Image: Marlene Lahti
Umeå University was founded on 17 September 1965. Since then, the University has grown steadily and become an important institution in Umeå, the country and globally. With its over 41,500 students, around 4,600 staff members, successful research and a Nobel prize, Umeå University is one of Sweden’s top universities. This page brings together a timeline, retrospectives and portraits that together paint a picture of what Umeå University has meant for individuals, society and globally.
Konrad Abramowicz came to Umeå as an exchange student in 2006 and chose to stay at the University.
She didn't think maths was for her, but it was her self-image that stood in her way. Now she is a UX designer.
Today Astrid Norberg is 86 years old and still conducting research. “I’m active nearly every day."
When Nils Eriksson gave his first lecture, there was still no email, and smoke hung thick in the corridors.
On 17 September, Umeå University was inaugurated and King Gustav IV Adolf hung the Vice-Chancellor’s chain around the neck of the first Vice-Chancellor, Lars-Gunnar Larsson.
The Faculty of Philosophy was divided into three: arts, social sciences, and mathematical and natural sciences. At this point, the student body amounted around 3,000 at Campus Umeå.
On the left is Ernst Nordin, the artist who created the artwork Norra Skenet in a competition for art for Umeå University. The artwork is a popular feature on campus and stands by the Campus Pond.
The Universum building was inaugurated as the third building by the Campus Pond. The building was originally divided into two – one student and staff canteen and one student union building, owned by the Umeå Student Union.
The rounders tournament began in 1974 and was granted World Cup status in 1997. The cup has developed and is now both a well-attended rounders tournament that draws large crowds to the finals and a music festival.
Bildmuseet – one of Sweden's largest art galleries for contemporary art – was founded in 1981, and when the Artistic Campus was created by the river in 2012, Bildmuseet moved there into a brand new, specially designed building.
This is the year that the Umeå Student Union of Science and Technology and Umeå Medical Sciences Student Union were founded, with the support of Umeå Student Union, which was founded already in 1959.
Culture on Campus started and has brightened up campus with everything from symphony orchestras to contemporary circus performances, and lots of music. Here Veronica Maggio perfoming.
The science lecture series Scientific Lunches was launched. The lunch lectures are still ongoing, and the ambition remains to present the diversity of research to the general public.
Umevatoriet was established in 2009, but in 2020 it was moved and transformed into its current modern science centre format Curiosum located at Umeå Arts Campus in central Umeå.
The Umeå Institute of Design is ranked as the world's best design school by the Red Dot Institute. And it has achieved more top rankings, with 2024 being the ninth consecutive year in first place.
The international collaborations MIRAI (Japan) and SASUF – South Africa Sweden University Forum are launched and contribute to important developments and the internationalisation of the university.
During the pandemic, our campuses were shut down and practically all teaching and activities moved online. Many researchers contributed to handling the pandemic and the virus.
Emmanuelle Charpentier’s research conducted at Umeå University on the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 awarded her and Jennifer A. Doudna the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
The university ranks first in the world in three of five main categories in the International Student Barometer and also tops the category ‘overall perceived happiness’.
Umeå University was first in the Nordic region to be certified as a Healthy Campus. The certification helps promote health and wellbeing for students and staff.
The university joins the European Campus of City-Universities (EC2U) alliance. The collaboration focuses on mobility and strengthening education and research.
38,009 people have been admitted for the autumn semester, placing Umeå University in first place in the country in terms of the number of newly admitted students.
