Högskolan i Borås

Key Highlights

• Founded in 1977 as a Swedish public higher-education institution
• Organised into four faculties spanning professional, technical, creative, and social fields
• Official March 2026 figures report approximately 19,500 students and 820 employees
• Offers campus-based and distance study formats

Student Life & Environment

Student life is centred on a compact urban campus near central Borås. The campus includes the university library, group-study rooms, restaurants and cafés, a student bookstore, and kitchens where students can heat their own food. The Student Union in Borås is a student-run organisation providing activities, advice, and other services. University support includes study and career guidance, academic writing and study-skills assistance, disability-related support, and access to student health services. International students can use the International Office for practical guidance about arrival, living in Sweden, orientation, mobility, and contact with Swedish authorities. Degree students normally direct academic questions to their programme coordinator, while admissions, tuition, and scholarship questions go to the Admissions Office. Exchange students follow a separate nomination and application process through their home institution. Housing requires early independent planning. The university states that accommodation is not guaranteed and that degree students are responsible for finding their own place to live. Its housing guidance, last updated in March 2024, estimated a regular student room or apartment at approximately SEK 3,000–7,000 per month, depending on size and standard. That dated range should be treated only as a planning reference and checked against current landlord listings. Limited furnished accommodation announced for autumn 2026 was specifically intended for exchange students staying no more than two semesters, not the general degree-student population.

Location & Surroundings

Borås is in southwestern Sweden, approximately 60 kilometres east of Gothenburg. The university’s main campus sits at the end of Allégatan in the city centre, about a ten-minute walk from Borås Resecentrum, the main rail and bus station. Shops, supermarkets, banks, restaurants, and cafés are within walking distance, allowing students to manage many daily needs without a car. The central location also makes regional commuting practical. The university notes that public transport is widely used by students living elsewhere in the surrounding region. Borås combines an urban centre with nearby parks and recreational areas, while its established textile identity is directly relevant to the university’s textile and fashion education and the Swedish Textile Museum located near the campus area. Applicants should check the location attached to each programme rather than assume all teaching occurs at the main campus. The university identifies Borås, Varberg, and Skövde as possible campus locations, and some programmes are offered remotely. Even a distance programme may contain required in-person sessions unless its listing explicitly says that there is no mandatory attendance.

Costs & Career Outcomes

Tuition liability depends primarily on citizenship and residence status, not simply on whether a student is international. Citizens of the EU, EEA, and Switzerland do not pay application or tuition fees. With specified exceptions, applicants from outside those areas pay tuition for bachelor’s and master’s study. Exchange students and doctoral students are exempt. Fee-paying students pay in advance by semester and cannot register if the invoiced instalment is not paid by the stated deadline. Exact tuition is programme-specific and should be checked on the relevant current programme page rather than inferred from a university-wide average. For autumn entry, the university offers a limited number of scholarships to highly qualified, tuition-paying applicants to designated master’s programmes. Its 2026 scholarship page says these awards reduce tuition by approximately 75 percent and do not cover living costs. They are not offered for bachelor’s programmes, artistic programmes, or spring admission. The autumn 2026 competition is closed; the page states that applications for autumn 2027 are expected to reopen in December. Students should budget separately for housing, food, transport, insurance, and study materials. Degree students receive no housing guarantee. Career preparation is mainly programme-specific, but the institution describes close educational collaboration with companies, industry, and public organisations, and students can access study and career counselling. Science Park Borås and Drivhuset provide an entrepreneurship and innovation setting. Applicants seeking a regulated profession, compulsory placement, or a particular career outcome should confirm those details with the programme because the university does not publish a single institution-wide placement or salary figure.