Adult education is the equivalent of youth upper secondary school but not identical to it. Municipal adult education is made up of courses, and the courses in the different subjects follow on from each other. The qualifications of the adult students must be adequately supplemented to raise them to the same standard as those of young persons. The courses provided can, however, differ from those in youth upper secondary education as regards emphasis, content and scope. The students themselves decide the number and combinations of subjects to be taken and the rate of progress.
Many students take only one or two courses.
Those completing full programme can obtain a three-year upper secondary school leaving certificate. Adult education for intellectually handicapped is a type of school in its own right which can provide further training in an occupation or training for a completely new occupation. Most of these programmes take between six months and a year to complete and focus for example on economics, information processing and tourism. The municipalities are obliged to provide basic Swedish language tuition for immigrants, for an average of 525 hours. The Swedish tuition aims to providing adult immigrants with basic knowledge and proficiency in the Swedish language as well as knowledge about the Swedish society.