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{{Short description|University in Sweden}}
{{One source|date=January 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox university
|name          = Södertörn University
|native_name   = Södertörns högskola
|image_name    = Södertörns högskola logo.svg{{!}}class=skin-invert
|established   = {{Start date and age|1996}}
|type          = [[Public university|public]]
|city          = [[Södertörn]]
|country       = Sweden
|coordinates   = {{coord|59.21970|N|17.94308|E|source:placeopedia|display=inline,title}}
|endowment     =
|students      = 13,921 (2024)<ref name=sh>{{cite web|url=http://www.sh.se/p3/ext/content.nsf/aget?openagent&key=the_university_in_figures_1306737346343|title=About Södertörn University|publisher=Södertörn University}}</ref> Full Time:7 484 (2024)<ref name="sh" />
|doctoral      = 100 (2024)<ref name="sh" />
|head_label    = [[Rector (academia)|Rector]]
|head          = [[Gustav Amberg]]
|campus        = [[Flemingsberg]]
|affiliations  =
|free_label    =
|free          =
|website       = [http://www.sh.se/ www.sh.se]
}}

'''Södertörn University'''<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.uhr.se/sv/Information-in-English/Qualifications-recognition/ENIC-NARIC-Sweden/List-of-HEIs-in-Sweden/ |title=List of recognised higher education institutions in Sweden |accessdate=28 May 2023}}</ref> ({{langx|sv|Södertörns [[högskola]]}}, abbreviated as '''SH'''), is a public [[University college (Scandinavia)|university college]] ({{langx|sv|högskola}}) located in [[Flemingsberg]] in [[Huddinge Municipality]], and the larger area called [[Södertörn]], in [[Stockholm County]], Sweden.<ref>[http://www.hsv.se/highereducationinsweden/highereducationinstitutionsheis/listofhighereducationinstitutions.4.28afa2dc11bdcdc557480002332.html List of higher education institutions] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120524171510/http://www.hsv.se/highereducationinsweden/highereducationinstitutionsheis/listofhighereducationinstitutions.4.28afa2dc11bdcdc557480002332.html |date=24 May 2012 }}, [[Swedish National Agency for Higher Education]]. Retrieved 26 October 2010</ref> In 2013, it had about 13,000 full-time and part-time students. The campus area in Flemingsberg hosts the main campus of SH, several departments of the [[Karolinska Institutet]], and the School of Technology and health of the [[Royal Institute of Technology]] (KTH). The [[Karolinska University Hospital]], Huddinge (formerly Huddinge Hospital), is also located there. The university is unique in the sense that it is the only higher educational institution in Sweden that teaches and researches philosophical schools such as [[German idealism]], [[existentialism]], [[deconstruction]] as well as [[critical theory]] and other views which are excluded from the traditional Anglo-Saxon [[analytical philosophy]].<ref>{{cite thesis|author=Nicholas Smith |title=Towards a Phenomenology of Repression - a Husserlian Reply to the Freudian Challenge|url=http://su.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A357531&dswid=9755|location=Södertörn University|degree=PhD |year=2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/sodertorns_hogskola/pressreleases/utbildningar-i-filosofi-och-estetik-har-hoeg-kvalitet-vid-soedertoerns-hoegskola-960585|title = Utbildningar i filosofi och estetik har hög kvalitet vid Södertörns högskola}}</ref>

== History ==
Södertörn University was established as a university college (''[[University college (Scandinavia)|högskola]]'') in 1996 following a parliamentary decision in 1995, and was branded in English at the time as the ''University college of South Stockholm.''<ref>{{cite web |author1=Dr Johan Rönnby |title=Södertörn – a maritime landscape in a long term perspective |url=https://www.abc.se/~m10354/publ/sodertor.htm |access-date=2025-02-14 |website=abc.se |publisher=University college of South Stockholm}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=March 2025}} The expansion of higher education in the southern parts of Stockholm had then been investigated for a long time. The background was that the transition to higher education was low in the southern parts of Stockholm, unemployment was high and segregation problems tended to be large. [[Stockholm University]] did not consider it appropriate to increase the number of students of Stockholm University and a university in Södertörn should be independent and not part of the [[Stockholm University]].{{cn|date=July 2025}} [[Karolinska Institutet]] had already relocated their dental education to Flemingsberg. [[Royal Institute of Technology|KTH]] and Stockholm University had facilities in Flemingsberg and Novum Research Park was under construction.{{cn|date=July 2025}}

At the university's inception in 1996, there were around 1,000 students. SH had facilities in [[Södertälje]], Flemingsberg and [[Haninge]]. Initially the pro-vice chancellor of Stockholm University was also vice-chancellor of Södertörn University, but on 1 January 1997, Per Thullberg was appointed vice-chancellor and SH also attained the right to award their own degrees. In 2002 the main building ''Moas båge'' ([[Moa Martinson|Moa's]] crescent) was inaugurated in Flemingsberg. The building  also received the Concrete Products Outdoor Environment Prize in 2003. With the new facilities the teacher education program was moved from Södertälje to Flemingsberg. In spring 2006, the university's board operations decided to move from campus Haninge to campus Flemingsberg by autumn 2008 and phase out the Södertälje campus where teaching had already been discontinued.{{cn|date=July 2025}}

Södertörn University applied to the government to become a university in 2002. The application has not yet{{when|date=October 2021}} been processed. In 2004 Södertörn University applied together with Karolinska Institutet and KTH for approval to create a [[university network]] at Södertörn University based on the same model as the [[University of Oxford]] in the United Kingdom. In May 2006, an updated version of the university application was submitted to the government, including changes implemented since 2002. On 1 July 2010, the Swedish Higher Education Authority granted Södertörn University the right to award doctoral degrees in the areas of Historical Studies,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sh.se/p3/ext/content.nsf/aget?openagent&key=about_1301602155489|title=Historical Studies|publisher=Södertörn University}}</ref> Critical and Cultural Theory,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sh.se/p3/ext/content.nsf/aget?openagent&key=about_1301601811475|title=Critical and Cultural Theory|publisher=Södertörn University}}</ref> Environmental Studies<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sh.se/p3/ext/content.nsf/aget?openagent&key=about_the_area_1301602258028|title=Environmental Studies|publisher=Södertörn University}}</ref> and Politics, Economy and the Organisation of Society.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sh.se/p3/ext/content.nsf/aget?openagent&key=about_the_area_1301602320553|title=Politics, Economy and the Organisation of Society|publisher=Södertörn University}}</ref>

At the end of 2013 Södertörn University was awarded the task of providing the basic training programme for the police. It will run as contract education and will cover five semesters of full-time studies, including a six-month traineeship at a police authority. The first 180 police cadets started their education at Södertörn University in January 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sh.se/p3/ext/custom.nsf/news?openagent&key=opening_ceremony_for_police_education_20_january_1420643313370|title=Opening Ceremony for Police Education, 20 January|publisher=Södertörn University}}</ref>

In 2024 Södertörn University had 13,921 students, of whom 7,484 were full-time students.<ref name="sh"/>

== Departments ==
Södertörn University has four academic schools:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sh.se/p3/ext/content.nsf/aget?openagent&key=the_university_in_figures_1306737346343#!/p3/ext/content.nsf/aget?openagent&key=schools_1308129550435|title=About Södertörn University|publisher=Södertörn University}}</ref>
* Department of Historical and Contemporary Studies<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sh.se/p3/ext/content.nsf/aget?openagent&key=about_the_school_1353396867251|title=Historical and Contemporary Studies|publisher=Södertörn University}}</ref>
* Department of Culture and Education<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sh.se/p3/ext/content.nsf/aget?openagent&key=about_the_school_1353397050897|title=Culture and Education|publisher=Södertörn University}}</ref>
* Department of Natural Sciences, Technology and Environmental Studies<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sh.se/p3/ext/content.nsf/aget?openagent&key=about_the_school_1353397490994|title=Natural Sciences, Technology and Environmental Studies|publisher=Södertörn University}}</ref>
* School of Social Sciences<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sh.se/p3/ext/content.nsf/aget?openagent&key=about_the_school_1353397769036|title=Social Sciences|publisher=Södertörn University}}</ref>

== Science ==
Södertörn University carries out research in the humanities, social sciences, science, environment, technology and educational science.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sh.se/p3/ext/content.nsf/aget?openagent&key=centrumbildningar_1300899358133#!/p3/ext/content.nsf/aget?openagent&key=our_research_1300896950507|title=Our research|publisher=Södertörn University}}</ref>

== Institutes and research centres ==
The primary purpose of the research centres is to bring academic added value by focusing on scientifically interesting fields that lie at the intersections of traditional disciplines. This way the university wishes to create a creative meeting place for staff and students.
*  Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sh.se/p3/ext/content.nsf/aget?openagent&key=about_us_1301902860317|title=CBEES|publisher=Södertörn University}}</ref>
*  The Academy of Public Administration<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sh.se/p3/ext/content.nsf/aget?openagent&key=about_us_1349696339193|title=The Academy of Public Administration|publisher=Södertörn University}}</ref>
*  Centre for Studies in Practical Knowledge<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sh.se/p3/ext/content.nsf/aget?openagent&key=about_us_1301926162249|title=Centre for Studies in Practical Knowledge|publisher=Södertörn University}}</ref>
*  ENTER forum for research on entrepreneurship<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sh.se/p3/ext/content.nsf/aget?openagent&key=about_us_1301998492534|title=ENTER forum|publisher=Södertörn University}}</ref>
*  The Institute of Contemporary History (SHI)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sh.se/p3/ext/content.nsf/aget?openagent&key=about_us_1301927063794|title=The Institute of Contemporary History|publisher=Södertörn University}}</ref>
*  The Stockholm Centre on Health of Societies in Transition  (SHOHOST)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sh.se/p3/ext/content.nsf/aget?openagent&key=about_us_1301927291294|title=SCOHOST|publisher=Södertörn University}}</ref>
*  Maritime Archaeological Research Institute at Södertörn University<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sh.se/p3/ext/content.nsf/aget?openagent&key=about_us_1301926797423|title=MARIS|publisher=Södertörn University}}</ref>

== Södertörn University Library ==
The Södertörn University Library building was designed by Christer Malmström Arkitektkontor [[aktiebolag|AB]], and has received one of Sweden's most prestigious prizes for architecture, the [[Kasper Salin Prize]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arkitekt.se/salinpriset |title=Sveriges Arkitekter |access-date=1 June 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050601023927/http://www.arkitekt.se/salinpriset |archive-date=1 June 2005  }}</ref> The 11,000 square metre building contains the library's collection, examination rooms, study areas and has 700 study spaces. The library was opened in 2004.

== Vice-chancellors ==
* 1 January 1997 – 31 December 2002: Per Thullberg
* 2003 – 30 June 2010: Ingela Josefson
* 1 July 2010 – 30 June 2016: [[Moira von Wright]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sh.se/p3/ext/content.nsf/aget?openagent&key=university_structure_1317813710705#!/p3/ext/content.nsf/aget?openagent&key=executive_management_1377688912607|title=About Södertörn University|publisher=Södertörn University}}</ref>
* 1 July 2016–: Gustav Amberg

== Notable people ==
=== Faculty ===
* [[Sara Danius]], Professor of Aesthetics, former Member (2013–2019) and Permanent Secretary (2015–2018) of the [[Swedish Academy]].
* [[Aris Fioretos]], Professor of Aesthetics.
* [[Yvonne Hirdman]], Professor of Contemporary History.
* [[Ebba Witt-Brattström]], Professor of Literature.
* [[Mark Bassin]], Professor in historical and contemporary studies.<ref name="Sodertorn">{{cite web|url=https://www.sh.se/english/sodertorn-university/contact/researchers/mark-bassin |title=Mark Bassin. Professor |publisher=Södertörn University |access-date=7 October 2022}}</ref>

=== Alumni ===
* [[Kodjo Akolor]], TV and radio personality.
* [[Esabelle Dingizian]], politician, [[List of Deputy Speakers of the Riksdag|Third Deputy Speaker of the Riksdag]] (2014–2018).
* [[Kristian Gidlund]], musician and author.
* [[Jytte Guteland]], politician,
* [[Anna-Karin Hatt]], corporate leader and politician, [[Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation (Sweden)|Minister for IT and Regional Affairs]] (2009–2011) and [[Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation (Sweden)|Minister for IT and Energy]] (2011–2014) of Sweden.
* [[Mohamed Said (actor)|Mohamed Said]], actor.

== See also ==
* [[List of colleges and universities in Sweden]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Education in Stockholm}}
{{Portal bar|Education|Sweden}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sodertorn University College}}
[[Category:Södertörn University| ]]
[[Category:University colleges in Sweden]]
[[Category:Higher education in Stockholm]]
[[Category:Educational institutions established in 1996]]
[[Category:1996 establishments in Sweden]]
[[Category:1990s establishments in Stockholm County]]