The Swedish Council for Higher Education (UHR) is to produce a citizenship test, following a decision by the government. Stockholm University and the University of Gothenburg have also been commissioned to help. The citizenship test is part of the Tidö Agreement between the government coalition parties and the Sweden Democrats.
In a response letter to the government, Stockholm University writes that it is sceptical about the assignment because it is not part of a higher education institution’s ‘core mission’. Furthermore, the later states that it is contrary to established practice, where arm’s length distance applies between the state and higher education institutions.
“If you look at what the Higher Education Act says about the tasks of a university and what activities we are to carry out, it is very clear that these are about education, research and public engagement,” says Hans Adolfson, Vice-Chancellor of Stockholm University.
Hans Adolfsson
Vice-Chancellor of Stockholm University
For him, the decision to task higher education institutions with developing a citizenship test falls outside this framework. “It is a direct result of a political agreement, and that is why our reaction is so strong. It really feels completely inappropriate, and it is a task that should really be given to someone else.”
According to the government’s decision, UHR needs help from “bodies with subject expertise and experience in developing large-scale tests with a scientific basis” to design the citizenship test. The government writes that this assignment has been given to the two universities because they already design different types of national tests.
The University of Gothenburg is responsible for national tests in social studies for the final year of secondary school, and Stockholm University produces the national tests for municipal adult education in Swedish for immigrants. Additionally, Stockholm University is responsible for Tisus, which is a qualifying test in Swedish for university and college studies in Sweden.
But unlike a citizenship test, these examinations are related to a university’s core mission, says Adolfsson. “If you look at the fact that we design the other tests, they have a direct bearing on our activities. They are exams that enable students or prospective students to become qualified to apply for our programmes.”
He draws a parallel with the political disagreement surrounding the review of the organisational form of higher education institutions. In a recently published opinion article in the daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, Adolfsson, Malin Broberg, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Gothenburg, and Erik Renström, Vice-Chancellor of Lund University, write that this review is necessary. Reviewing whether or not higher education institutions should continue to be state agencies could “be the beginning of a new way for the state to relate to higher education institutions.” The three authors of the article argue that this would “strengthen academic freedom and, by extension, democracy.”
As things currently stand, the government has the power to assign any task to universities and colleges, Adolfsson tells Universitetsläraren.
“Well, as long as we are state agencies, they can obviously do that.”
As the task has been assigned to them, it is now up to the universities to fulfil it, he points out.
“Then you might question whether it is even possible to do it in the short time that has actually been stipulated. It needs to be delivered back to UHR so that they in turn can have it ready by 16 August next year. Implementing or designing this type of test and questions with high quality and high validity requires extensive work.”
The University of Gothenburg has also responded to the government with criticism of being given the assignment. Above all, they are critical of the time frame.
”It will be difficult to complete the assignment by August 2026,” says Vice-Chancellor Malin Broberg.
“We think we were given the assignment in a slightly unusual way. That is, it was given to us even though we saw that we would face challenges in being able to do it and had some objections to the requirements.”
Malin Broberg
Vice-Chancellor of Gothenburg University
However, she understands why the government has chosen to commission the University of Gothenburg to design a citizenship test, as it works with developing both national tests for secondary schools and the university entrance examination.
“We have expertise in both research and implementation in this field.”
The current organisational form, in which higher education institutions are state agencies, allows the government to assign this type of task to a university, she points out.
“That is the way it is. And that is also why we have accepted the assignment,” says Broberg.
Malin Broberg believes that it can be problematic that the government gives universities overly politically driven assignments, which fall outside the core mission of education and research.
“I would rather see a different form of organisation. At the same time, I realise that we have the knowledge and expertise that is required, and therefore we can also help in this matter.”
How much extra money the two universities will receive to carry out the work to create citizenship tests will be announced later, the government writes in its decision.
Universitetsläraren has contacted the Ministry of Education and Johan Pehrson, the Minister for Education, for comment.
What is a citizenship test?
The government has agreed with the Sweden Democrats, within the framework of its Tidö Agreement on political cooperation, to introduce requirements for a certain level of competence in Swedish language and Swedish society and institutions in order to be eligible for Swedish citizenship.
A citizenship test is therefore to be developed by UHR. Test components in society and institutions and in reading comprehension in Swedish are to be introduced as a first step by 17 August 2026. In a second step, test components in written and oral proficiency in Swedish will be added ”expeditiously”, according to the government’s assignment description.
The government has commissioned the University of Gothenburg and Stockholm University to help UHR to design the citizenship test. The University of Gothenburg will develop the society and institutions parts of the test and has also been given responsibility for developing the framework for the test. Stockholm University will develop Swedish language parts.
Both universities will describe their work on the citizenship tests in their respective annual reports for 2026.
