Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet

If you can't pronounce it, it's normal ^^ After two weeks here I still struggle with it !

So, after a busy week, I’m back to tell you more about what I’m doing here. As you may know, I will be studying for one semester at SLU, the Swedish University of Life Sciences, situated in Uppsala.

So, what is SLU ??

SLU is a relatively small university, focused on research in the fields of agronomy, forestry, food science and life sciences in general. It only has 3000 students and several campuses all around Sweden, the main being situated in Uppsala.

SLU main locations

The Uppsala campus, situated 4km from the city center is something really incredible! Indeed, it’s in the middle of the beautiful Swedish countryside, surrounded by fields and forests. The campus itself is really huge, composed of several modern buildings separated by areas of grass, gardens and water pounds. I have never seen a place like that before: I mean, everything seems brand new, so modern, and, like the rest of Uppsala, so peaceful. It is like a small city inside of Uppsala, with its own streets, houses, buildings, and roundabouts. Everything is user-friendly, with bicycle lanes, tables and benches, computers in every hall, and even the doors do open automatically before you!

The campus is composed of several buildings, each having its own purpose. On the pictures you can see the Ekologicentrum, the Biocentrum (the state-of-the-art brand new building), etc….

The Biocentrum

Student life at SLU

And here, you don’t only study! Indeed, you can go to one of the four (!) restaurants to have a drink, and every building has some kind of small “living room” where you can gather with friends, some are even situated outside. When the sun is shining, you can go for a walk into the forest or just sit by a pond or under a tree.

One of the most important places is the Ultuna Studenkår, the student union, where people gather in the evenings to have drinks, watch movies or eat something. They also organize welcoming activities for international students, which last for about 2 weeks, and are not finished yet!

  The restaurants and the union

A few words on education

Even if research oriented, SLU is still a teaching place. It offers a wide range of degrees, from Bachelor to PhD, including some international programmes. Coming here to study is quite convenient as there are no tuitions fees for EU citizens. This, plus the fact that SLU is one of the most prominent European life science universities, explains that there are so many international students coming here for their master’s, which are mostly in English. This makes of SLU a really international school.

What’s more, and I’ll finish with it, the ratio teacher/student is of 3 students/teacher, which means the teachers will have more time for you, that we study in small groups and, consequently, SLU achieves a very high quality of education.

Well, in fact, I really fell in love with this place ^^

Around the campus