Retrospect

Once Linköping University was just an idea. Today we stand as living proof of what courage, curiosity and free thinking can achieve.  

50 years of regional success

Linköping has been an important centre of learning since medieval times, when Linköping Cathedral offered a school with extensive international contacts and its own student hall in Paris. In 1627, the Cathedral School became the third upper secondary school in Sweden and in 1843 a college for elementary school teachers began operations. In Norrköping, the Fröbel Institute, Sweden’s first college for training pre-school teachers, was founded in 1902.

What would later become Linköping University began to take shape in the mid-1960s. Higher education in Sweden was expanding and in 1965 the Swedish Parliament decided to establish a branch of Stockholm University, together with a university college of engineering and medicine, in Linköping. 

In the autumn of 1967, the branch of Stockholm University moved into premises in central Linköping. There the first students could take courses in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. Two years later, the units for engineering and medicine got underway.

In 1970, education and research started moving into the recently built Campus Valla, a short distance from the town centre. Buildings A and B were the first to be completed. In the same year, the various parts were merged to form Linköping University College, including faculties of engineering, medicine and arts and sciences.

The new university college was the first in Sweden to offer study programmes in Industrial Engineering and Management and Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering, both starting in 1969. A few years later, in 1975, Linköping University launched Sweden’s first Computer Science and Engineering programme.

1975 was also the year when Linköping University College became Linköping University, the sixth university in Sweden. In line with the 1977 reform of the Swedish higher education system, teacher education was also transferred to Linköping University. Its activities have grown since then, and Linköping University, LiU, has expanded to both Norrköping and Stockholm.

50 years of free and bold exploration

LiU has always worked with innovation in education and research. In 1980, the newly formed Department of Thematic Studies adopted an approach that was new in Sweden. Research was organised in interdisciplinary themes, such as Technology and Social Change or Water and Environmental Studies. Scientists worked across boundaries to solve complex problems. LiU was also first in Sweden to introduce graduate research schools for the different themes. The model later spread to other parts of the university and became a national success.

The new Faculty of Health Sciences (Hälsouniversitetet), formed in 1986, combined governmentally and regionally funded education. It introduced a radically changed methodology, being the first in Sweden to use problem-based learning, PBL. Later, LiU became the first university in the world to allow students from different health sciences programmes to treat actual patients on a student-managed training ward. 

50 years of curious and courageous students 

Student numbers continued to increase, and in 1987 Kårallen was opened. Kårallen is the student building run by Kårservice, which is owned by the three student unions at LiU; Consensus, LinTek and StuFF, and promotes student life. Student life at LiU has several times been ranked as Sweden’s best. LiU has many active student associations, and in 1993 one of them, Lysator, was first in Sweden to create a website. It covered the association’s activities and was the sixth website to be published in the world. 

A significant milestone in the history of the University was the opening of Campus Norrköping in 1997. Some programmes had previously operated from Norrköping, but the number of students now grew drastically in line with government efforts to expand higher education. Historical factories in the former industrial district were again filled with life, as they were filled with classrooms, laboratories, cafés, a library and of course students.

With the advent of the new campus, the students had an idea: a free direct bus between LiU’s three campuses to promote student life and make it easier for students and co-workers. The student unions started working on making the bus route a reality and the university management gave its support. In 2002, the campus bus took to the road. 

50 years of expansion and belief in the future

LiU also expanded to Stockholm when the reputable Carl Malmsten School of Furniture sought a collaborative partner from the academic sector. The Malmsten furniture design and handicraft programmes became part of LiU in 2000. After almost 60 years at Södermalm in central Stockholm, Malmstens moved into new premises in Lidingö in the autumn of 2009 and LiU got its fourth campus.

In 2005, following an idea from the sudents, the first Kalas event was held, which was to become Sweden’s largest welcoming party for new students. Each year, 8,000-10,000 students are welcomed, given information and enjoy a festival and a fair. Kalas is unique in that it is a collaborative project. Here, society and the university can meet, student associations find new members and companies form relationships with students.

In 2015, LiU became home to the largest single research programme in Sweden, the Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program, WASP. It is a forceful initiative in basic research, education and recruitment within autonomous systems and software development. WASP’s vision is excellent research and competence in artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous systems and software for the benefit of Swedish industry. LiU had previously conducted significant research in the field and was therefore given the assignment.

The overall vision is that LiU is to be “a university of international standing – where people and ideas converge and develop”. One step in this direction is Studenthuset, which was inaugurated in the autumn of 2019. It is a house full of possibilities with space for studies, work and new thoughts, where students, researchers and teachers can meet.

In 2024, LiU passed one billion SEK in total in private donations. Compared to other funding, donated funds often offer freedom and a long-term perspective, which means that investments can be made that would otherwise not have been possible. LiU has worked with fundraising for research and education for 20 years and was among the first universities in Sweden to take this approach.

We now look forward to another 50 years of free thinking shaping the future.