Application and admission - Incoming exchange students

Applications can only be submitted during the designated period.

Step 1: Your university’s international office will nominate you for an exchange at SLU. Contact them if you are unsure if you have been nominated.

Step 2: Once you have been nominated, the SLU Mobility Team will contact you with instructions on how to submit your application for an exchange at SLU.

Step 3: After submitting the application, when you apply for courses, you will upload your Transcript of Records.

Acceptance letters (notification of selection results) for the autumn semester are sent out by University Admissions during May/June. Acceptance letters for the spring semester are sent out in November/December.

You can only apply for courses one semester at a time. This means that if you will be at SLU for a full academic year, you will only receive an acceptance letter for the autumn semester. You will then apply for courses for the spring semester in September/October.

The Swedish university credit system follows the European credit transfer system (ECTS), where one Swedish credit is worth one ECTS credit.

The Swedish academic year is divided into two 20-week semesters, with each semester being divided into two periods. One semester of full-time study (100%) is worth 30 credits. Exchange students may study between 22.5 and 30 credits per semester. If you need to apply for a residence permit for studies, you must be admitted to take 30 credits for the semester. Anything else may have a negative effect on the permit application process.

You must fulfil the entry requirement for each course you are applying for. Entry requirements are published on the course page.

SLU has campuses all over Sweden, so make sure to choose courses for one campus.

Please note that SLU does not offer any Swedish language courses.

SLU will not sign your learning agreements until you have been admitted to your courses.

Example of course combinations for full-time studies

Degree project (thesis)

Degree project courses are not listed among the courses for exchange students. This means that you have to contact the mobility team if you intend to apply for one. You will also need to find a supervisor at SLU. The mobility team is unable to assist you with this process. Once you have found a supervisor, they need to email mobility@slu.se to confirm their role and send us the applicable degree project course code.

Here is a list of SLU’s departments. You can read more about degree projects and find inspiration on this page. The information is aimed at SLU programme students, although much of the page content is relevant to exchange students.

Citizens from outside the EU/EEA or Switzerland must apply for a residence permit. Read more and apply on the Swedish Migration Agency’s website.

These videos will guide you through the application process. It can take up to three months to process your residence permit application, so you should apply as soon as possible.

SLU offers student accommodation to exchange students, depending on availability and provided that your housing application has been submitted on time. Please note that accommodation is not guaranteed. 

Visit the SLU Housing page for more information about accommodation on each of the SLU campuses. Once you have received your acceptance letter, you will be sent information about your assigned accommodation together with the move in date and how/when to collect your keys.

You can rank your accommodation choices. If you have any questions, please email housing@slu.se.

Language requirements

English language requirements

You do not have to submit any proof of English proficiency, although we highly recommend a level of English equivalent to B2 in order to fully participate in courses.

Swedish language requirements

Exchange students do not need to meet any Swedish language requirements as our courses for exchange students are given in English. However, you may be able to access other courses if you meet the Swedish language requirements. Contact mobility@slu.se if this is the case.

Different rules apply if you want to take courses in Swedish. You will need to upload one of the following documents with your application:

• Passing grades in Swedish 3 or Course B in Swedish as a second language
• TISUS Test for University Studies in Swedish
• Upper-secondary school transcript indicating grades in Danish or Norwegian. Certain rules apply for Finnish students. Read more here.

We recommend that all incoming exchange students take out comprehensive health and accident insurance before arriving in Sweden.

Once in Sweden, students will be covered by the Kammarkollegiet supplementary accident insurance policy through SLU, Student IN. The insurance only covers accidents and is not valid outside of Sweden.

If you are a citizen of an EU/EEA country or Switzerland, make sure you have obtained your European Health Insurance Card from the relevant authority in your home country.

We also suggest that you visit SLU’s web page about insurance. Additional information is available from Study in Sweden. 

Veterinary exchange students

2025 summer clinic: veterinary and veterinary nursing exchange students

We only offer Erasmus mobility for veterinary exchange students during the summer clinic.

Requirements for veterinary medicine students

Incoming students must have:

• completed their fourth year of a veterinary medicine programme;
• passed the preclinical courses and clinic preparation courses.

These courses must be the equivalent of those given by SLU.

The SLU clinical preparation courses are worth 25.5 credits. The courses focus on basic clinical skills such as consultation, clinical examination and including safe animal handling, as well as biosecurity and infection prevention and control procedures. They include lectures and practical components on the principles of anaesthesiology, general surgery, radiography, clinical chemistry and applied obstetrics. Upon completion of the course, students are proficient in pre-operative hand hygiene, gloving and gowning. The courses also cover basic theory in diagnosis, treatment and prevention of common diseases in cattle, horses, sheep, dogs, cats and pigs.

Please refer to the course syllabus for comprehensive information about clinical skills levels.

Requirements for veterinary nursing students:

Incoming students must have:

• completed the first year of a veterinary nursing programme;
• passed the preclinical courses and clinic preparation courses.

These courses must be the equivalent of those given by SLU.

At SLU, the clinical preparation courses focusing on the more practical content are worth 37.5 credits. They emphasise basic clinical skills such as safe animal handling and restraint, common veterinary nursing procedural skills such as sampling and treatment techniques, clinical examination in a veterinary nursing context, as well as biosecurity and infection prevention and control procedures. There is a 15-credit course in anaesthesiology and perioperative hygiene in veterinary nursing that covers all common aspects of veterinary nursing in a surgical setting.

Please refer to the course syllabus for comprehensive information about the level of anaesthesiology. 

Veterinary courses at other times

A limited number of places are available to veterinary exchange students from Finland, Denmark, Norway or Iceland. All veterinary science courses are given in Swedish. Therefore, to be eligible to participate in a veterinary exchange at SLU, you must meet the Swedish language requirements.

If you have any questions about mobility, please contact the mobility team mobility@slu.se – not the University Animal Hospital or Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science.

Summer clinic clinical rotations schedule: