Umeå is
located at 63o latitude, 678 kilometres north of Stockholm.
It has a population of 104,000. The region lacks a
significant industrial base in mining, lumbering, and
ironwork. The establishment of a university and regional
hospital in the city in 1963 stabilized the population
and encouraged development of a service industry. The
region has the among the most highly educated and youngest
population in the country. The city has a diverse and
rich cultural life as attested to by the number of
festivals and concerts listed in its brochure.
Saskatoon’s
park bench in Umeå park, a reminder that
the two cities were twinned in the 1970s.
The Umeå library
is centrally located, adjacent to the
main public transit stop. The reading
room offers newspapers in over 40 different languages.
Umeå Adult
Education
Formal adult education is coordinated
through Mimer Centre, a hundred year old, three storey
school building near the city centre. In January 2003,
a centralized counseling and admission agency was established
as a joint effort of Umeå kommun (municipality),
the university, the student loans agency (CSN), and the
employment counselling (AF).
The Mimer Centre houses the
adult education centre, Swedish for Immigrants,
dyslexia program and Infotek, the centralized counselling
centre for adults in the city of Umeå.
Staff meeting
of counsellors and administrative staff of the
Mimer Adult Education Centre celebrating Nayda’s
last day in Umeå with a “princess cake”
Those applicants with the least formal
education have priority for admission to fall courses.
The filing
system represents the selection process as applicants
are priorized and recommended for different programs
is determined by Approximately one thousand people
attend formal adult education each year offered by
three public and three private agencies. Courses
range from basic adult education to high school completion
and upgrading to vocationally related skill development.
