Uppsala Universitet
was founded in 1477, making it one of
the oldest universities in the world, and the oldest in
Scandanavia. It has a long history of academic success,
including the famous work of its 18th century residents,
Carolus Linnaeus and
Anders Celsius. More recently Uppsala
has been home to no less than five
Nobel prize laureates.
The university boasts 40 cohesive programs and approximately
1400 individual courses.
The school year is divided into Fall (hösttermin) and Spring
(vårtermin) semesters. Students typically study only one
subject at a time, although it is not entirely uncommon for
international students to take two, or even three courses
simultaneously.
Most courses place heavy grading weight upon exams
and/or final essays (tentor). In some math courses for
instance, your entire grade may be based on your final exam.
This is not as bad as it may at first sound, however, as
students are generally permitted to retake any exam they
fail at no penalty to their final grade.
Living
