Lund University city

Attractions • The University’s history
• The University building
• The Lund Humour city
Events
• April Last and May First
• The Lund Carnival 2026
One of the largest universities in the Nordic countries is located here in Lund. There are around 47,000 students and over 8,800 employees, including some in Malmö and Helsingborg. This affects Lund a lot in a positive way. Not least because Lund University is very outward and often arranges various events and lectures open to the public. Lund University is located in different places around the city, not at a campus somewhere outside, as in many other university cities.

The university has not only made Lund a student city, but also a research city and a city of humor. The presence of Lund University is perhaps most evident in the north-eastern Lund, where there are many buildings for the university's various departments side by side with research facilities and research-oriented companies. By using our visitor guides, you can experience the university city of Lund in several different ways.

The magnificent University Main Building is one of Lund's most photographed buildings. The University Main Building is currently closed for renovation.

The University organization and student activities

The university is a very complex organization. It is led by a Vice-Chancellor, in Lund called rector magnificus, which is a Latin honorific title that means promoted. If the Vice-Chancellor is a woman, the wording is rectrix magnifica. The University's highest decision-making body is the University Board, previously called Consistory.

University Faculties

The Nordic region's largest center for education and research in chemistry, the Chemistry Centre, belongs to the Faculty of Science. Today, there are eight faculties at the University, responsible for research and education in their different topic areas. The faculties are Faculty of Law, Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts, Faculty of Humanities and Theology, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, and School of Economics and Management.

Student organizations and activities

Student activities at the University are mainly organized within 13 nations and nine student unions, and the Academic Association. The student unions mainly operate student political activities, while the nations handle social activities. The Academic Association manages cultural activities.

Attractions

A nice way to experience the university city of Lund is to take a walk along the university history promenade, using the visitors guide. That walk can be combined with some of Lund's funniest sights. The best time to experience how the university affects the city is to spend April last and May first in Lund. The visitor guide about April last and May first tells about what happens during those days. We recommend arriving to Lund on April 29 and stay until May 2, then you can take part in the entire program.

At April last and May first, you have the opportunity to experience Sweden's largest spontaneous party, taking place in the city park, the traditional donning of caps, the Vice-Chancellor's courtship, and Lund's student singers celebrating spring.

The Lund Carnival

You almost have to experience the Lund Carnival, the absolute largest event in Lund. The carnival is organized by the students at Lund University in mid-May every four years. The next time will be in 2026, tentatively May 22 to 24. About 500,000 visitors visit the city during the three days from Friday to Sunday when the event takes place. For Saturday's carnival parade, there are usually more than 200,000 visitors in Lund city center. The visitor guide tells you most of what you need to know if you want to visit the Lund Carnival.

The 2018 Lund Carnival parade.

Ride the tram hop-on hop-off through the research city of Lund

Lund is one of the cities in the Nordic region that have most research institutions. The north-eastern Lund is a huge research park with research-oriented organizations and companies, side by side with the university's departments.

Riding the tramway hop-on hop-off is a funny way to see the research city of Lund. The best way to explore the Lund research city is by riding the tram hop-on hop-off through northeastern Lund. Then you will pass most of the large, interesting university departments and research organizations located there.

The tram from the city to northeastern Lund opened December 13, 2020. It takes 15 minutes to travel the entire 5.5 km distance. If you buy a 24-hour ticket, which costs as much as two single tickets, you can hop-on hop-off as much as you like for one 24-hour period.

The tram is part of the local transport, and on the webpage travel information, you will find more information about how to travel and buy tickets.

University Celebrations

There are three celebrations at the Lund University each year open to the public, but the number of seats is usually very limited.

The University's annual celebration is held in the University Main Building every year, on or around Karlsdagen (Charles day), January 28. Every six years, a new University Vice-Chancellor is inaugurated in connection to that celebration.

The Doctoral Procession on its way into Lund Cathedral for the annual celebration and conferment of doctoral degrees. On the last Friday in May, when it is not a public holiday, a doctoral degree conferment (PhD) ceremony is held in Lund Cathedral. In the evening, a conferment dinner is held in the Academic Association's building.

The PhD ceremony begins at 12:00. A procession with those who is becoming PhD walks from the University Main Building to the Cathedral, where the actual PhD ceremony is carried out in Latin. In the procession, the University's Vice-Chancellor, professors, marshals and other prominent persons are included. After each part of the ceremony, a cannon fire is fired on the north side of the Cathedral. The cannons are fired several times during the afternoon, and can be heard throughout central Lund.

On a Friday in mid-October each year, the inauguration of professors is held in the University Main Building's Main Hall. The new professors are inaugurated in a formal manner by the University Vice-Chancellor. The installation is a ceremony that comes from the medieval ritual where newly appointed canons were taken to their seats in the cathedral's choir chairs. In the same way, the Vice-Chancellor inaugurates professors by bringing them to the lectern in the University Main Building's auditorium.