Chalmers University of Technology

Chalmers University of Technology
Chalmers tekniska högskola
Motto	Avancez
Established	1829
Type	Private University
President	Prof. Karin Markides
Admin. staff	2,500
Students	11,000 (FTE, 2010)[1]
Doctoral students	1,000
Location	Gothenburg, Sweden
Campus	Urban
Affiliations	EUA, CESAER, TIME, UNITECH
Website	www.chalmers.se

Chalmers University of Technology (Swedish: Chalmers tekniska högskola, often shortened to Chalmers), is a Swedish university located in Gothenburg that focuses on research and education in technology, natural science and architecture.

History

The University was founded in 1829 following a donation by William Chalmers (1748–1811), a director of the Swedish East India Company, whose ships sailed across the world to supply Europe with goods from the East. He donated some of his fortune for the establishment of an "industrial school". Chalmers was run as a private institution until 1937, when the institute became a state-owned university. In 1994, the school once again became a private institution, owned by a 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

On 1 January 2005, the old schools were replaced by new departments:

1. Applied Information Technology
2. Applied Mechanics
3. Applied Physics
4. Architecture
5. Chemical and Biological Engineering
6. Civil and Environmental Engineering
7. Computer Science and Engineering
8. Energy and Environment
9. Fundamental Physics
10. Materials and Manufacturing Technology
11. Mathematical Sciences
12. Microtechnology and Nanoscience
13. Product and Production Development
14. Radio and Space Science
15. Shipping and Marine Technology
16. Signals and Systems
17. Technology Management and Economics

In addition to these, Chalmers is home to six national competence centres in key fields like Mathematical Modelling, Environmental Science and Vehicle Safety (SAFER).

Students

Approximately 40% of Sweden's graduate engineers and architects are educated at Chalmers. Each year, around 250 post graduate 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. From 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 enroll in a Master's or PhD programme.

List of International Masters Programmes at Chalmers
Previous List of International Masters Programmes at Chalmers (login now required)

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 and Master 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,^[2] all of which is owned by a private foundation (Chalmers University of Technology 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 appoints one member, the student union appoints one member and the president automatically gains one chair.^[3] 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.

Faculty

Campuses

In 1937, the school moved from the city center 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 of Hisingen. Campus Johanneberg and Campus Lindholmen, as they are now called, are connected by bus line number 16, but there have been numerous complaints that the campuses are too isolated from each other.

Societies and traditions

In Chalmers, tradition is taken very seriously. From the pompous graduation ceremony to the for-fun Cortège procession, everything is based on long-standing traditions.

• 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 Ballong Corps
• Chalmers Computer Society – Disbanded in 2008 due to low membership.
• CETAC
• Chalmers Choir
• Chalmersspexet – Amateur theater group which has produced new plays since 1948
• The Cortège
• Chalmers International Reception Committee (CIRC)
• XP
• 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)

Ties and partnerships

Chalmers has partnerships with major industries mostly in the Gothenburg region such as Ericsson, Volvo and SKF. The University has general exchange agreements with many European and US universities and maintains a special exchange program agreement with National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) in Taiwan where the exchange students from the two universities maintains offices for, among other things, helping local students with applying and preparing for an exchange year as well as acting as representatives (NCTU Europe – NCTU students at Chalmers, Chalmers Asia – Chalmers students at NCTU). It contributes also to the Top Industrial Managers for Europe (TIME) network.

A close collaboration between the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Chalmers and ICVR at ETH Zurich is being established.

Rankings

In the latest (2010) Academic Ranking of World Universities, in Engineering and Technology the university was ranked within top 52–75 best universities in the world^[4] and at the same time by the QS World University Rankings the university was ranked 204th in the world (overall),^[5] ranking 76th for Engineering and Technology^[6] and 120th for the Natural Sciences.^[7] In the 2011 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 University of Technology ranked 38th in the world, ranking 1st in Sweden and 15th in Europe.^[8]

Notable alumni

• Gustaf Dalén, Nobel Prize in Physics
• Leif Johansson, CEO Volvo
• Leif Östling, CEO Scania AB
• Peter Augustsson, former CEO Saab Automobile
• Lars G. Josefsson, former CEO Vattenfall
• Hans Stråberg, former President and CEO of Electrolux
• Peter Nordin, computer scientist and entrepreneur
• Sigfrid Edström, director ASEA, president IOC
• Carl Abraham Pihl, engineer and director of first Norwegian railroad (Hovedbanen).
• Gert Wingårdh, architect
• Abraham Langlet, chemist
• Abbas Anvari, former chancellor of Sharif University of Technology

Rectors (Presidents)

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

1829–1852	Carl Palmstedt
1852–1881	Eduard von Schoultz
1881–1913	August Wijkander
1913–1933	Hugo Grauers
1934–1943	Sven Hultin
1943–1958	Gustav Hössjer
1958–1966	Lennart Rönnmark
1966–1974	Nils Gralén
1974–1989	Sven Olving
1989–1998	Anders Sjöberg
1998–2006	Jan-Eric Sundgren
2006–	Karin Markides

See also

• University of Gothenburg (Göteborg University)
• IT University of Göteborg
• List of universities in Sweden

External links

• Chalmers University of Technology – Official site
• Chalmers Student Union
• Chalmers Alumni Association
• Chalmers International Reception Committee

References

1. ^ Facts and figures (English). Chalmers.se. Retrieved on 9 August 2011.
2. ^ Statues of Chalmers University of Technology Foundation, paragraph 3 (this is a translation of the swedish text.) Chalmers University of Technology
3. ^ Statues of Chalmers University of Technology Foundation, paragraph 5. Chalmers University of Technology. Retrieved on 9 August 2011.
4. ^ "Academic Ranking of World Universities in Engineering and Technology – 2010". http://www.arwu.org/FieldENG2010.jsp. 
5. ^ "QS World University Rankings 2010 (overall)". http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2010. 
6. ^ "QS World University Rankings 2010: Engineering & Technology". http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2010/subject-rankings/technology. 
7. ^ "QS World University Rankings 2010: Natural Sciences". http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2010/subject-rankings/natural-sciences. 
8. ^ "International Professional Ranking of Higher Education Institutions". http://www.ensmp.fr/Actualites/PR/EMP-ranking.html. 

Coordinates: 57°41′18″N 11°58′36″E / 57.68833°N 11.97667°E / 57.68833; 11.97667