Student was, until 1968, a designation for those who had passed the final examinations at an upper secondary school (läroverk) or a gymnasium in Sweden. Only those who passed the finals were able go on to study at university, and whether one did or not being called a Student was primarily by virtue of having passed ones finals, not and indication of ones occupation. The final examinations were abolished in 1969 and a grade system effectively took its place, but the name lived on and finishing secondary school is still referred to colloquially as getting "The Student", or Studenten in Swedish.

Student cap

Among the various traditions when leaving secondary school, wearing of the Student cap is the strongest. The cap itself is white with a black brim and peak, added on the brim there is a small yellow and blue cocard. Differences may be hard to notice for an untrained eye but there are two basic models, which are named after the style of cap worn by the Students at the universities of Uppsala and Lund respectively. The Uppsala model is a but more loose and has blue and yellow lining on the inside, while the Lund model is somewhat more firm with red lining. During the 1970s and 1980s vocational programs were integrated with the preparatory programs in the gymnasium schools and successively these pupils also started wearing the Student cap on their finishing day, although with slight variations. Students from the preparatory programs wears the traditional hat and the other pupils have variations in the colouring of the brim. Examples include purple for nursing, green for horticulture, blue for engineering and gray for others. There are also schools that have their own variants of the Student cap whith special insignia and or variations.

Somewhat similar caps, but which have a different background, are worn by engineering students at the Swedish technical universities.

See also

• Education in Sweden
• List of universities in Sweden