Ceremonies and traditions

Ceremonies and festivities are also held annually in connection with Zealous and devoted service, Retirement Ceremony, The Felix Neubergh Lecture, visiting Nobel laureates lectures and the Diploma Ceremony for Active Students. A ceremony for The Sixten Heyman Prize is held every three years.

The University ceremonies of 2025

Zealous and devoted service - 5 February

The Diploma Ceremony for Active Students - 7 May

The Inauguration of New Professors of 2024 - 16 May
Place: The Gothenburg Concert Hall

Jubilee Doctors Ceremony - 12 September, celebrating the doctors that participated in the Conferment of Doctoral Degrees in 1975

The Conferment of Doctoral Degrees 2025, 17 October
For those who, during the period July 1st 2024–June 30th 2025, have got a doctoral degree at the University of Gothenburg - and have registered their exams.
Place: The Congress Hall at the Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre

The University ceremonies of 2026

The Conferment of Doctoral Degrees 2026, 23 October
For those who, during the period July 1st 2025–June 30th 2026, have got a doctoral degree at the University of Gothenburg - and have registered their exams.
Place: The Congress Hall at the Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre

The Conferment of Doctoral Degrees

The Conferment of Doctoral Degrees is the University’s largest ceremonial occasion and is primarily intended for those who have recently completed their postgraduate work and successfully defended their doctoral thesis. The annual ceremony usually takes place during the latter part of October.

New doctors from the previous academic year and honorary doctors receive their insignia as confirmation of their position at the University. A number of honorary doctorates are also conferred at the ceremony. The appointment of honorary doctors is a way of rewarding individuals, both inside and outside the country, who have made a substantial contribution to research at our University. The importance of educational contributions is demonstrated through the presentation of educational awards, both to individuals and teams.

The ceremony includes some speeches and musical entertainment from the university students at the Academy of Music and Drama. Following the ceremony is a mingle and a grand banquet. The conferment takes place at the Congress Hall, Svenska Mässan in Gothenburg. Around 150-170 new doctors participate on stage at the ceremony and altogether 700-850 guests are seated at the banquet.

Welcome to look at the videofilms from  some previous conferments: GU Play

About the Inauguration of New Professors

Every year the University of Gothenburg organises an inauguration of new professors, where the new professors are inaugurated during a festive ceremony. Participation in the ceremony is optional. Only the professors that are employed as professors or appointed as artistic professors are inaugurated. Adjunct professors and visiting professors that have been appointed by the Vice-Chancellor are welcomed at the ceremony, but they are not inaugurated.

At the ceremonies we have presented short films about all the professors. You can watch the films here, most of them in Swedish: www.gu.se/forskning

Zealous and devoted service

Every spring an event is held for University staff who have been state employees for at least 30 years or who are retiring after at least 25 years of state employment. They are presented with a distinction for zealous and devoted service to the state, NOR.
The ceremony takes place at the University of Gothenburg, in the assembly hall in Vasaparken with speeches by the Vice-Chancellor among others. An engraved gift is subsequently presented by the Vice-Chancellor. The ceremony concludes with a buffet in the Torgny Segerstedt room, which is situated in the University’s main building.

The HR department compiles the list of the receivers of NOR-gifts and send a letter to those who shall receive gift, who make their choice from a list of gifts at Arbetsgivarverket. At the end of the year you will get an invitation to the NOR ceremony that will take place at the end of January every year.

If you do not receive your gift at the ceremony, please send an email to hogtider@gu.se and decide on a date to come and get it at Vasaparken. The gifts are not sent to your home. Please do not forget to come and get your gift! You need to get in touch and get your gift at the latest two years after the date of the ceremony.

Diplomeringshögtiden

At a ceremony, students who have been active in the university's corps are rewarded for their contributions to their university. Members of the university's doctoral committees are also honored in this way. The students receive a medal and a diploma from the hand of the Vice-Chancellor. After the ceremony the students are invited to a reception.

The Jubilee Doctors Ceremony

The doctors who received their doctorate 50 years ago or more can be created as jubilee doctors. By tradition, this usually takes place at this year's Conferment of Doctoral Degrees, but since a few years ago it has had its own celebration at the University of Gothenburg. More and more people received doctorates during the 1970s and 1980s, and therefore a separate celebration was created that is more dignified for the jubilee doctors, who are between 75 and 100 years old.

The ceremony takes place in the assembly hall in Vasaparken, where the jubilee doctors go in procession together with the university management and student marshals. One at a time, the jubilant doctors walk up to the parnassus in their doctor's hats and laurel wreaths and receive a personal diploma. They are celebrated by promotors and then with fanfare.

After the solemn ceremony, the jubilant doctors and their guests are invited to a celebratory dinner at a restaurant, together with the university's management.

The jubilee doctors will also be invited as guests to the subsequent Conferment of Doctoral Degrees. Those who wish may come and watch the ceremony and participate in the banquet.

Prizes, Awards and Honors

The University of Gothenburg awards prizes and honors of various degrees. Some are the university’s own prizes and a couple of them are awarded every year, while others are awarded less frequently. Several of these prizes and honors are highlighted at the Conferment of Doctoral Degrees. But a couple of them are celebrated at their own at smaller events, the Sixten Heyman Prize and Felix Neubergh Lecture, which are prizes managed by the university.

SOCII ET AMICI Universitatis Gothoburgensis

This is a prestigious award for friends and benefactors of the University and is awarded to people who have contributed in a very special way to the work of the University in the form of long-term commitment or donations. It was founded in 1954.

Socii roughly means allies, and amici means friends. Socius et amicus (in singular) thus means that someone is rewarded as at friend and ally of the University.

Pro Arte et Scientia

The Vice-Chancellor presents this medal to particularly deserving people, preferably those active outside the University, whose invaluable achievements have benefited the work of the University. The Pro Arte et Scientia Award was founded by the University Board in 1987.

Pro Studio et Scientia

The award Pro Studio et Scientia – for commitment and science – was instituted by the School of Business, Economics and Law in 2006 in order to draw attention to individuals who have made extensive and longstanding efforts to support and promote the School. Pro Studio et Scientia consists of a medal and a diploma and awarded by the School Dean.

Pro Studio et Scientia School of Business, Economics and Law

Eva Wiberg Scholarship

The newly established “Eva Wiberg Scholarship” (2023), is associated with the Student Fund at the University of Gothenburg, intended to enhance the social life of university students. Anyone connected to the university can make nominations.
Each year, one or more scholarships, totalling 50,000 SEK, will be awarded to organizations or individuals who have taken commendable initiatives and organized social activities for students at the University of Gothenburg. Initiatives that promote inclusivity, unity among students, and collaboration with the surrounding community and business sector are given priority.
The purpose of the Student Fund is to provide better conditions for successful studies, contribute to student well-being, strengthen cohesion among different student groups, foster a sense of community across educational areas, and enhance the attractiveness of both the university and the city of Gothenburg. Nominations should be made in March every year to rektor@gu.se.

Gunnar Svedberg Prize

Gunnar Svedberg Prize is awarded to a student who has worked for the benefit of the students of the University of Gothenburg and preferably increased collaboration between students in the University’s various activities. Gunnar Svedberg was the Vice-chancellor of the University of Gothenburg during the years 2003–2006.
The prize was established with a special focus on the dedication and care that Gunnar Svedberg showed towards the students in his work. All students and employees at the University of Gothenburg have the right to nominate and all students at the University are eligible for nomination. The prize consists of 10,000 SEK and a diploma.

Pam Fredman Prize

Pam Fredman Prize is awarded once a year to a deserving teacher and researcher, or group of teachers and researchers, who have made valuable contributions to social sustainability and lifelong learning in the spirit of Pam Fredman.
The prize, which consists of a diploma and a contribution to an institution is equivalent of 20,000 SEK per recipient or a maximum of 50,000 SEK and should be used for the recipient’s professional development. It is awarded at the University’s Conferment of doctoral degrees ceremony every October.

All those who teach or conduct research at the University of Gothenburg can be nominated, and all students and employees within the university can nominate. Nominations should include a motivation as well as contact information for the nominee. The nomination period runs from January 1st to March 31st of the year the prize is to be awarded. After the nomination period has ended, a prize committee appointed by the Vice-Chancellor will consider all nominations.

The committee may also propose prize winners, which means that members of the committee or those close to them cannot be awarded the prize. The University board appoints prize winners based on proposals from the committee. Pam Fredman was the Vice-chancellor of the University of Gothenburg between 2006–2017. As a farewell gift to her, the University established a prize with a focus on the commitment she showed to issues related to sustainable development – especially social sustainability and lifelong learning.

Pedagogical Prizes

Pedagogical prizes have been awarded at the University of Gothenburg since 1996. Since 2013, it is the faculties that select the winners. The award is given to employees who have developed or carried out a course or education in an exemplary manner that can inspire others. The Pedagogical Prize and Excellent Teachers are congratulated at the Inauguration of new Professors.

The Felix Neubergh Lecture

The Felix Neubergh Lecture in Gothenburg has been held every year since 1977. Every other year the lecture is dealing with banking and finance issues, and in alternate years the subject is centered around archaeology.

The Felix Neubergh Lecture was established through donations by the late banker Felix Neubergh and his wife Bertha. Born in Gothenburg, Felix Neubergh generously endowed diverse institutions in his native city for a number of years, especially the University of Gothenburg. He aimed to support the universities’ links to culture and science in English-speaking countries.

Felix Neubergh Lecture, School of Business, Economics and Law

Sixten Heyman Prize

The Sixten Heyman prize is awarded every three years, every other time to a Swedish fiction writer and every other time to a Swedish scientist in “the natural science branch, primarily astronomy, geology, and chemistry, for discovery or published work within the mentioned scientific field”. The recipient of the prize holds two lectures, one aimed at students and staff, and one for the general public and schoolchildren.

Sixten Heyman belonged to the well-known jewish Heyman family, which had settled in Gothenburg at the beginning of the 19th century. Sixten Heyman’s father, Alfred Heyman (1845–1918), was married to Alice Moss since 1872 and together with his younger brother Charles Heyman ran the company H. J. Heyman & Co. This company was founded in 1826 and dealt with fabrics and short goods, which were sold partly in a store in Gothenburg and partly through traveling salesmen in the countryside. Over time, the company’s wholesale business with the import of fabrics and yarns became increasingly important. The company also took an active part in the industrialization of Gothenburg in the late 1800s.