University of Gävle Celebrates its 40th Birthday with a New Record

More and more people choose a higher education, and today the University of Gävle educates 17 000 students.

High increase in number of applicants

It is now 40 years since the University of Gävle was established. During this 40-year period, the proportion of inhabitants in the Gävleborg region with a higher education has increased from 6 percent to 18 percent.

“The University of Gävle has had a high increase in the number of applicants during several years. Unfortunately, this means that we must turn down many of those who would like to study here,” says Erika Rosen, Head of the Vice-Chancellor’s Office.

Social responsibility

Many of our programmes are net-based and are offered as distance education. The result is higher accessibility; it makes it easier for students to take the step into higher education. The University of Gävle is today one of Sweden’s higher learning institutions with the highest proportion of students with parents with no higher education.

“The demand for, and the need for, higher education is great in our region. We strive to take our social responsibility and, for this reason, we have increased the range of freestanding courses,” says Maj-Britt Johansson, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Gävle.

“We now hope that the Swedish parliament will take a decision on increased funding so that we can educate more students.”

For more information, please contact:
Maj-Britt Johansson, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Gävle
Tel: 026-64 85 10, 070-656 41 26
E-post: maj-britt.johansson@hig.se

Text: Douglas Öhrbom