Application to higher education in Sweden can generally be made in two different ways. One method is to apply directly to the desired university. Applications for the 50 or so national programmes for a professional degree are made via the central application system, managed by the National Admissions Office to Higher Education. Apart from these two systems, it is possible to gain admission to higher education through special entrance tests administered by individual universities. Applications are made by students completely new to Swedish higher education and by students who have enrolled before.
Applications can be for entire programmes or for individual subject courses.
This report deals with the results obtained through the processing of applications and admissions for the 2000 Autumn term made in the two main ways detailed above. This yields the total net number of students who applied. Some 69 per cent of the applicants new to higher education were below the age of 25, which is the same proportion as 1999. The most popular programme for women was nursing 13 per cent, social work and child and youth training, both 10 per cent. Apart from the national programmes for a professional degree, there are many programmes designed by the universities themselves.