How to Get Into a University in Sweden as an International Student

Fee figures: catalogue of 6 October 2026.

Sweden has one of the most centralised admission systems in Europe. You do not apply to each university separately. You file one application through a national service run by the Swedish Council for Higher Education (UHR), rank your choices in it, and the universities make their decisions from there.

One application, two websites

The national service has two faces:

• universityadmissions.se in English, used mainly for programmes taught in English and by international applicants.
• antagning.se in Swedish, used for programmes taught in Swedish.

Both are the same system. In one application you can list several programmes in order of preference. Applicants from outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland pay an application fee of SEK 900 (about €80), once per semester you apply for, however many programmes you list.

The first choice: English or Swedish

Most bachelor's programmes in Sweden are taught in Swedish. Our catalogue lists 93 undergraduate programmes taught in English, out of 1,130 in total. If you do not speak Swedish, your choice is among those.

The language also decides which admission round you use, and this matters more than it sounds:

• The international round opens in autumn and closes in mid-January. Most English-taught programmes are offered here, and its early results leave non-EU students time to get a residence permit.
• The national round opens in March and closes in mid-April. It covers all programmes taught in Swedish.

Entry requirements

Every programme has general and specific requirements.

• General requirements. You must have completed upper-secondary school and know English at the level of the Swedish school course English 6. For programmes taught in Swedish you also need Swedish at the level of the course Swedish 3; applicants with a foreign school certificate can show this with the TISUS test.
• Specific requirements. Most programmes add subjects of their own, such as a higher level of mathematics for economics or science subjects for engineering. They are listed on each programme's page.

You do not need to get your diploma recognised beforehand. You upload your school documents to the application, and the admissions service assesses them. For many countries it publishes exactly which documents to send.

If English is not your first language, see IELTS and TOEFL for European universities; the admissions service lists which tests and scores it accepts as equal to English 6.

How places are given

If there are more eligible applicants than places, applicants are split into selection groups:

• Grades. At least a third of the places go by upper-secondary grades. Applicants who meet the requirements with their upper-secondary certificate as it is, foreign certificates included, form group BI.
• The högskoleprovet. At least another third go by the Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test. The test is mostly in Swedish, so in practice it helps Swedish speakers.
• The university's own methods. Up to a third can be given by interviews, portfolios or tests, which is common for arts programmes.

For many Swedish programmes we show the entry score: the lowest BI grade score admitted in the final selection, on a scale from 0 to 22.5. See entry scores in Sweden. Many English-taught programmes admit everyone who is eligible, and when they do there is no score to show.

Step by step

1. Shortlist programmes and check their specific requirements.
2. Apply on universityadmissions.se between 16 October 2026 and 15 January 2027 for the international round, or on antagning.se between 15 March and 15 April 2027 for the national round. Both are for studies starting in autumn 2027.
3. Upload your school certificates and proof of English, and pay the application fee if you are not from the EU, the EEA or Switzerland. In the international round the deadline for both is 1 February 2027.
4. Wait for the results. For bachelor's programmes in the international round they come out on 8 April 2027.
5. Accept your place, and if you are a non-EU student, pay the first tuition instalment.

If you are not an EU citizen

Citizens of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland do not need a residence permit to study. Everyone else needs a residence permit for studies, applied for online with the Swedish Migration Agency. You can apply only once you are admitted and have paid the first tuition instalment, and you must show enough money for the whole period of the permit. The figures are in how much it costs to study in Sweden. See also our overview of student visas in Europe.

Where to look next

• How much it costs to study in Sweden
• All 1,130 programmes in Sweden by city and field
• Entry scores in Sweden

Official sources

• University Admissions in Sweden: the national application service in English
• Autumn semester dates: deadlines for the autumn 2027 intake
• Studera.nu: selection: how places are given
• Swedish Migration Agency: residence permit for higher education

Always check current information on the official website of the university before you apply.