Chalmers University of Technology


Chalmers University of Technology is a Swedish university located in Gothenburg that focuses on research and education in technology, natural sciences, architecture, mathematics, maritime and other management areas.

History

The university was founded in 1829 following a donation by William Chalmers, a director of the Swedish East India Company. He donated part of his fortune for the establishment of an "industrial school". Chalmers was run as a private institution until 1937, when the institute became a state-owned university. In 1994, the school was incorporated as an
aktiebolag under the control of the Swedish Government, the faculty and the Student Union. Chalmers is one of only three universities in Sweden which are named after a person, the other two being Karolinska Institutet and Linnaeus University.

Departments

Beginning 1 May 2017, Chalmers has 13 departments.
Furthermore, Chalmers is home to eight Areas of Advance and six national competence centers in key fields such as materials, mathematical modelling, environmental science, and vehicle safety.

Research infrastructure

Chalmers University of Technology's research infrastructure includes everything from advanced real or virtual labs to large databases, computer capacity for large-scale calculations and research facilities.
Approximately 40% of Sweden's graduate engineers and architects are educated at Chalmers. Each year, around 250 post graduate degrees are awarded as well as 850 graduate degrees. About 1,000 post-graduate students attend programmes at the university, and many students are taking Master of Science engineering programmes and the Master of Architecture programme. Since 2007, all master's programmes are taught in English for both national and international students. This was a result of the adaptation to the Bologna process that started in 2004 at Chalmers.
Currently, about 10% of all students at Chalmers come from countries outside Sweden to enroll in a master's or PhD program.
Around 2,700 students also attend Bachelor of Science engineering programmes, merchant marine and other undergraduate courses at Campus Lindholmen. Chalmers also shares some students with Gothenburg University in the joint IT University project. The IT University focuses exclusively on information technology and offers bachelor's and master's programmes with degrees issued from either Chalmers or Gothenburg University, depending on the programme.
Chalmers confers honorary doctoral degrees to people outside the university who have shown great merit in their research or in society.

Organization

Chalmers is an aktiebolag with 100 shares à 1,000 SEK, all of which are owned by the Chalmers University of Technology Foundation, a private foundation, which appoints the university board and the president. The foundation has its members appointed by the Swedish government, the departments appoints one member, the student union appoints one member and the president automatically gains one chair. Each department is led by a department head, usually a member of the faculty of that department. The faculty senate represents members of the faculty when decisions are taken.

Campuses

In 1937, the school moved from the city center to the new Gibraltar Campus, named after the mansion which owned the grounds, where it is now located. The Lindholmen College Campus was created in the early 1990s and is located on the island Hisingen. Campus Johanneberg and Campus Lindholmen, as they are now called, are connected by bus lines.

Student societies and traditions

Traditions include the graduation ceremony and the Cortège procession, an annual public event.
Chalmers has partnerships with major industries mostly in the Gothenburg region such as Ericsson, Volvo, and SKF.
The University has general exchange agreements with many European and U.S. universities and maintains a special exchange program agreement with National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan where the exchange students from the two universities maintains offices for, among other things, helping local students with applying and preparing for an exchange year as well as acting as representatives. It contributes also to the Top Industrial Managers for Europe network.
A close collaboration between the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Chalmers and ICVR at ETH Zurich is being established. As of 2014, Chalmers University of Technology is a member of the IDEA League network.

Rankings and reputation

Since 2012, Chalmers has been achieved the highest reputation for Swedish Universities by the Kantar Sifo's Reputation Index. According to the survey, Chalmers is the most well-known university in Sweden regarded as a successful and competitive high-class institution with large contribution in society and credibility in media.
In 2018, a benchmarking report from MIT ranked Chalmers top 10 in the world of engineering education, while the Academic Ranking of World Universities, placed Chalmers 51-75 in the world in the field of electrical & electronic engineering and 33rd in the world for telecommunication engineering.
In 2020, the QS World University Rankings, placed Chalmers 85th in the world in the field of engineering & technology and 81st in the world in graduate employability. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings, ranked Chalmers 71st in the world for engineering & technology,
In the 2011 International Professional Ranking of Higher Education Institutions, which is established on the basis of the number of alumni holding a post of Chief Executive Officer or equivalent in one of the Fortune Global 500 companies, Chalmers University of Technology ranked 38th in the world, ranking 1st in Sweden and 15th in Europe.

Notable alumni

Although the official Swedish title for the head is "rektor", the university now uses "President" as the English translation.