Record interest in Chalmers’ programmes

The statistics for the autumn semester 2026 show a clear trend: Chalmers is popular. A total of 17,088 people applied to one of Chalmers’ programmes, an increase of 9.6 per cent (1,490 people) compared with 2025. This is the highest figure since 2008, which is as far back as comparable statistics from the Swedish Council for Higher Education are available.

It is particularly encouraging that Chalmers’ increase of 9.6 per cent is also strong from a national perspective, where the overall increase is 3.1 per cent.

First-choice applicants increase

The number of first-choice applicants to the programmes increased even more, by 9.9 per cent, or 649 people (7,185 in total). Of these, 6,396 applicants meet the entry requirements for the programmes.

‘This year’s figures are confirmation of our strong appeal. It is very encouraging to see the high level of interest in Chalmers and that so many people are choosing our programmes,’ says Jörgen Blennow, Vice President for Education.

He believes that the level of interest shows that Chalmers has a strong offering for prospective students.

‘We are constantly developing our programmes to remain at the forefront and meet the needs of students and society. To me, the number of applicants shows that prospective students see and appreciate this.’

Several programmes showing positive development

Behind the strong overall picture are several programmes that have shown positive development over a number of years, including Industrial Engineering and Management, Engineering Physics and A Foundation Year.

The Foundation Year has almost doubled its number of first-choice applicants since the autumn semester 2022, while Industrial Engineering and Management and Engineering Physics have increased by 65 and 29 per cent respectively over the same period.

‘The Marine Engineering programme has also seen a clear recovery in recent years – in the past year alone, the increase was 71 per cent, from 73 to 125,’ says Jonas Olausson from Admissions.

Mechanical Engineering also continues to show strong figures, for the second year in a row since the programme was redesigned to offer greater flexibility, with students choosing whether to pursue a bachelor’s or master’s degree in engineering after one and a half years of study.

‘It is very encouraging that Mechanical Engineering continues to grow, even though it is already Sweden’s largest mechanical engineering programme. Young people are entering a labour market that is changing rapidly and want to keep several options open. In this particular case, I believe that the opportunity to choose a subject area first and the length of the programme later provides a flexibility that is appreciated,’ says Cecilia Hillman, Head of Unit at Student and Alumni Relations.

Declining programmes analysed

At the same time, there are programmes where application numbers are lower. For Software Engineering, the number of first-choice applicants decreased from 128 to 102. The programme had 88 qualified first-choice applicants for 95 places. Civil Engineering and Civil and Environmental Engineering are both below the operational plan target of 1.5 qualified first-choice applicants per place.

‘The overall development is very positive, but at the same time we need to follow the programmes where application numbers are lower and try to understand the reasons. This is an important part of our continued work, while this year’s figures show a very strong level of interest in Chalmers’ programmes,’ says Cecilia Hillman.