Linköping University (LiU; Swedish: Linköpings universitet) is a public research university based in Linköping, Sweden. Originally established in 1969, it was granted full university status in 1975 and is one of Sweden's largest academic institutions.
The university has four campuses across three cities: Campus Valla and Campus US in Linköping, Campus Norrköping in Norrköping and Campus Lidingö in Lidingö. It is organized into four faculties: Arts and Sciences; Medicine and Health Sciences; Science and Engineering (also referred to as the Institute of Technology); and Educational Sciences (formally an “area”, but in practice functions as a faculty). To facilitate interdisciplinary work, there are 12 large departments combining knowledge from several disciplines and often belonging under more than one faculty. In 2004 the university had 44 500 students and 4 700 employees.
It is a founding member of the Conceive Design Implement Operate (CDIO) Initiative, as well as a member of the European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU), the European University Association (EUA), the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI) and NORDTEK.
Contents
History
The origins of Linköping University date back to the 1960s. In 1965, The Swedish National Legislative Assembly (Riksdag) decided to locate some programmes within the fields of technology and medicine to Linköping. A branch of Stockholm University was placed in Linköping in 1967, offering education within humanities, social sciences and natural sciences.
Two years later in 1969, a unit for medical training and the Institute of Technology were established, marking the founding of the university. In 1970 all activities were brought together in three faculties within the Linköping University College: the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Faculty of Medicine and the Institute of Technology. Linköping University College was granted full university status in 1975 and renamed Linköping University.
In 1977 the teacher training colleges in Linköping and Norrköping were transferred to Linköping University. The Faculty of Health Sciences was formed in 1986 based on the faculty of medicine and regional funded education in health care professions. In 1997 a campus was opened in the neighbouring city of Norrköping. The renowned Carl Malmsten School of Furniture — officially Malmstens Linköping University (MLU), and most often referred to as Malmstens — has been part of Linköping University since 2000; after almost 60 years at the city centre, in 2009 Malmstens moved into new premises on the outskirts of Stockholm.
Campuses
Education and research are conducted at three campuses in the cities of Linköping and Norrköping — Campus Valla, Campus US and Campus Norrköping — situated approximately 200 and 160 kilometers southwest of Stockholm, respectively. The Campus Bus (free of charge for students) connects the three campuses in Linköping and Norrköping. A fourth campus, Campus Lidingö, is located in Lidingö, a city in the inner Stockholm archipelago.
Campus Valla
Campus Valla, three kilometers from the city centre of Linköping, is the university's largest campus and where the majority of students and researchers study and work. Campus Valla is sandwiched between Linköping Science Park and Linköping Golf Course to the west, and Valla Wood — a 200 acres large nature reserve — to the east. Campus Valla also houses several government research institutes, such as the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) and the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI).
Campus US
Campus US (the University Hospital campus) in Linköping houses the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. The Department of Biomedical Engineering, which is part of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, is also housed at Campus US. Campus US is located next to Linköping University Hospital and Linköping City Park (The Garden Society, Swedish: Trädgårdsföreningen), and only a few hundred meters from the city centre.
Campus Norrköping
Campus Norrköping is a city campus in central Norrköping, 40 kilometers northeast of Linköping. Approximately one-fourth of the students are enrolled here. The campus is located in the historical Industrilandskapet district, with campus buildings on both sides of the river Motala ström connected by Campusbron, a footbridge.
Campus Lidingö
Campus Lidingö houses the Carl Malmsten School of Furniture (Malmstens Linköping University), which has been part of Linköping University since 2000. After almost 60 years in Stockholm, in 2009 the school moved into new premises in Lidingö in the inner Stockholm archipelago.
Organization and administration
Faculties
Linköping University is organized into four faculties:
Faculty of Arts and Sciences (Swedish: Filosofiska fakulteten)
Faculty of Science and Engineering (also referred to as the Institute of Technology) (Swedish: Tekniska fakulteten (Tekniska högskolan))
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (Swedish: Medicinska fakulteten) and Linköping University Hospital
Faculty of Educational Sciences (Swedish: Utbildningsvetenskap)
Departments
There are 12 large departments — in turn organized in divisions (not listed below) — intersecting several disciplines and often belonging under more than one faculty:
Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning
Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Department of Computer and Information Science
Department of Culture and Society
Department of Electrical Engineering
Department of Health, Medicine and Caring Sciences
Department of Management and Engineering
Department of Mathematics
Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology
Department of Science and Technology
Department of Thematic Studies
Studies Units, Institutes, Centres
Thematic units cover broad, multidisciplinary fields. Institutes focus on narrower research areas.
Institute for Analytical Sociology
Didacticum LiU
Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization (CMIV)
National Supercomputer Centre in Sweden
Student organizations
Several student unions and nations exist at the university. Membership in a union or nation is voluntary.
Students are organized into different unions (and union sections) based on their field of study. There are three student unions charged with monitoring education at Linköping University:
Consensus: Student union for the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, organized into 9 sections
LinTek: Student union for the Faculty of Science and Engineering, organized into 15 sections
StuFF: Student union for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Faculty of Educational Sciences, organized into 19 sections
There are three active student nations at the university:
Wermlands nation
Västgöta nation
Vargtass - Norrlands nation
Academics
Education
Linköping University offers education at the basic and advanced levels via 120 study programmes, 550 single-subject courses and specialised as well as interdisciplinary postgraduate studies.
A large number of the degree programmes lead to qualified professional degrees in fields such as medicine, business and economics, teacher education and engineering. Many of the programmes are interdisciplinary, combining for example industrial management and engineering, medicine and engineering, or integrating economics, law and languages.
In 1986 the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences became the first faculty in Sweden to put problem-based learning into practice within medical training and health-care programmes.
In 2000, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in collaboration with three Swedish universities — Linköping University, Chalmers University of Technology and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology — formally founded the Conceive Design Implement Operate (CDIO) Initiative, a framework for engineering education.
CDIO developed into an international collaboration, with universities around the world adopting the same framework.
In 2007, the Medical Programme and the Department of Electrical Engineering, Control systems were recognized as Centres of Excellence in Higher Education by the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education. Linköping University was awarded two out of eight Centres of Excellence recognized at Swedish universities, with the recognition based on a thorough quality assessment by a panel of experts.
Research
Linköping University pursues research and postgraduate studies within the fields of technology, medicine, and humanities, natural, educational, social and behavioural sciences. It is particularly noted for its openness to multidisciplinary research and, in 1980, was the first Swedish university to introduce interdisciplinary thematic research at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and a cross-subject, interdisciplinary perspective in graduate schools for PhD students.
Linköping University receives research grants from the Swedish government within five strategic research areas: IT and mobile communication, materials science, security and emergency management, e-Science and transport research.
Research centres
Control, Autonomy, and Decision-making in Complex Systems (Linnaeus Centre CADICS)
Gender Excellence (GEXcel), The Swedish Research Council Centre of
Hearing and Deafness (Linnaeus Centre HEAD), Research on
The National Supercomputer Centre, a provider of national supercomputing resources
Novel Functional Materials (Linnécentrum LiLI-NFM), Linköping Linnaeus Initiative for
Organic Bioelektronics (OBOE), Strategic Research Centre for
Norrköping Visualization Center C, in cooperation with the City of Norrköping and Norrköping Science Park and Interactive Institute. The Dome Theatre, constructed in 2009, is the most technically advanced dome in northern Europe.
The Center for Disaster Medicine and Traumatology (KMC). A National Research Center for Traumatology assigned by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare.
For a complete list of centres, see Organisation
Rankings
Linköping University has an emphasis on engineering and technology, and in the 2022 ARWU ranking it places in the top 100 in the following engineering subjects:
Telecommunication Engineering 51–75,
Electrical & Electronic Engineering 76–100,
Materials Science & Engineering 76–100,
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology 76–100 and
Energy Science & Engineering 76–100.
In the 2022 THE ranking, Linköping University places in the top 125 in the following broad categories:
Engineering & Technology 101–125,
Business & Economics 101–125 and
Psychology 101–125.
In addition, it places in the top 200 in:
Computer Science 151–175 and
Social Sciences 176–200.
Linköping University Hospital places 192 in Newsweek's 2025 World's Best Hospitals ranking.
In the TOP500 ranking of the world's supercomputers, as of June 2026, Linköping University's National Supercomputer Centre hosts five supercomputers, including Sweden's fastest supercomputer Arrhenius:
Arrhenius in place 42
Berzelius 3 in place 259
Berzelius in place 294
Science parks and business incubator
Two science parks — Linköping Science Park and Norrköping Science Park — are closely connected to Linköping University. The university's business incubator LEAD is also housed in these parks.
LEAD - business incubator
LEAD (acronym for LiU Entrepreneurship and Development) is Linköping University's business incubator. In 2023, LEAD was selected as a Sweden's incubator in NATO's Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA). The CEO of LEAD (currently Catharina Sandberg) was selected as a member of the Council for Defence Innovation (Swedish: Försvarsinnovationsrådet), launched by the Swedish Ministry of Defence in 2024, with the Minister for Defence serving as its chairman (currently Pål Jonson).
Linköping Science Park
Linköping Science Park is a multi-site science park, with four sites throughout Linköping and the surrounding region. As of 2023, Linköping Science Park hosts approximately 600 companies, from start-ups to multinationals, with a total of 14,000 employees. The largest residents are Ericsson, IFS, Infor, Sectra, Combitech, Releasy and CGI Group. Major multinationals such as ARRIS Group, Flextronics, Autoliv, Toyota Industries and Beyond Gravity are also represented. Linköping Science Park's four sites are:
Mjärdevi is the first and main site, located next to Campus Valla (Linköping University's main campus), Linköping Golf Club and Malmen Airbase. Mjärdevi is the main site for Linköping University's business incubator LEAD.
Ebbepark, with game development, medtech and visualization among represented industries.
Cavok District is a new and developing site, focusing on aviation, space and advanced materials. Cavok District adjoins Linköping City Airport and Linköping University's strategic partner SAAB's main office, as well as its main site for development and manufacturing, including the development and manufacturing of fighter jets such as the Saab JAS 39 Gripen, and airborne early warning & control (AEW&C) platforms such as the GlobalEye. SAAB's Generic Future Fighter is an ongoing project in collaboration with Linköping University, led by the Swedish Air Force to develop a fifth-generation low-observable fighter jet.
Vreta Kluster focuses on the green industry. Located in Ljungsbro, 8 kilometers outside Linköping.
Norrköping Science Park
Norrköping Science Park in Norrköping hosts approximately 130 companies. Main areas for research and development are printed electronics, interactivity and visualisation.
Notable people
Faculty
Gerhard Andersson, professor of clinical psychology
Magnus Berggren, professor of organic electronics
Athena Farrokhzad, Visiting professor in the name of Tage Danielsson (2024–2026)
Fredrik Gustafsson, professor of sensor informatics
Lars Hultman, professor of materials science
Former faculty
Anders Blomqvist, professor emeritus of pain research
Christian Berggren, professor emeritus of industrial management
Boel Berner, professor emerita of Technolog and Social Change
Pioneer of interdisciplinary science
Co-creator of Centre for Gender studies and Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research
Per-Erik Ellström, professor emeritus of education
Stig Hagström, professor emeritus of materials science
One of the founders of Linköping University
Leading researcher in materials science
Olle Inganäs, professor emeritus of organic electronics
Harold Lawson, former professor of telecommunications and computer systems
Credited with the invention of the pointer in programming languages
ACM Fellow
Lennart Ljung, professor of control theory
Pioneering research in system identification, leading researcher in control theory
Founding professor of the LiU Division of Automatic Control
Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences Large Gold Medal
Alumni
Carl-Henric Svanberg, chairman of Volvo, former CEO of Ericsson and chairman of BP
Henry Radamson, Swedish professor of microelectronics and semiconductor, member of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Anders Flodström, professor of materials physics at the Royal Institute of Technology, former rector of the Royal Institute of Technology, former university chancellor of Sweden and head of the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education
Gustav Fridolin, former minister for education in the Government of Sweden
Therése Sjömander Magnusson, head of the Nordic Africa Institute
Jan Malm, former CEO, Ericsson China, 2000–2004
Jan-Eric Sundgren, former rector of Chalmers Institute of Technology, now senior vice president, Volvo Group
Ola Tunander, former research professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo
Åke Svensson, director general of Teknikföretagen (employers' organisation for engineering companies), former president and CEO Saab AB
Björn von Sydow, former Speaker of the Riksdag and Minister for Defence 1997–2002
Cecilia Widegren, member of the Riksdag and vice chairman in The Parliamentary Defense Committee and Group
Zhong Zhihua, rector of Tongji University, member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering
Bertil Andersson, former president of Nanyang Technological University