← Back to the rankingHvitfeldtska gymnasiet
Gothenburg, Sweden · est. 1647 · State
Illustration · Gothenburg
Hvitfeldtska gymnasiet is the largest upper secondary school in Göteborg and one of the oldest schools in Sweden: it was founded by Queen Kristina in 1647 and is named after Margareta Hvitfeldt, whose 1664 donation still funds student scholarships. The present school merged the old classical gymnasium and the Göteborg Commercial Institute in 1977. About 2000 students attend national programmes (economics, natural science, social science, arts with music, business) and the IB. The IB Diploma Programme has run here since 1988, one of the oldest in Sweden: about 200 students, taught in English, with a Pre-DP preparatory year and two DP years; the other programmes are taught in Swedish. The school has three language sections, French, Spanish and German, with exchanges and language diplomas, and advanced programmes in mathematics, music and social science. The school is municipal and free, and students get textbooks, a computer and lunch free of charge.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · DP · National programme
Languages of instruction
Swedish, English
Languages taught
French, Spanish, German
Students
about 2000, of whom about 200 are in the IB Diploma Programme
About the fees Education is free: the school states there is no tuition fee; students get textbooks, a computer and lunch free of charge. In the final IB year the City of Göteborg charges a fee for the IB examinations, currently about 750 euro.
Admissions The IB admits students from any school system, in Sweden and abroad, under the age of 20: to Pre-DP (grade 10) in the final year of grade 9, to the DP (grade 11) after ten years of schooling; transfer into grade 12 is not guaranteed. Applicants complete the school form, for grade 10 also apply through the city admissions system INDRA (applicants from abroad via a separate form of the regional admissions office), send a grade report with an English translation certified by the school, and take a compulsory placement test in mathematical reasoning; applicants abroad sit it through a teacher at their current school with a Hvitfeldtska supervisor on video. The deadline is 2 February; for applicants outside the EU this is the only deadline because of residence permits, EU residents can apply until 1 June. There is no reserve list. A student may study without parents if conditions are met, but the family arranges housing and the residence permit itself. National programmes admit through the common upper secondary admissions, and the advanced programmes select applicants.
Stages and year groups National programmes in Swedish: Ekonomiprogrammet, Försäljning- och serviceprogrammet, Estetiska programmet (music), Naturvetenskapsprogrammet, Samhällsvetenskapsprogrammet, plus the introductory programmes IMA and IMS (Språkintroduktion) and Hvitfeldtska 7. Advanced programmes (spetsutbildningar): mathematics, music (national intake, with Högskolan för scen och musik) and social science with a European profile. Language sections in years 2-3: French (DELF or DALF diplomas), Spanish (DELE), German (KMK-diplom at B1, then B2 or C1). The IB track in English: Pre-DP (grade 10), first-year Swedish national programme subjects taught in English, then the IB Diploma Programme in grades 11-12, usually about 80 students in the first DP year. The IB programme has run since 1988. The school is a SAT test centre.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · authorised programmePASCH · takes part in the programmeThe school is listed in the IB register and runs the Diploma Programme. The IB track runs inside a Swedish upper-secondary school, alongside the Swedish national programmes. The school is part of the PASCH network.
school is in an official registryconfirmed by a school document, by membership or by taking part in a networkclaimed by the school, no confirmation, not counted in the scoreGuide to all organisations → What stands behind each entry
IBInternational Baccalaureate
A Swiss non-profit, working since 1968. Its programmes are among the most widely recognised school programmes in the world. Authorisation is granted stage by stage, so a school with the final stage does not necessarily run the younger ones; which stages this school holds is set out in the line below.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: DP (ages 16-19). DP is the final stage, ages 16 to 19: six subjects plus a compulsory core of theory of knowledge, an extended essay and CAS. The diploma is accepted by universities all over the world, and in a number of countries it counts for admission on the same footing as the local leaving certificate.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →PASCHSchools: Partners for the Future, an initiative of the German foreign ministry
More than two thousand schools in about 120 countries. A school cannot apply for itself: participants are chosen by German agencies in agreement with the embassy. Very different schools sit under one mark - full German schools abroad, and ordinary national schools that simply teach German well.
What the badge means for this school. The school belongs to a German support programme. By itself the mark means neither a German curriculum nor the right to award a German certificate: of the two thousand PASCH schools, about seventeen hundred hold no such right. Look for a ZfA status next to it - that is the one that is about this. The entry is confirmed in the organisation's open directory.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →National programme
The state school programme of the country the school stands in: it is set by that country's ministry of education, which also licenses the school and awards the leaving certificate. That certificate is used for entry to local universities, and abroad it is matched to the local one.
What this means for this school. This entry does not count towards the score, and that is deliberate. Every lawful school in a country works to the national programme, so on its own it tells one school apart from no other - unlike the French, German or Russian programmes, which are carried abroad and confirmed by the register of their organisation. We show it because a parent needs to know what programme their child is taught and what certificate the child will get. Counting it would lift the whole ranking at once and still tell nobody apart.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Where leavers go: King's College London · Chalmers University of Technology · Eindhoven University of Technology · University of Edinburgh · KTH Royal Institute of Technology · University of Oxford
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Clubs and activities: Elevkåren (student union) · IB Student Ambassadors · Ung Företagsamhet (student entrepreneurship)
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
✓Teacher qualifications
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
·Students per teacher or class sizenot stated
What the listings show: teachers with teacher training and a Swedish teaching licence
The school states that teaching is led by well-trained, licensed teachers; in the language sections at least one teacher is a native speaker. The IB track has its own principal, Diploma Programme coordinator and career counsellor.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
·Access controlnot stated on the website
✓Nurse or medical room
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
Each programme has its own school nurse and counsellor (kurator), and the school doctor is booked through the nurse. The IB track has its own student health team. A plan against discrimination and offensive treatment sets out procedures for bullying and harassment and rules for study peace and safety.
Reviews
No reviews yet. The community rating counts towards the score once a school has five verified reviews - until then we do not show a zero, so as not to mislead.
Criteria breakdown criterion weight in brackets
Academics and programmes (16%)82 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data70 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data75 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data65 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data67 "Scored on disclosed data" stands where we count only what the school has written about itself on its own site: exams and destinations, safety and wellbeing, teaching staff, facilities, clubs and activities. A low score here means the school does not write about this, not that the school does not have it: a school with good security and a sparse site will score low. A school can fill in its profile, and the score will be counted again.
The score is counted from 8 of the 9 criteria.Only those with checkable data count: programmes and accreditations from official registers, the fee from a published price list. Where it says "scored on the median", the school has no data and the middle of the list is put in its place, so that a gap gives no advantage. Admissions, teaching staff and reviews come in as their data arrives.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country