The education system is, with few exceptions, public and open to all without fees. Primary schools are run by the municipalities, as are the secondary schools. Universities and colleges are administered by the state, but they have been given far-reaching autonomy in the use of resources. Academic freedom is carefully guarded by faculty and students alike.

All municipalities must provide preschool classes. Parents may choose whether or not to send their children, and the great majority does participate. Parents and pupils have the choice of free municipal schools as well as independent schools, which may charge tuition. Only a very small percentage of all Swedish children attend private or independent schools. The comprehensive school (grundskola) is compulsory for nine years. Children are required to attend school between the ages of 7 and 16. Compulsory education is free, and no charge is made for school lunches, transportation, or educational materials. The comprehensive school is divided into three-year stages: lower, middle, and upper. Each school may decide when English and other foreign languages are introduced, but all must meet the same standards by grade 5. About one-third of all schools begin English instruction in grade 1. From the seventh year the curriculum is divided into different lines chosen by the pupils themselves. Special education is given to all pupils suffering from physical or mental handicaps.

Nearly all of the pupils continue from comprehensive school to the upper secondary school. The curriculum in this school (gymnasieskola) is divided between several theoretical programs, which are university-oriented, and a variety of vocationally oriented programs. Certain core subjects are common to all programs.

Marks, or grades, are given in comprehensive school starting in the eighth year. In the upper secondary school grades are given each term. About half of all young people in Sweden go on to higher studies within five years of completing upper secondary school.

Sweden has about a dozen major universities and some 20 university-colleges. The oldest is the Uppsala University, founded in 1477. Other universities are located in Lund, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Umeå, Linköping, Karlstad and Växjö. Sweden is also home to other world-renowned institutions, including the Karolinska Institute (medicine) in Stockholm and the Chalmers University of Technology. Education is free of charge; students pay no tuition. Courses are typically taught in Swedish, but course literature is often in English. An increasing number of courses are also offered in English.

Continuing and adult education are important features of the Swedish education system. Adult education outside the public school system is offered at the many Folk High Schools, a uniquely Scandinavian educational institution. Also characteristic are the nationwide voluntary education associations. About half of Sweden’s adult population pursues studies in one form or another. Since 1968 municipalities have offered courses for adults covering the three upper grades of comprehensive school and upper secondary school. University courses also are open to all age groups. Distance learning—including radio and television courses, as well as Internet and correspondence courses—is popular and especially useful for persons who reside far from educational centres.

Cultural milieu

Sweden’s cultural heritage is an interweaving of a uniquely Swedish sensibility with ideas and impulses taken from other, larger cultures. As a result, Swedish culture has long been characterized by a push and pull. Swedish art, poetry, literature, music, textiles, dance, and design are deeply infused with a primal relationship with the Nordic landscape and climate, but Swedes also have long been attracted to the greatness of the cultures of such countries as France and Germany, and influences from these and other European cultures have contributed to the development of Swedish literature, fashion, and cultural debate, as well as to the Swedish language itself.

As Swedish political influence grew, particularly in the 17th and 18th centuries, so did a desire among prominent Swedes for their country to take a place at centre stage with other important European cultures. This refusal to be classified as a cultural backwater remains a strong force today. At the same time, simplicity is a hallmark of Swedish culture, as is openness to new thoughts and trends. There is also a sense of wit and playfulness combined with candor and sincerity that is apparent not only in the works of Swedish cultural icons such as Selma Lagerlöf, August Strindberg, Ingmar Bergman, Astrid Lindgren, and Carl Larsson but also in Swedish folk music and folk art.

War-weary and largely nonaligned since the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, Sweden embraced a neutrality and peacefulness that permitted the state in the 20th century to broadly support arts and culture politically, educationally, and economically. During the last half of the 20th century, Sweden welcomed immigrants and refugees who brought with them their own cultural traditions, which have informed the broader Swedish culture. The effects of American popular culture have also been widely felt in Sweden. A rebirth of contemporary Swedish creativity has attracted worldwide attention both in those art forms in which Swedes have traditionally thrived—literature and film—and in design, popular music, photography, fashion, gastronomy, and textiles.