Chalmers University of Technology

Chalmers University of Technology (commonly referred to as Chalmers) is a private research university located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Chalmers focuses on engineering and science, but more broadly it also conducts research and offers education in shipping, architecture and management. The university has approximately 3100 employees and 10,000 students.
Chalmers is a highly reputable university internationally known for its engineering education
and research, and is consistently ranked among the world's top 100 universities in engineering and technology,
as well as considered one of Europe's leading technical universities.
Chalmers is coordinating the Graphene Flagship, the European Union's biggest research initiative to bring graphene innovation out of the lab and into commercial applications, and leading the development of a Swedish quantum computer.
Chalmers is a member of the UNITECH International program, the IDEA League, the Nordic Five Tech,
and the ENHANCE alliances as well as the EURECOM consortium and the CESAER network.
History
Chalmers was founded in 1829 following a donation by William Chalmers, a director of the Swedish East India Company. He donated part of his fortune for the establishment of an "industrial school". The university was run as a private institution until 1937 when it became the second state-owned technical university. In 1994 the government of Sweden reorganised Chalmers into a private company (aktiebolag) owned by a government-controlled foundation.
Chalmers is one of only three universities in Sweden which are named after a person, the other two being Karolinska Institutet and Linnaeus University.
Departments
Chalmers University of Technology has the following 13 departments:
Architecture and Civil Engineering
Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
Communication and Learning in Science
Computer Science and Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Industrial and Materials Science
Life Sciences
Mathematical Sciences
Mechanics and Maritime Sciences
Microtechnology and Nanoscience
Physics
Space, Earth and Environment
Technology Management and Economics
Furthermore, Chalmers is home to six Areas of Advance and six national competence centers in key fields such as materials, mathematical modelling, environmental science, and vehicle safety.
Research infrastructure
Chalmers University of Technology's research infrastructure includes everything from advanced real or virtual labs to large databases, computer capacity for large-scale calculations and research facilities.
Chalmers AI Research Centre, CHAIR
Chalmers Centre for Computational Science and Engineering, C3SE
Chalmers Mass Spectrometry Infrastructure, CMSI
Chalmers Power Central
Chalmers Materials Analysis Laboratory
Chalmers Simulator Centre
Chemical Imaging Infrastructure
Facility for Computational Systems Biology
HSB Living Lab
Nanofabrication Laboratory
Onsala Space Observatory
Revere – Chalmers Resource for Vehicle Research
The National laboratory in terahertz characterisation
SAFER - Vehicle and Traffic Safety Centre at Chalmers
Rankings and reputation
Since 2012, Chalmers has achieved the highest reputation for Swedish Universities by the Kantar Sifo's Reputation Index. According to the survey, Chalmers is the most well-known university in Sweden regarded as a successful and competitive high-class institution with a large contribution to society and credibility in media.
Moreover, the European Commission has recognized Chalmers as one of Europe's top universities, while based on the U-Multirank 2022, Chalmers characterized as a top performing university across various indicators (i.e., teaching & learning, research, knowledge transfer and international orientation) with the highest number of ‘A’ (very good) scores on the institutional level for Sweden.
Additionally, in 2018, a benchmarking report from MIT ranked Chalmers top 10 in the world of engineering education, while in 2020, the World University Research Rankings placed Chalmers 12th in the world based on the evaluation of three key research aspects, namely research multi-disciplinarity, research impact, and research cooperativeness.
Finally, in 2011, the International Professional Ranking of Higher Education Institutions, which is established on the basis of the number of alumni holding a post of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or equivalent in one of the Fortune Global 500 companies, Chalmers ranked 38th in the world, ranking 1st in Sweden and 15th in Europe.
Ties and partnerships
Chalmers is a member of the IDEA League network, a strategic alliance between five leading European universities of science and technology. The scope of the network is to provide the environment for students, researchers and staff to share knowledge, experience and resources.
Moreover, Chalmers is a partner of the UNITECH International, an organization consisting of distinguished technical universities and multinational companies across Europe. UNITECH helps bridge the gap between the industrial and academic world offering exchange programs consisting of studies as well as an integrated internship at one of the corporate partners.
Chalmers is also a member of the Nordic Five Tech network, a strategic alliance of the five leading technical universities in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The Nordic Five Tech universities are amongst the top international technical universities with the goal of creating synergies within education, research and innovation.
Additionally, Chalmers is a member of the ENHANCE, an alliance of ten leading Universities of Technology shaping the future of Europe and driving transformation in science and society. The partner institutions have a history of solid cooperation in EU programmes and joint research projects.
Furthermore, Chalmers is a member of CESAER, a European association of universities of science and technology. Among others, the requirements for a university to be a member of CESAER is to provide excellent science and technology research, education and innovation as well as to have a leading position in their region, their country and beyond.
Additionally, Chalmers has established formal agreements with three leading materials science centers: University of California, Santa Barbara, ETH Zurich and Stanford University. Within the framework of the agreements, a yearly bilateral workshop is organized, and exchange of researchers is supported.
Chalmers has general exchange agreements with many European and U.S. universities and maintains a special exchange program agreement with National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) in Taiwan where the exchange students from the two universities maintain offices for, among other things, helping local students with applying and preparing for an exchange year as well as acting as representatives.
Finally, Chalmers has strong partnerships with major industries such as Ericsson, Volvo, Saab AB and AstraZeneca.
Students
Approximately 40% of Sweden's graduate engineers and architects are educated at Chalmers. Each year, around 250 postgraduate degrees are awarded as well as 850 graduate degrees. About 1,000 post-graduate students attend programmes at the university, and many students are taking Master of Science engineering programmes and the Master of Architecture programme. Since 2007, all master's programmes are taught in English for both national and international students. This was a result of the adaptation to the Bologna process that started in 2004 at Chalmers (as the first technical university in Sweden).
Currently, about 10% of all students at Chalmers come from countries outside Sweden to enrol in a master's or PhD program.
Around 2,700 students also attend Bachelor of Science engineering programmes, merchant marine and other undergraduate courses at Campus Lindholmen. Chalmers also shares some students with Gothenburg University in the joint IT University project. The IT University focuses exclusively on information technology and offers bachelor's and master's programmes with degrees issued from either Chalmers or Gothenburg University, depending on the programme.
Chalmers confers honorary doctoral degrees to people outside the university who have shown great merit in their research or in society.
Organization
Chalmers is an aktiebolag with 100 shares à 1,000 SEK, all of which are owned by the Chalmers University of Technology Foundation, a private foundation, which appoints the university board and the president. The foundation has its members appointed by the Swedish government (4 to 8 seats), the departments appoint one member, the student union appoints one member and the president automatically gains one chair. Each department is led by a department head, usually a member of the faculty of that department. The faculty senate represents members of the faculty when decisions are taken.
Campuses
In 1937, the school moved from the city centre to the new Gibraltar Campus, named after the mansion which owned the grounds, where it is now located. The Lindholmen College Campus was created in the early 1990s and is located on the island Hisingen. Campus Johanneberg and Campus Lindholmen, as they are now called, are connected by bus lines.
Student societies and traditions
Traditions include the graduation ceremony and the Cortège procession, an annual public event.
Chalmers Students' Union
Chalmers Aerospace Club – founded in 1981. In Swedish frequently also referred to as Chalmers rymdgrupp (roughly Chalmers Space Group). Members of CAC led the ESA funded CACTEX (Chalmers Aerospace Club Thermal EXperiment) project where the thermal conductivity of alcohol at zero gravity was investigated using a sounding rocket.
Chalmers Alternative Sports – Student association organizing trips and other activities working to promote alternative sports. Every year the Chalmers Wake arranges a pond wakeboard contest in the fountain outside the architecture building at Chalmers.
Chalmersbaletten
Chalmers Ballong Corps
Chalmers Baroque Ensemble
Chalmers Business Society (CBS)
CETAC
Chalmers Choir
Chalmers Formula Student
ETA - (E-sektionens Teletekniska Avdelning) Founded in 1935, it's a student-run amateur radio society that also engages in hobby electronics.
Chalmers Film and Photography Committee (CFFC)
Chalmersspexet – Amateur theater group which has produced new plays since 1948
Chalmers International Reception Committee (CIRC)
XP – Committee that is responsible for the experimental workshop, a workshop open for students
Chalmers Program Committee – PU
Chalmers Students for Sustainability (CSS) – promoting sustainable development among the students and runs projects, campaigns and lectures
Föreningen Chalmers Skeppsbyggare, Chalmers Naval Architecture Students' Society (FCS)
Chalmers Sailing Society
RANG – Chalmers Indian Association
Caster – Developing and operating a Driver in the Loop (DIL) simulator, which is used in various courses and projects
Notable alumni
Christopher Ahlberg, computer scientist and entrepreneur, Spotfire and Recorded Future founder
Rune Andersson, Swedish Industrialist, owner of Mellby Gård AB and billionaire
Abbas Anvari, former chancellor of Sharif University of Technology
Linn Berggren, artist and former member of Ace of Base
Gustaf Dalén, Nobel Prize in Physics
Sigfrid Edström, director ASEA, president IOC
Claes-Göran Granqvist, physicist
Margit Hall, first female architect in Sweden
Harald Hammarström, linguist
Krister Holmberg, professor of Surface Chemistry at Chalmers University of Technology.
Mats Hillert, metallurgist
Ivar Jacobson, computer scientist
Erik Johansson, photographic surrealist
Jan Johansson, jazz musician
Leif Johansson, former CEO Volvo
Olav Kallenberg, probability theorist
Marianne Kärrholm, chemical engineer and Chalmers professor
Hjalmar Kumlien, architect
Abraham Langlet, chemist
Martin Lorentzon, Spotify and TradeDoubler founder
Ingemar Lundström, physicist, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Physics
Carl Magnusson, industrial designer and inventor
Semir Mahjoub, businessman and entrepreneur
Peter Nordin, computer scientist and entrepreneur
Åke Öberg, biomedical scientist
Leif Östling, CEO Scania AB
PewDiePie (Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg), YouTuber (no degree)
Carl Abraham Pihl, engineer and director of first Norwegian railroad (Hovedbanen)
Richard Soderberg, businessman, inventor and professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Hans Stråberg, former President and CEO of Electrolux
Ludvig Strigeus, computer scientist and entrepreneur
Per Håkan Sundell, computer scientist and entrepreneur
Jan Wäreby, businessman
Gert Wingårdh, architect
Vera Sandberg, engineer
Anna von Hausswolff, musician
Anita Schjøll Brede, entrepreneur
Presidents
Although the official Swedish title for the head is "rektor", the university now uses "President" as the English translation.
See also
Chalmers School of Entrepreneurship
IT University of Göteborg
List of universities in Sweden
Marie Rådbo, astronomer
The International Science Festival in Gothenburg
University of Gothenburg (Göteborg University)
References
External links
Chalmers University of Technology – official site
Chalmers Student Union
Chalmers Alumni Association
Educational institutions established in 1829
Technical universities and colleges in Sweden
Higher education in Gothenburg
Engineering universities and colleges in Sweden
1829 establishments in Sweden