Lund University

The Lund University (Swedish Lunds universitet) is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Northern Europe and is consistently ranked among the top 100 universities of the world. Its origins go back to the year 1425 when a Franciscan Studium Generale was founded next to Lund Cathedral, which would make it the oldest institution of higher education in Scandinavia, followed by the studia generalia of Upsala in 1477 and Copenhagen in 1479. However, the university in its present form was not founded until 1666, after Sweden acquired the region of Scania in 1658 following the peace agreement signed with Denmark.

Lund University has eight faculties and two external campuses located in the cities of Malmö and Helsingborg, with a student population of around 42,000 students spread across 276 programs and around 2,200 courses. The university maintains international agreements and relations with nearly 600 other universities in more than 70 countries and belongs to the League of European Research Universities as well as to the global network Universitas 21.

Two major materials research facilities are located at Lund University: The MAX IV Laboratory, a world-leading synchrotron radiation laboratory, and the European Spallation Neutron Source (ESS), a Community facility European Union that will house the most powerful neutron source in the world.

The university's main house and its more traditional buildings are concentrated around Lundagård Park (adjacent to Lund Cathedral), with departments scattered in different locations around the city but mostly located in a strip that goes from the park to the north, connecting with the area of the university hospital and continuing to the campus of the Faculty of Engineering in the northeast periphery of the city.