Everything about University Of Lund totally explained
Lund University, located in
Lund in southernmost Sweden, is one of
Sweden's most prestigious
universities and
Scandinavia's largest institution for education and research, frequently ranked among the world's top 100 universities. The university was founded in
1666 and is the second oldest within Sweden's present borders, but can arguably trace its roots back to
1438, when a
studium generale was founded in Lund.
Lund University has 7
faculties, with additional campuses in the cities of
Malmö and
Helsingborg, with a total of over 42,500 students enrolled in more than 50 different programmes and 800 separate courses. It belongs to the
League of European Research Universities as well as the global
Universitas 21 network.
The university traditionally centers on the
Lundagård park adjacent to the
Lund Cathedral, with various departments spread in different locations in town, but mostly concentrated in a belt stretching north from the park connecting to the university hospital area and continuing out to the northeastern periphery of the town, where one finds the large campus of the
Lund Institute of Technology.
History
The city of
Lund has a long history as a center for learning and was the ecclesiastical centre and seat of the archbishop of
Denmark. A
cathedral school (the
Katedralskolan) for the training of clergy was established in 1085 and is today one of Scandinavia's oldest schools.
A
studium generale (a
medieval university education) was founded in 1425, but had to close in 1536 in connection with the Danish
reformation.
After the
Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, the
Scanian lands came under the possession of the Swedish Crown, which quickly founded the Lund University in
1666 as the means of Swedification. It was the fifth university under the Swedish king, after
Uppsala University 1477, the
Academia Gustaviana 1632, now in
Estonia; the
Academy of Åbo 1640, now in
Finland; and the
University of Greifswald,
1648, now in
Germany.
The university was named
Academia Carolina after
Charles X Gustav of Sweden. The name was in some formal use until the late 19th century, when Lund University became the widespread denomination.
The university was at its founding granted four faculties:
law,
theological,
medicine and
philosophy. They were the corner stones, and for more than 200 years this system was in effect. Towards the end of the 17th century, the number of students hovered around 100. Some notable professors in the early days were
Samuel Pufendorf, a juridical historian; and
Canutus Hahn and
Kristian Papke in philosophy.
The
Scanian War in 1676 led to a shut-down, which lasted until 1682. The university was re-opened largely due to regional patriots, but the university wasn't to enjoy a high status until well into the 19th century. Lecturing rooms were few, and lectures were held in the
Lund Cathedral and its adjacent chapel. The professors were underpaid.
In 1713,
Charles XII of Sweden entered Lund. He stayed in Lund for three years, in between his warlike expeditions. The town of Lund and the university attracted a temporary attention boost. The most notable lecturer during this time was
Andreas Rydelius.
Peace was finally restored with the death of Charles XII in 1718, and during the first half of the 18th century the university was granted added funds. The number of students was now well around 500. Despite not being on par with Uppsala University, it had still built a solid reputation and managed to attract prominent professors.
Around 1760 the university reputation dropped as the number of students fell below 200, most of whom hailed from around the province. However, by 1780 its reputation was largely restored, and continued to rise through the 1820s. This was largely owing to popular and well-educated lecturers particularly in philology; the prominent professor
Esaias Tegnér was a particularly notable character with widespread authority. He, in turn, attracted others towards Lund. One of these was the young theological student
C. G. Brunius, who studied ancient languages under Tegnér and were later to become professor of Greek. With time he was to devote himself to architectures and he redesigned several of Lund's buildings, as well as churches of the province.
Women at the university
Lund University showed a more conservative attitude in the early discussions on admitting and was later to attract female students than the university in Uppsala. The first woman to study in Lund was the medical student
Hedda Andersson who entered the university in 1880 (two years before the next woman to do so). It also took longer before any woman finished a doctorate at Lund University than at Uppsala. While Ellen Fries had received a Ph.D. in history in Uppsala in 1883, it took until 1910 before
Hilma Borelius as the first woman would finish a doctorate in Lund. Another pioneer was Louise Petrén, who in 1911 finished a doctoral dissertation in Mathematics - it would take 50 years before the next dissertation in Mathematics authored by a woman would be presented at any Swedish university.
Lunds kvinnliga studentförening (LKS), the Lund Association of Female Students, was established in 1900, when there were fourteen women enrolled in the university, and just as with the corresponding society in Uppsala a few years earlier, it appears to have helped the women to assert themselves in the predominantly male environment. This included starting to use the student cap in public, which was an important symbolic manifestation at the time.
By the time Hilma Borelius finshed her doctorate in Lund, thirteen women had already finished doctorates in Uppsala and two in the new college in Stockholm (which didn't gain full university status until 1960). The reason for the relative lateness of Lund to attract and graduate female students and doctors hasn't yet been clarified. Hanna Markusson Winkvist, who has studied the early careers of women in Swedish academia, speculates that it may have had something to do with the conservative attitudes from the university or a difference in the general basis of recruitment between the universities (Markusson Winkvist p 125-132).
The first woman to be appointed to a professor's chair was the historian
Birgitta Odén (1965). In 1992
Boel Flodgren, Professor of Business Law, was appointed
rector magnificus (or, strictly speaking,
rectrix magnifica) of Lund University. As such, she was the first woman to be a head of a European university.
Academics
Lund University is internationally known as Scandinavia's largest research university. The university has eight faculties and many research centres and specialized institutes. Approximately 42,500 students study within one of the 100 educational programs, the eighteen international masters programmes or the 1,400 courses. Almost three hundred courses are, or can be, held in English for the benefit of our international exchange students. There are several programs allowing foreign students to study abroad at the University. Notable exchangees include United States Supreme Court Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who spent time at Lund University in the 1960s conducting research.
Faculties
There are also departments located in
Malmö, including
Malmö Academy of Music, and
Helsingborg.
Library
Lund University library was established in 1666 at the same time as the university and is one of Sweden's oldest and largest. Since 1698 it has received
legal deposit copies of everything printed in the country. Today six Swedish libraries receive legal deposit copies, but only Lund and the
Royal Library in Stockholm are required to keep everything for posterity. Swedish imprints make up half of the collections, which amount to 170,000 linear metres of shelving (2006). The library serves 620,000 loans per year, the staff is 200 full-time equivalents, and the 33 branch libraries house 2600 reading room desks.
The current main building at Helgonabacken opened in 1907. Before that, the old building was
Liberiet close to the city's cathedral. Liberiet was built as a library in the 15th century, but now serves as a cafe.
Student life
Lund is known for its particularly active student life, revolving around three central structures: the student nations, Akademiska Föreningen and the student unions.
Student Nations
The
nations in Lund are a central part of the university's history, initially serving as
residential colleges for students, organized by geographic origin.
Östgöta Nation, the oldest nation, was established in 1668, two years after the university was founded. While the nations still offer limited housing, today they're best described as
student societies. It is required to enroll in a nation to receive grades at the university.
Today students may enroll in any nation, although the nations still preserve their geographic names. In most cases it doesn't matter what nation one enrolls in, but different nations offer different activities for interested students. The fee of around 350
Swedish krona per semester (which also includes student union membership fees), is the closest thing to a
tuition requirement found in Sweden.
Each nation has student housing, but the accommodations in no way meet demand, and they're usually appointed according to a queue system. Each nation has at least one pub evening per week, with a following night club. The solemn peak event in the course of an activity year is the organization of student balls once a year. Most well known of the nation balls (as opposed to balls organized by fraternities or student unions) is the ball hosted by Göteborgs Nation - called the "Gustaf II Adolf Ball" (also known as the "GA-Ball"). Most nations also host at least one
banquet per week, where a three course dinner is served. Each nation also has different activities for students interested in sports, arts, or partying. All activities within the nations are voluntary, and most students are not active in them.
Akademiska Föreningen (AF)
In 1830, Professor
Carl Adolph Agardh formed
Akademiska Föreningen (The Academic Society), commonly referred to as AF, with the goal of "developing and cultivating the academic life" by bringing students and faculty from all departments and student nations together in one organization. Prince
Oscar I, then Sweden's Chancellor of Education, donated 2000 Kronor to help found the society. In 1848, construction began on
AF-Borgen (the AF Fortress), which is located opposite the
Main Building in
Lundagård. To this day, AF is the center of student life in Lund, featuring many theater companies, a prize-winning student radio (
Radio AF), and organizing the enormous
Lundakarnevalen (the Lund Carnival) every four years.
Student Unions
Currently each faculty has its own student union. Since 1995, a central organization known as LUS (Lund University's Student Unions
(External Link
)) negotiates with the university administration, while most work is done at the faculty level. The student unions that are members of LUS are:
The Ph.D. Student Union - (External Link)
Student Union of the Faculty of the Humanities - (External Link)
Student Union of the Faculty of Medicine - (External Link)
Student Union of Natural Sciences - (External Link)
Lunds Socialhögskolas Studentkår - (External Link)
Sjukgymnastinstitutets Studentkår
Student Union of Social Sciences - (External Link)
Student Union of the Faculty of Theology - (External Link)
Vårdvetenskapliga Studentkåren - (External Link)
Teaterhögskolans Studentkår
Malmö Konsthögskolas Studentkår
Studentkåren vid Musikhögskolan i Malmö - (External Link)
The student unions that have chosen not to belong to LUS are:
Student Union at Lund University, Faculty of Engineering - (External Link)
The Student Union at the Faculty of Law - (External Link)
Lund Students of Economics - (External Link)
Flygskolekåren - (External Link)
Elevkåren vid YTH-utbildningen i Markaryd
Studentkåren vid YTH
Notable people connected to Lund University
» Main article: List of Lund University people
The following is a select list of some of the most notable people who have been affiliated with Lund University as students or academics, please refer to the main article for more information.
Anders Jahan Retzius (1742-1821), naturalist.
Elias Magnus Fries (1794-1878), mycologist.
Esaias Tegnér (1782-1846), poet, bishop of Växjö.
Albert Victor Bäcklund (1845-1912), mathematician and physicist (Bäcklund transform).
Knut Wicksell (1851-1926), economist.
Johannes Rydberg (1854-1919), physicist (Rydberg formula, Rydberg constant).
V. Walfrid Ekman (1874-1954), oceanographer (Ekman spiral, Ekman number).
Marcel Riesz (1886-1969), mathematician (Riesz function, Riesz theorems, Riesz mean, Riesz potential).
Ivar Wickman 1872-1914), neurologist, polio expert
Manne Siegbahn (1886-1978), Nobel Prize in Physics 1924. Professor at Uppsala University.
Frans Gunnar Bengtsson (1894-1954), author, The Long Ships.
Bertil Ohlin (1899-1979), Nobel Prize in Economics 1977.
Tage Erlander (1901-1985), Prime Minister of Sweden, 1946-1969.
Rune Elmqvist (1906-1996), developed first implantable pacemaker.
Torsten Hägerstrand (1916-2004), cultural geographer.
Sune Bergström (1916-2004), Nobel Prize in Medicine 1982.
Carl Hellmuth Hertz (1920-1990) pioneered medical ultrasonography (with Inge Edler).
Sten Broman(External Link) (1902 - 1983) Musician, music critic, tv host, university active- founder of Uarda-akademien etc.
Arvid Carlsson (1923-), Nobel Prize in Medicine 2000.
Hans Alfredson (1931-), writer, entertainer and film director, former head of Skansen.
Lars Hörmander (1931-), mathematician, awarded the Fields medal in 1962.
Ingvar Carlsson (1934-), Prime Minister of Sweden 1986-91, 1994-96.
Michael Treschow (1943-), Businessman, chairman of Ericsson.
Partner universities
University of Tartu, Estonia
Bucerius Law School, Germany
University of Greifswald, Germany
Loughborough University United Kingdom
Suffolk University Law School, Boston/USA
University of California, Berkeley, USA
North Carolina State University, USAFurther Information
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