Applications and admissions
- Antagning.se
- Sweden’s national admissions website in Swedish. Universityadmissions.se is its English-language counterpart for international applicants.
- Application round
- A fixed admissions cycle with its own opening date, deadline, document deadline and results date. International and Swedish rounds can have different dates.
- Merit rating
- The score used to rank eligible applicants within a selection group. How it is calculated depends on your qualifications and the programme.
- Selection group
- The category in which your application competes, based on qualifications such as upper-secondary grades or previous university study.
- Conditionally admitted
- You have been offered a place subject to completing a stated requirement, often finishing your current degree or submitting final documents.
- Reserve / waiting list
- You are eligible but have not received a place. Your number shows your position within a selection group, not a guaranteed overall queue.
How Swedish study is structured
- Programme
- A planned sequence of courses leading to a degree. A master’s programme is commonly 60 or 120 higher-education credits.
- Freestanding course
- A course you apply to separately rather than as part of a full programme. Courses can often be combined toward a degree.
- Higher-education credits (hp)
- The Swedish credit measure. Full-time study is 30 hp per semester and 60 hp per academic year, aligned with ECTS.
- Study period
- A part of a semester. Many courses run in one period while others continue across several periods or the full semester.
- Full-time study
- Usually 30 hp per semester, often expressed as 100% study pace. A 7.5 hp course over one period can still be full-time.
- Seminar
- A smaller, discussion-led session where preparation and participation may be assessed.
Student life and daily essentials
- Student union
- An organisation representing students academically and socially. Membership rules and benefits vary by university.
- Student nation
- A student-run social and cultural organisation most strongly associated with Lund and Uppsala. Nations host events, meals, clubs and sometimes housing.
- Personnummer
- A Swedish personal identity number. Eligibility depends on your registered period of residence; not every student receives one.
- Coordination number
- An identity number that may be used for people who are not registered in the Swedish population register. It is not identical to a personnummer.
- BankID
- A widely used electronic identification for signing in and approving transactions. Access usually depends on having a Swedish bank relationship.
- Fika
- A social coffee break, usually with something small to eat. It is as much about pausing and talking as it is about coffee.