Making Luleå more attractive to students

A positive first impression, an enjoyable student experience, and strong opportunities to establish a career after graduation. These are all important factors in encouraging students to remain in Luleå and contribute to the municipality’s development. Recognising this, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå Municipality and Luleå Studentkår and Teknologkåren at Luleå University of Technology have entered into a cooperation agreement.

As part of the efforts to strengthen Luleå’s position as a student city, the Student City Group provides a forum for dialogue and collaboration between Luleå University of Technology, Luleå Municipality, Luleå Studentkår and Teknologkåren at Luleå University of Technology

Together, the parties have developed a cooperation agreement to clarify a shared vision for enhancing Luleå as an attractive student city. The work is put into practice through an annual action plan, jointly developed and monitored within the Student City Group.

The cooperation agreement, together with the accompanying action plan, will help strengthen collaboration between the parties and create a common direction for future work. The aim is to make Luleå an even more attractive place to study and to encourage more graduates to remain in the city after completing their studies.

- For us, housing is a particularly important issue for our students. If we can achieve strong collaboration in this area, we believe it will have a positive ripple effect, helping more students enjoy living in Luleå and ultimately choose to stay and settle here after graduation, says Jennie Hägg Wilhelmsson, Head Student, Researcher and Educational support at Luleå University of Technology.

Five priority areas

The cooperation agreement includes five priority areas:

• Student life and leisure: Students should experience an inclusive, accessible and vibrant student life with strong connections to the city’s cultural and recreational offerings.
• Links to working life: Students should have good opportunities to engage with the labour market during their studies, gain relevant experience and develop an early understanding of career opportunities in Luleå.
• Safe housing: Students should feel that their housing situation and living environment are safe and secure.
• Mobility, urban environment and student-centred areas: Students should be able to travel safely, sustainably and easily between campus, residential areas and the city centre. Their everyday environments should be accessible and enjoyable, while public spaces should help make student life visible in a welcoming and inclusive way.
• Dialogue and participation: The student perspective should be integrated into relevant development processes, and dialogue between the parties should be continuous and characterised by openness, trust and shared responsibility.

Student housing is a key issue

Beatrice Vallström, President of Luleå Studentkår, sees student housing as a central aspect of the collaboration:

- The agreement will make a significant contribution, not least by enabling us to work towards a long-term solution to the shortage of student accommodation, she says.

Emilia Takkinen, President ofTeknologkåren at Luleå University of Technology, hopes the initiative will encourage more students to establish themselves in Luleå:

- The ambition is to encourage more students to build their future here through greater wellbeing, stronger integration into working life, and by helping them see Luleå from perspectives beyond student life alone.

Students are an important part of Luleå

Johanna Carlsson, Coordinator for Luleå Municipality’s student city initiative, developed the agreement together with Luleå University of Technology and the student unions.

- Students are an important part of Luleå. We want them to enjoy living here, feel part of the city and discover the opportunities available in Luleå, both during and after their studies, says Johanna Carlsson, adding:

- An attractive student city is something we create together. The municipality, LTU and the student unions have worked closely on student city issues for many years. Through this agreement, we are building on that collaboration and strengthening our shared direction for the future.