Stockholm University () is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, it is one of the largest universities in Scandinavia. The institution is regarded as one of the top 100 universities in the world by the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). Stockholm University was granted university status in 1960, making it the fourth oldest Swedish university. As with other public universities in Sweden, Stockholm University's mission includes teaching and research anchored in society at large. History The initiative for the formation of Stockholm University was taken by the Stockholm City Council. The process was completed after a decision in December 1865 regarding the establishment of a fund and a committee to "establish a higher education institution in the capital". The nine members of the committee were respected and prominent citizens whose work had helped the evolution of science and society. The next important step was taken in October 1869, when the Stockholm University College Association was established. Several members of the committee became members of the association – including Professor Pehr Henrik Malmsten. The association's mission was to establish a college in Stockholm and would "not be dissolved until the college came into being and its future could be considered secure." The memorandum of the Stockholm University College was adopted in May 1877, and in the autumn semester of the following year, actual operations began. In 1878, the university college Stockholms högskola started its operations with a series of lectures on natural sciences, open to curious citizens (a tradition still upheld by yearly publicly open lectures). Notable in the university's early history is the appointment of Sofia Kovalevskaya to hold a chair in the mathematics department in 1889, making her the third female professor in Europe. In 1904 the college became an official degree-granting institution. In 1960, the college was granted university status, becoming Sweden's fourth state university. The university premises were situated in central Stockholm at Observatorielunden but increased enrollment resulted in a lack of space, which required the university campus to be shifted to a bigger facility. Since 1970 most of the university operations are located at the main campus at Frescati north of the city center, the former Experimentalfältet, previously used by the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry.