Chalmers University of Technology (, commonly referred to as Chalmers) is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

research university located in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

, Sweden. Chalmers focuses on

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

and

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

, but more broadly it also conducts research and offers education in

shipping Freight transport, also referred to as freight forwarding, is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

and

management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

. The university has approximately 3100 employees and 10,000 students. Chalmers coordinates the development of a Swedish

quantum computer A quantum computer is a computer that exploits quantum mechanical phenomena. On small scales, physical matter exhibits properties of both particles and waves, and quantum computing takes advantage of this behavior using specialized hardware. ...

and the Graphene Flagship, a

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

research initiative to develop commercial technologies with

graphene Graphene () is a carbon allotrope consisting of a Single-layer materials, single layer of atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice, honeycomb planar nanostructure. The name "graphene" is derived from "graphite" and the suffix -ene, indicating ...

. The university is a co-founder of the

CDIO Initiative CDIO are trademarked initials for Conceive Design Implement Operate. The CDIO Initiative is an educational framework that stresses engineering fundamentals set in the context of conceiving, designing, implementing and operating real-world systems ...

, a member of the

UNITECH International UNITECH International is a leadership development program for talented STEM students ran by a society of distinguished technical universities and multinational companies across Europe. History UNITECH was founded in 1999 by ETH Zürich's forme ...

program, the

IDEA League The IDEA League is an alliance among five leading European universities of technology: * Chalmers University of Technology * Delft University of Technology * ETH Zürich * Polytechnic University of Milan * RWTH Aachen University On ...

, 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 The Swedish East India Company (; SOIC) was founded in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1731 for the purpose of conducting trade with India, China and the Far East. The venture was inspired by the success of the Dutch East India Company and the British Ea ...

. 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 The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden () is the Cabinet (government), national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's Executive (government), executive authority. The Government consists of the Prime Minister of Sweden, Prime Minister and their ...

reorganised Chalmers into a private company (

aktiebolag (, " stock company") is the Swedish term for "limited company" or "corporation". When used in company names, it is abbreviated as "AB" (in Sweden), "Ab" (in Finland), or, rarely, "A/B" (dated), roughly equivalent to the abbreviations ''Corp.'', ...

) owned by a government-controlled foundation. Chalmers is one of three universities in Sweden which are named after a person, the other two being

Karolinska Institutet The Karolinska Institute (KI; ; sometimes known as the (Royal) Caroline Institute in English) is a research-led medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area of Sweden and one of the foremost medical research institutes globally. ...

and

Linnaeus University Linnaeus University (LNU) () is a state university in the Swedish historical province (''landskap'') Småland, with campuses located in Växjö and Kalmar. Linnaeus University was established in 2010 by a merger of former Växjö University a ...

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: * 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

In 2018, a benchmarking report from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

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. Additionally, in 2022 the U-Multirank characterized Chalmers 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. 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 The ''Fortune'' Global 500, also known as Global 500, is an annual ranking of the top 500 corporations worldwide as measured by revenue. The list is compiled and published annually by '' Fortune'' magazine. Methodology Until 1989, it listed o ...

companies, Chalmers ranked 38th in the world, ranking 1st in Sweden and 15th in Europe.

Ties and partnerships

Chalmers is a member of the

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

, an organization consisting of distinguished technical universities and multinational companies across Europe. UNITECH offers 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. Additionally, Chalmers is a member of the ENHANCE, an alliance of ten leading Universities of Technology. 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. Additionally, Chalmers has established formal agreements with three leading materials science centers:

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

ETH Zurich ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ran ...

and

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. 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 National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) was a public research university in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Established in 1896 as Nanyang Public School by an imperial edict of the Guangxu Emperor, it was one of China's leading universities. After the Chinese ...

( 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 (), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...

Volvo The Volvo Group (; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distribution and sale of truck ...

Saab AB Saab AB (originally , , acronym SAAB), with subsidiaries collectively known as the Saab Group (), is a Swedish aerospace and defense company, defence company primarily operating from Sweden. The company is headquartered in Stockholm, but its de ...

and

AstraZeneca AstraZeneca plc () (AZ) is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, UK. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includi ...

Students

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 file:Bologna-Prozess-Logo.svg, 96px, alt=Logo with stylized stars, Logo file:Bologna zone.svg, alt=Map of Europe, encompassing the entire Bologna zone, 256px, Bologna zone The Bologna Process is a series of ministerial meetings and agreements b ...

that started in 2004 at Chalmers (as the first technical university in Sweden). As of 2025, about 17% of all students at Chalmers come from countries outside Sweden to enroll in a program at Chalmers. 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 University of Gothenburg 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 University of Gothenburg, 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

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 A students' union or student union, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, organizatio ...

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 Hisingen () is the fifth-largest island of Sweden (after Gotland, Öland, Södertörn and Orust), with an area of . It is a river island, formed by the split of the Göta Älv at Bohus Fortress, Bohus, and is defined to the east and south by t ...

. 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 The thermal conductivity of a material is a measure of its ability to heat conduction, conduct heat. It is commonly denoted by k, \lambda, or \kappa and is measured in W·m−1·K−1. Heat transfer occurs at a lower rate in materials of low ...

of alcohol at

zero gravity Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight, i.e., zero apparent weight. It is also termed zero g-force, or zero-g (named after the g-force) or, incorrectly, zero gravity. Weight is a measurement of the fo ...

was investigated using a

sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are often ...

. * 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 Ballong Corps (CBC) is a students' hot-air ballooning club at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Sto ...

* 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 A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...

and entrepreneur, Spotfire and

Recorded Future Recorded Future, Inc. is an American cybersecurity company founded in 2009, with headquarters in Somerville, Massachusetts. The company was acquired by MasterCard in 2024. History In 2007, co-founders Christopher Ahlberg and Staffan Truvé, bo ...

founder * Abbas Anvari, former chancellor of Sharif University of Technology * Linn Berggren, artist and former member of

Ace of Base Ace of Base is a Swedish pop group formed in 1987, originally consisting of siblings Jonas, Linn, and Jenny Berggren, with Ulf Ekberg. They achieved worldwide success following the release of their debut album, '' Happy Nation'', in 1992. L ...

Gustaf Dalén Nils Gustaf Dalén (; 30 November 1869 – 9 December 1937) was a Swedish engineer and inventor who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1912 "for his invention of Sun valve, automatic regulators for use in conjunction with gas accumulators fo ...

Nobel Prize in Physics The Nobel Prize in Physics () is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the ...

* Sigfrid Edström, director ASEA, president IOC * Claes-Göran Granqvist,

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

* Margit Hall, first female architect in Sweden * Harald Hammarström, linguist * Krister Holmberg, professor of Surface Chemistry at Chalmers University of Technology. * Mats Hillert,

metallurgist Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...

Ivar Jacobson Ivar Hjalmar Jacobson (; born September 2, 1939) is a Swedish computer scientist and software engineer, known as a major contributor to UML, Objectory, Rational Unified Process (RUP), aspect-oriented software development, and Essence. Biog ...

* Erik Johansson, photographic surrealistFAQ & Biography
, Retrieved 16 Oct. 2014 * Jan Johansson, jazz musician * Leif Johansson, former CEO

* Olav Kallenberg, probability theorist * Marianne Kärrholm, chemical engineer and Chalmers professor * Hjalmar Kumlien, architect *

Abraham Langlet Nils Abraham Langlet (9 July 1868 – 30 March 1936; known by his second given name) was a Swedish chemist. Biography Langlet was born in Södertälje, Sweden. He was the son of architect Emil Victor Langlet (1824–1898) and his wife, author Cl ...

, chemist *

Martin Lorentzon Sven Hans Martin Lorentzon (; born 1 April 1969) is a Swedish entrepreneur and co-founder of Tradedoubler and Spotify. From 2013 to 2018 he was on the board of Telia Company. Since April 2019, he has been an expert on Sweden's immigrants' integr ...

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

and TradeDoubler founder * Ingemar Lundström,

, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Physics * Carl Magnusson, industrial designer and inventor * Semir Mahjoub, businessman and entrepreneur * Peter Nordin,

and entrepreneur * Åke Öberg,

biomedical scientist A biomedical scientist is a scientist trained in biology, particularly in the context of medical laboratory sciences or laboratory medicine. These scientists work to gain knowledge on the main principles of how the human body works and to find new ...

* Leif Östling, CEO

Scania AB Scania AB ( , ), stylised SCANIA in its products, is a major Sweden, Swedish manufacturer headquartered in Södertälje, focusing on commercial vehicles—specifically heavy lorries, trucks and buses. It also manufactures diesel engines for hea ...

PewDiePie Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg (born 24 October 1989), better known as PewDiePie, is a Swedish YouTuber, best known for his gaming videos. Kjellberg's popularity on YouTube and extensive media coverage have made him one of the most noted online pe ...

(Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg), YouTuber (no degree) * Carl Abraham Pihl, engineer and director of first Norwegian railroad (

Hovedbanen In telecommunications, trunking is a technology for providing network access to multiple clients simultaneously by sharing a set of circuits, carriers, channels, or frequencies, instead of providing individual circuits or channels for each clie ...

) * Richard Soderberg, businessman, inventor and professor at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

Hans Stråberg Hans Stråberg (born 1957 in Västervik, Sweden) is a Swedish business executive serving as the Chairman of Atlas Copco and SKF. He was the President and CEO of Electrolux AB from 2002 to 2010, and was among the youngest CEOs of a Fortune Globa ...

, former president and CEO of

Electrolux Electrolux AB () is a Swedish Multinational corporation, multinational home appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Stockholm. It is consistently ranked the world's second largest appliance maker by units sold, after Whirlpool Corporation, Whi ...

Ludvig Strigeus Ludvig "Ludde" Strigeus (born 15 January 1981) is a Swedish programmer, best known for developing software such as the BitTorrent client μTorrent, '' OpenTTD'', and Spotify. Early life and education Strigeus was born in January 1981, and he gra ...

and entrepreneur * Per Håkan Sundell,

and entrepreneur * Marcus Wandt, test pilot and ESA astronaut * Jan Wäreby, businessman * Gert Wingårdh, architect *

Vera Sandberg Vera Helfrid Victoria Sandberg (born 23 May 1895 at ''Hångers gård'' (English language, Eng:Hångers farm) in Ljungby; died 24 December 1979 in Stockholm) was a Swedish engineer. In 1917, she became Sweden's first female engineer. Biography V ...

, engineer * Anna von Hausswolff, musician * Anita Schjøll Brede, entrepreneur *

Martin Rolinski Martin Andrzej Rolinski (born June 23, 1982) is a Swedish singer of Polish origin and was the lead singer of the Swedish synthpop band Bodies Without Organs (now known as BWO). ''Popstars'' Rolinski started his music career in 2002 when he ma ...

, artist and former member of

Body without organs The body without organs (or BwO; French: or ) is a fuzzy concept used in the work of French philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. The concept describes the unregulated potential of a body— not necessarily human—without organizati ...

Presidents

Although the official Swedish title for the head is "rektor", the university now uses "President" as the English translation.

References

{{Authority control Universities and colleges established in 1829 Technical universities and colleges in Sweden Higher education in Gothenburg Engineering universities and colleges in Sweden 1829 establishments in Sweden 19th-century establishments in Gothenburg and Bohus County