Campus Helsingborg

, motto = Ad utrumque
, mottoeng = Prepared for both
, established =
, type = Public research university
, budget = SEK 9 billion Facts and figures
Lund University web site.
, head_label = Vice Chancellor
, head = Erik Renström
, academic_staff = 4,780 (2022) (academic staff, researchers and employed research students)
, administrative_staff = 2,890 (2022)
, students = 46 000 (29 000 full-time equivalents)
, city = Lund
, state = Scania
, country = Sweden
, campus = Urban
, nickname = LU
, affiliations = Universitas 21
LERU
EUA
ASAIHL
, website = https://www.lu.se
https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se
, colors = Dark blue and bronze

, image_name =
, logo =
, logo_size =

Lund University ( sv, Lunds universitet) is a public research university in Sweden and one of northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the province of Scania, Sweden. It traces its roots back to 1425, when a Franciscan studium generale was founded in Lund. After Sweden won Scania from Denmark in the 1658 Treaty of Roskilde, the university was officially founded in 1666 on the location of the old studium generale next to Lund Cathedral.

Lund University has nine faculties, with additional campuses in the cities of Malmö and Helsingborg, with around 46,000 students in 270 different programmes and 1,400 freestanding courses. The university has 640 partner universities in approximately 70 countries and it belongs to the League of European Research Universities as well as the global Universitas 21 network. Lund University is consistently ranked among the world's top 100 universities. Among those associated with the university are four Nobel Prize winners, a Fields Medal winner, Prime Ministers, scores of business leaders and an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Two major facilities for materials research are in Lund University: MAX IV, a synchrotron radiation laboratory – inaugurated in June 2016, and European Spallation Source (ESS), a new European facility that will provide up to 100 times brighter neutron beams than existing facilities today, to be fully operational by the end of 2027.

The university 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 Faculty of Engineering.

History

Medieval origins

The city of Lund has a long history as a center for learning and was the ecclesiastical center and seat of the archbishop of Denmark. A cathedral school (the '' Katedralskolan'') for the training of clergy was established in 1085 and is today Scandinavia's oldest school.

In 1425, a Franciscan '' studium generale'' (a medieval university) was founded in Lund next to the Lund Cathedral (with baccalaureate degree started in 1438), making it the oldest institution of higher education in Scandinavia followed by studia generalia in Uppsala in 1477 and Copenhagen in 1479. After Sweden won Scania from Denmark in the 1658 Treaty of Roskilde, the university was founded in 1666 on the location of the old studium generale next to Lund Cathedral. The studium generale had not survived the Lutheran Reformation of 1536, which is why the university is considered a separate institution when founded in 1666.

17th–19th centuries

After the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, the Scanian lands came under the possession of the Swedish Crown, which founded the university in 1666 as a means of making Scania Swedish by educating teachers in Swedish and culturally integrate the Scania region with Sweden. The university was named ''Academia Carolina'' after Charles X Gustav of Sweden until the late 19th century when Lund University became the widespread denomination. It was the fifth university under the Swedish king, after Uppsala University (1477), the University of Tartu (1632, now in Estonia), the Academy of Åbo (1640, now in Finland), and the University of Greifswald (founded 1456; Swedish 1648–1815, now in Germany).

The university was at its founding granted four faculties: Law, Theological, Medicine and Philosophy. They were the cornerstones, 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 was not 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 1716, Charles XII of Sweden entered Lund. He stayed in Lund for two years, in between his warlike expeditions. 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's 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 a professor of Greek. With time he was to devote himself to architecture and he redesigned several of Lund's buildings, as well as churches of the province.

In 1829, the murder at Locus Peccatorum occurred in the Locus Peccatorum residence at the university. Jacob Wilhelm Blomdahl, a theology student, beat his fellow student Anders Landén to death in the night. Blomdahl was later executed for the murder, and the controversy the murder created around the conditions of student life were a factor in the creation of Akademiska Föreningens together with the University of Copenhagen.

A student called Elsa Collin was the first woman in the whole of Sweden to take part in a spex.

20th century – present

In the early 20th century, the university had a student population as small as one thousand, consisting largely of upper-class pupils training to become civil servants, lawyers and doctors. In the coming decades, it started to grow significantly until it became one of the country's largest. In 1964 the social sciences were split from the Faculty of Humanities. Lund Institute of Technology was established in 1961 but was merged with Lund University eight years later.

In recent years, Lund University has been very popular among applicants to Swedish higher education institutions, both nationally and internationally. For studies starting in autumn 2012, Lund received 11,160 foreign master's applications from 152 countries, which was roughly one third of all international applications to Swedish universities.

Women at the university

The first woman to study in Lund was Hildegard Björck

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