In the middle of the 17th century half the population of Linköping comprised of upper secondary school students, so called djäknarna – scholars.
Today there are over 20,000 students attending both compulsory 9-year education and upper secondary schools with a further 27,000 enrolled at Linköping University. Then as now students have an impact on the municipality which means that Linköping can, by rights, call itself an academic city.
Through the influence of the church, it is not without foundation that Linköping was early to develop an educational system. Traditionally Linköping is a centre of culture and academia.
In 1627 the first upper secondary school in Linköping was established which was only the third in the whole of Sweden after Västerås and Strängnäs. This upper secondary school still exists under the name of Katedralskolan – the Cathedral School. Former students include the poets Atterbom and Leopold; Berzelius who was a chemist; Hugo Theorell, a Nobel Laureate and the writer Tage Danielsson. However the educational system in Linköping is much older, dating back to 1230 when a school associated with the Cathedral was first mentioned.
Many opportunities
Today there are considerably more choices in Linköping than during the medieval period. There are approximately 60 schools offering compulsory 9-year education for children aged from 6 years old to 16. The students or to be more accurate, their parents can choose amongst a wide variety of courses and schools, including municipal schools, municipal independent schools and schools that are entirely independent.
The municipality also offers a choice of courses at upper secondary schools including two municipal, two municipal independent as well as a number of independent schools, all providing different curricular and profiles.
From 6 years old to post graduate
In Linköping it is possible to start school at 6 years and continue all the way up to post graduate level. Even during the 17th century the establishment of a university in Linköping was being considered but it would take almost three hundred years before this became a reality.
The academic education in Linköping has its roots in the 1960’s when an inquiry into University and Higher Education was presented in 1963. In 1965 technological and medical courses were established in Linköping to be followed two years later by arts and sciences which was a branch of Stockholm University.
In 1970 resources were combined and transferred to the school of higher education in Linköping and in 1975 the school became Sweden’s sixth University. In 1996 Campus Norrköping, which is a branch of Linköping University, was established in the neighbouring municipality.
Today there are 27,000 students at Linköping University which offers almost 100 different progammes and over 600 single subject courses. Linköping is unique in that it offers interdisciplinary courses. There are also 1,400 researchers at the University
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