erik Axel Karlfeldt
Erik Axel Karlfeldt was a Swedish poet whose highly symbolist poetry masquerading as regionalism was popular and won him the Nobel Prize in Literature posthumously in 1931. It has been rumored that he had been offered, but declined, the award already in 1919.Karlfeldt was born into a farmer's...
(1864–1931), who refused the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1918, but received it posthumously in 1931, the novelist and playwright Pär Lagerkvist
Pär Lagerkvist
Pär Fabian Lagerkvist was a Swedish author who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1951.Lagerkvist wrote poems, plays, novels, stories, and essays of considerable expressive power and influence from his early 20s to his late 70s...
(1891–1974), Nobel laureate in 1951, and the poet and novelist Karin Boye
Karin Boye
was a Swedish poet and novelist.- Career :Boye was born in Gothenburg , Sweden and moved with her family to Stockholm in 1909. She studied at Uppsala University from 1921 to 1926 and debuted in 1922 with a collection of poems, "Clouds"...
(1900–1941), for whom one branch of the university library has been named. The Communist leader Ture Nerman
Ture Nerman
Ture Nerman was a Swedish socialist. As a journalist and author, he was a well-known political activist in his time. He also wrote poems and songs.Nerman was a vegetarian and a strict teetotaler...
(1886–1969) wrote a novel called Olympen, based on his experience as a student in Uppsala. Niklas Zennström
Niklas Zennström
Niklas Zennström is an entrepreneur best known for founding several high-profile online ventures with Janus Friis including Skype and Kazaa. More recently he founded the investment group Atomico and has become a significant figurehead for entrepreneurs in the tech sector.-Career:Zennström started...
, co-founder of KaZaA
Kazaa
Kazaa Media Desktop started as a peer-to-peer file sharing application using the FastTrack protocol licensed by Joltid Ltd. and operated as Kazaa by Sharman Networks...
and Skype
Skype
Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chat over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system...
is also a former student at Uppsala University. On August 15, 2008 Zennström donated 15 million SEK
Swedish krona
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...
to Uppsala University for climate research. The late Jan Stenbeck
Jan Stenbeck
Jan Stenbeck was a Swedish media owner. He was brother of the former Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Margaretha af Ugglas...
, a Nordic media mogul who controlled Modern Times Group
Modern Times Group
Modern Times Group is a Swedish media company. MTG was formed out of the media holdings of investment company Kinnevik, which in 1997 was distributed to the company stockholders. Among the assets were Viasat and Metro International...
, was also an alumnus of Uppsala University.
Uppsala University in fiction and popular culture
Together with LundLund University
Lund University , located in the city of Lund in the province of Scania, Sweden, is one of northern Europe's most prestigious universities and one of Scandinavia's largest institutions for education and research, frequently ranked among the world's top 100 universities...
, Uppsala is the historic and traditional centre of Swedish academic life, making it a popular object of reference in Swedish literature, art, and film. Specifically, Uppsala University has appeared notably in Män som hatar kvinnor or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Stieg Larsson
Karl Stig-Erland Larsson , who wrote professionally as Stieg Larsson, was a Swedish journalist and writer, born in Skelleftehamn outside Skellefteå. He is best known for writing the "Millennium series" of crime novels, which were published posthumously...
.
The Norwegian pop singer Kirsti Sparboe
Kirsti Sparboe
Kirsti Sparboe was born on 7 December 1946 in Tromsø, Norway. She Is a musical performer, and an actress. Most of her musical career is based around the widely popular Eurovision Song Contest....
dedicated one of her biggest successes to Uppsala University, publishing in 1969 the song "Ein Student aus Uppsala". The song, originally written in German, lasted 14 weeks in the German charts.
See also
- List of medieval universities
- List of universities in Sweden
- Swedish University of Agricultural SciencesSwedish University of Agricultural SciencesThe Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences or Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet is a university in Sweden. Although its head office is located in Ultuna, Uppsala, the university has several campuses in different parts of Sweden, the other main facilities being Alnarp in Lomma Municipality, Skara,...
in Uppsala - Johannelunds Teologiska HögskolaJohannelunds Teologiska HögskolaJohannelunds teologiska högskola or Johannelund Theological Seminary is an independent theological seminary, founded in 1862 and located in Uppsala, Sweden. In addition to offering a three-year bachelor degree in theology, the seminary offers graduate-level courses in cooperation with Uppsala...
in Uppsala - FlogstaFlogstaFlogsta is a neighbourhood in the western outskirts of the Swedish city of Uppsala. Most of its inhabitants are students attending Uppsala University or the SLU. A couple of hundred international exchange students give the area an international atmosphere....
- student residential area in UppsalaUppsala- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
. - :Category:Uppsala University alumni
Further reading
- Lindroth, Sten. A History of Uppsala University 1477-1977 (Almqvist & Wiksell 1976). ISBN 978-91-506-0081-0.
External links
- Uppsala University
- Uppsala University Student page
- THE Rankings - Uppsala University(2008)
- Study Abroad Uppsala - A guide for international students attending Uppsala University
- American Friends of Uppsala University
- Ein Student aus Uppsala- Kirsti Sparboe (1969)