Umeå University ( sv, Umeå universitet; Ume Sami: ) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kn ...

located in Umeå, in the mid-northern region of Sweden. The university was founded in 1965 and is the fifth oldest within Sweden's present borders. As of 2015, Umeå University has over 36,000 registered students (approximately 16,000 full-time students), including those at the postgraduate and doctoral level. It has more than 4,000 employees, half of which are teachers/researchers, including 310 professors. Internationally, the university is known for research relating to the genome of the poplar tree and the Norway Spruce, and its highly ranked Institute of (industrial) Design.

Organisation

The highest branch at Umeå University is the University Board of Directors. The board includes eight members (including the board chairman) appointed by the government, the vice-chancellor, three representatives for the teachers, three for other employees, and three for the students. The University Management consists of the

vice-chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

(

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

), pro-vice-chancellor, deputy vice-chancellors, senior advisers and the university director. The university has four faculties and eight campus schools, more than 20 research centers and 36 departments. Most education and research are located at the main campus and Umeå Arts Campus in Umeå, with additional campuses in the cities of

Skellefteå Skellefteå (, locally ) is a city in Västerbotten County, Sweden. It is the seat of Skellefteå Municipality, which had 73,246 inhabitants in 2021. The city is historically industrial, with mining being a large part of that industry, especial ...

and

Örnsköldsvik Örnsköldsvik (, ) is a locality and the seat of Örnsköldsvik Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden, with 32,953 inhabitants in 2017. Its natural harbour and archipelago is in the Gulf of Bothnia and the northern boundaries of the Hig ...

. The total number of students enlisted to some of the 50 different study programs and 800 separate courses exceeds 34,000.

Faculties

The university today has four faculties, listed below in alphabetic order: * Faculty of Arts * Faculty of Medicine * Faculty of Science and Technology * Faculty of Social Sciences The faculties in turn consist of a total of 36 departments, these are: * Department of Applied Educational Science * Department of Applied Physics and Electronics * Department of Biobank Research * Department of Chemistry * Department of Clinical Microbiology * Department of Clinical Sciences * Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation * Department of Computing Science * Department of Creative Studies (Teacher Education) * Department of Culture and Media Studies * Department of Ecology and Environmental Science * Department of Education * Department of Epidemiology and Global Health * Department of Food, Nutrition and Culinary Science * Department of Geography * Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies * Department of Informatics * Department of Integrative Medical Biology (IMB) * Department of Language Studies * Department of Law * Department of Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics * Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics * Department of Medical Biosciences * Department of Molecular Biology * Department of Nursing * Department of Odontology * Department of Physics * Department of Plant Physiology * Department of Political Science * Department of Psychology * Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine * Department of Radiation Sciences * Department of Science and Mathematics Education * Department of Social Work * Department of Sociology * Department of Surgical and Perioperative Sciences

Schools

Umeå University has eight Campus Schools, listed below in alphabetical order: * Umeå Institute of Design – a.k.a. UID, opened in 1989 at what later became Umeå Arts Campus, and is designed and equipped solely for the teaching of industrial design. UID offers a Bachelor program, master programmes in Transportation Design, Interaction Design and Advanced Industrial Design, and doctoral studies. The institute is known around the world for its high academic standards. It's the only Swedish school on ''

BusinessWeek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

''s top 60 list of design schools in the world. * Umeå Institute of Technology – is part of the Faculty of Science and Technology. The institute offers a wide range of study programmes, some of them not to be found in any other part of Sweden. Research in engineering is gradually being expanded. The faculty's traditionally strong position in natural sciences form a base on which new technology research is built. The institute is a member of the CDIO Initiative. * Umeå School of Architecture – opened autumn 2009, and moved 2010 to new facilities at Umeå Arts Campus. Aims to be an internationally orientated laboratory of sustainable architectural development, pursuing education on different levels as well as research. Umeå has obtained 250 study seats in the 5-year Architectural programme. * Umeå School of Business and Economics – (a.k.a. USBE) has around 2,000 students. The School offers one Bachelor program, four undergraduate programs (Civilekonomprogram) seven master's degrees programs (included the Erasmus Mundus Master in Strategic Project Management-program), as well as a number of doctoral programs. The International atmosphere is important to the school and it offers one undergraduate program (the International Business program) and all Master's programs and doctoral programs entirely in English. * Umeå School of Education – a.k.a. USE, was inaugurated in January 2009 to replace the former Faculty of Teacher Education. * Umeå School of Fine Arts – was started in 1987 in a former factory next to the Umeälven river. Every year 12 new students are accepted to the school. A total of 60 people are studying at the academy, situated at Umeå Arts Campus. * Umeå School of Sport Sciences – offers higher education to active athletes, but also sports related research in

sports medicine Sports medicine is a branch of medicine that deals with physical fitness and the treatment and prevention of injuries related to sports and exercise. Although most sports teams have employed team physicians for many years, it is only since the ...

and sport psychology. * Umeå University School of Restaurant and Culinary Arts – started in 1996 with the

gastronomy Gastronomy is the study of the relationship between food and culture, the art of preparing and serving rich or delicate and appetizing food, the cooking styles of particular regions, and the science of good eating. One who is well versed in gastr ...

program, but also gives courses in leadership and hospitality management.

University Hospital of Umeå

Flygbild umu nus mm 131 1312 130722 bsb-UMU

* University Hospital of Umeå, ("Norrlands Universitetssjukhus", "NUS") is the main hospital and research center for medical care and medicine in northern Sweden. In cooperation with the university, it hosts one of seven schools for medicine and dental medicine in Sweden.

Academic profile

Admissions

Prospective Swedish students make their applications to all Swedish universities at the ''Swedish Council for Higher Education'' website Antagning.se and international students use its counterpart in English, Universityadmissions.se. Information specific to non EU/EEA students (applications,

tuition fees Tuition payments, usually known as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in Commonwealth English, are fees charged by education institutions for instruction or other services. Besides public spending (by governments and other public bo ...

and

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholars ...

s) can be found at Studyinsweden.se.

Libraries

Umeå University Library (a.k.a. ''UB'') was established at the time of Umeå University's foundation in 1965, but has origins in from ''the Scientific Library in Umeå'' established in 1950 at Umeå City Library. Its main building dates from 1968, but has since been extended and rebuilt, most recently in 2006. There are subsidiary libraries at the Norrland's University Hospital, at the Umeå Arts Campus and in

Research

Umeå University has research departments and education in a broad range of academic disciplines, with more than thirty university departments conducting most teaching and research. Since the 1990s there are also several

research centers A research institute, research centre, research center or research organization, is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often im ...

, mostly local but some in partnership with other Swedish universities, such as the neighbouring

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, or Swedish Agricultural University (Swedish: ''Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet'') (SLU) is a university in Sweden. Although its head office is located in Ultuna, Uppsala, the university has several c ...

and Luleå University of Technology. The university is home to more than 2,000 researchers and teachers, many of them with international background. Important research areas include ageing and population studies, infections, and forest research. * Ageing and population studies have access to the new and unique ''Linnaeus database'', which covers the entire Swedish population between 1960 and 2009. It links information from four existing databases, enabling researchers to find new connections between health, lifestyle and aging. The ''Demographic Data Base'' also gives access to extensive databases with

population statistics Demographic statistics are measures of the characteristics of, or changes to, a population. Records of births, deaths, marriages, immigration and emigration and a regular census of population provide information that is key to making sound decisio ...

from old Swedish parish records, dating back to the 18th century, and from 2012 a ''Department of

Biobank A biobank is a type of biorepository that stores biological samples (usually human) for use in research. Biobanks have become an important resource in medical research, supporting many types of contemporary research like genomics and personalize ...

Research'', providing data management for research in large biological sample collections collected since the 1990. * The infection biology research focuses on

microorganism A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...

s like bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites, and their molecular infection mechanisms – microbial pathogenesis and virulence. ''Umeå Centre for Microbial Research (UCMR)'', offer a qualified environment for the development of new strategies against infectious diseases. The centre also hosts '' The Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS)'', which is the Swedish's node in the ''Nordic EMBL Partnership for

Molecular Medicine Molecular medicine is a broad field, where physical, chemical, biological, bioinformatics and medical techniques are used to describe molecular structures and mechanisms, identify fundamental molecular and genetic errors of disease, and to develop ...

''. * The forest research includes plant and forest biotechnology within the ''Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC)'' – a collaborative effort between the ''Department of Plant Physiology'' at Umeå University and the ''Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology'' at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), and one of the strongest research environments for basic plant research in Europe, known for its research relating to the genome of the Populus tree and the Norway Spruce. The mapping of the spruce

genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding g ...

, in collaboration with the Swedish ''SciLifeLab'', was the first complete sequencing of a

gymnosperm The gymnosperms ( lit. revealed seeds) are a group of seed-producing plants that includes conifers, cycads, '' Ginkgo'', and gnetophytes, forming the clade Gymnospermae. The term ''gymnosperm'' comes from the composite word in el, γυμν ...

and notable because it is seven times the size of the human genome, with some 20 billion base pairs.

Research centers

Research centers at Umeå University listed in alphabetical order:
Arctic Research Centre at Umeå University (Arcum)Centre for Biomedical Engineering and Physics (CMTF)Centre for Demographic and Ageing Research (CEDAR)

Center for Regional Science at Umeå University (Cerum)

Centre for Teaching and Learning (UPL)
* Climate Impacts Research Centre (CIRC)
Demographic Data Base (DDB)Digital Social Research Unit (DIGSUM)European CBRNE CentreHigh Performance Computing Center North (HPC2N)
* Humlab * Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS)
Northern Sweden Soil Remediation CentreSwedish Center for Digital Innovation (SCDI)Transportation Research (Trum)

Umeå Center for Functional Brain Imaging (UFBI)

Umeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS)
* Umeå Centre for Global Health Research (CGH)
Umeå Centre for Microbial Research (UCMR)Umeå Center for Molecular Medicine (UCMM)

Umeå Marine Sciences Center (UMF)

Umeå Mathematics Education Research Centre (UMERC)Umeå Plant Science Center (UPSC)

Umeå School of Sports Sciences (USSS)Umeå Transgene Core Facility (UTCF)

Vaartoe – Centre for Sami Research (Cesam)

Publishing

Practically all research papers produced by the university's researchers and students are to be found in the DiVA (Digital Scientific Archive) database, founded in 2000 (see link below).

Rankings

In the latest (2012) Academic Ranking of World Universities, the university was ranked between places 201–300 of all universities in the world and at the same time by the

QS World University Rankings ''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for the ...

the university was ranked 297th in the world (overall). In the latest (2012/2013) Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2012/2013 Umeå University was ranked between 251 and 275 out of all global universities. In 2012, the university was ranked 23rd in the world of higher education institutions under the age of 50 years by the British magazine ''Times Higher Education (THE''). In 2013 the university was ranked 1st of Sweden in the International Student Barometer on international student satisfaction by the International Graduate Insight Group. In 2014, the university was ranked 400th in the world for information and Computing Science
Ranking
At the same time in 2014, the university was ranked between places 101–150 in the world for Life and Agriculture Science

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Notable people

Alumni

* Adi Utarini, Indonesian scientist, Nature's 10 : ten people who helped shape science in 2020, Time's The 100 Most Influential People of 2021 * Bertil Andersson, president of Nanyang Technological University (2011–2017) * Stefan Attefall, politician, Minister for Public Health, Minister for Housing in Sweden (2010–2014) * Ibrahim Baylan, politician, Minister for Energy in Sweden (2014–) * Martin Kulldorff, professor of medicine at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

, biostatistician at Brigham and Women's Hospital, member of scientific advisory committees to the

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

and the

Centers for Disease Control The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

* Lars Lagerbäck, football manager (Sweden 2000–2009, Iceland 2011–) * Åsa Larsson Blind, Swedish-Sámi politician * Hanna Ljungberg, former football player (Umeå IK and the national team of Sweden) *

Stefan Löfven Kjell Stefan Löfven (; officially ''Löfvén''; born 21 July 1957) is a Swedish politician who serves as the President of European Socialists since October 2022. He previously served as Prime Minister of Sweden from October 2014 to November 20 ...

, politician, Prime Minister of Sweden (2014–2021) * Annika Norlin, pop artist (also known as Hello Saferide) *

Dan Olweus Dan Olweus (April 18, 1931 – September 20, 2020) was a Swedish-Norwegian psychologist. He was a research professor of psychology at the University of Bergen, Norway. Olweus has been widely recognized as a pioneer of research on bullying. B ...

, psychologist, recognized for research in bullying * Kay Pollack, film director * Sverker Sörlin, environmental historian and writer * Jan Lexell,

neurologist Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...

and professor in rehabilitation medicine

Faculty

Emmanuelle Charpentier Emmanuelle Marie Charpentier (; born 11 December 1968) is a French professor and researcher in microbiology, genetics, and biochemistry. As of 2015, she has been a director at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin. In 2018, she ...

, microbiologist, geneticist, Nobel laureate * Mathias Dahlgren, associate Professor with the Umeå University School of Restaurant and Culinary Arts *

Kristo Ivanov Kristo Ivanov (born 1937-10-20) is a Swedish-Brazilian information scientist and systems scientist of ethnic Bulgarian origin. He is professor emeritus at the Department of informatics of Umeå University in Sweden. Biography Ivanov was born in ...

Professor emeritus of Informatics (1984–2002) * Agneta Marell, former Dean at USBE (2004–2007), Deputy vice-chancellor (2010–) * Astrid Norberg, professor emerita in nursing * Staffan Normark, former professor of microbiology and

infectious disease An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable di ...

(1980–1989, 2008–2010) * Tõnu Puu, Professor emeritus of Economics *

Marcus Samuelsson 25 January 1971) is an Ethiopian-born Swedish-American celebrity chef, restaurateur and television personality. He is the head chef of Red Rooster in Harlem, New York. Early life and education Kassahun Joar Tsegie was born in Ethiopia. His fa ...

, associate Professor with the Umeå University School of Restaurant and Culinary Arts * Åke Sellström, chemist, former weapon inspector in Syria * Mike Stott * Tor Troéng, former professional

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorpo ...

currently fighting as a Middleweight for the

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

* Gunnar Öquist, former professor of plant physiology (1981–2003, 2010–), permanent secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (2003–2010)

Honorary doctorates

* Bertil Andersson, Chief Executive of the European Science Foundation * Jan Anderson, plant scientist (1998) * C. West Churchman, American Philosopher and Systems Scientist * C. Robert Cloninger, American Psychologist and

Geneticist A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic processes ...

* Harald zur Hausen, awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2008 * Christopher Martin Dobson, British

Chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...

* Kerstin Ekman, writer * Christer Fuglesang, first Swedish citizen in space * Anita Gradin, former Swedish counselor of state *

Tarja Halonen Tarja Kaarina Halonen (; born 24 December 1943) is a Finnish politician who served as the 11th president of Finland, and the first woman to hold the position, from 2000 to 2012. She first rose to prominence as a lawyer with the Central Organisa ...

, former president of

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

* Lars Heikensten, frm. governor of the central bank of Sweden * Gudmund Hernes, Norwegian sociologist, former Norwegian minister of education * Roger Jowell * Carl Kempe, Swedish businessman * Roger D. Kornberg, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2006 * Nancy Langston, professor * Sara Lidman, writer * John Loughlin, professor of politics *

Denis Mukwege Denis Mukwege (; born 1 March 1955) is a Congolese gynecologist and Pentecostal pastor. He founded and works in Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, where he specializes in the treatment of women who have been raped by armed rebels. In 2018, Mukwege and I ...

, congolese gynecologist, founder of

Panzi Hospital Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, the capital of the Sud-Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It specializes in treating survivors of violence, the large majority of whom have been sexually abused. After years of military rape in Sout ...

* Lars Nittve, museum director * Sverker Olofsson, Swedish TV-personality * Gösta Skoglund, Swedish politician and one of the founders of the university * Tedros Adhanom, director-general of the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...

(WHO) * Tom Traves, president of Dalhousie University *

Margot Wallström Margot Elisabeth Wallström (; born 28 September 1954) is a Swedish politician of the Swedish Social Democratic Party who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden and Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2014 to 2019 and Minister for Nordic Coope ...

, Swedish foreign minister (2014–), former

European commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

er * Hans L. Zetterberg, Swedish sociologist

References

External links

Umeå University
- Official website
DiVA (Digital Scientific Archive)
- for Umeå University Publications {{DEFAULTSORT:Umea University Universities in Sweden Educational institutions established in 1965 Buildings and structures in Umeå 1965 establishments in Sweden