Gothenburg University College" was established in 1891 with the help of private donations. The first classes were held by seven professors teaching seven subjects to twenty-one students, four of whom were women. In 1907 it became an independent university college with the same status as the two national universities of Uppsala and Lund. The University of Gothenburg was formally founded in 1954 through the amalgamation of this college with the Medical college, which had been established in 1949. During the 1950s and 60s, the University expanded rapidly, moving from 500 students in the late 1940s to approximately 21,000 in the late 1960s. Over the years a number of previously independent colleges have been incorporated into the University, the most recent being the College of Health. Today the University of Gothenburg offers the most comprehensive range of courses and degree programmes in Sweden. The University of Gothenburg has approximately 50,000 students (25 000 full-time students) and 5,000 employees. It is one of the major universities in Europe. With its eight faculties and approximately sixty departments, the University of Gothenburg is also the most wide-ranging and versatile university in Sweden, offering unique opportunities for cooperation and development. The distinctive characteristic of university education at the University of Gothenburg is the close interaction between teaching and research. Students are kept informed of the latest developments in the field they are studying and researchers gain inspiration from their students expectations and needs. At the University of Gothenburg research and teaching are regarded as equally important, and there is ongoing pedagogical development work. In an international perspective too, the University of Gothenburg is unusually comprehensive, with cutting-edge research in a number of dynamic research areas. Cooperation with Chalmers University of Technology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, society at large and trade and industry has been consistently strengthened and intensified over recent years, as have international contacts and collaborative projects with partners abroad.
