Inspektor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the police rank, see Inspector .

Inspektor, Swedish for Inspector, is the largely honorary chairmanship of a student nations in Lund and Uppsala universities in Sweden. The Inspector has a supervisory role his/her nation and presides over most important functions. It is a quite prestigious role to be invited to undertake as it implies the trust and respect of the student community. The inspector may be of either gender and is usually a professor (although any member of the university's teaching staff is acceptable). The position originated in the 15th century as a way for the university administration to keep watch on the student population after both Uppsala and Lund universities realised that they were unable to forbid the nation system outright.

In many nations the Inspector is also the chairman of the nation's governing committee. They used to be present at the nation's annual general meeting (known as a "Landsskap") as well as other special occasions such as the Newcomer's Feast ("Novichfest"). Mostly it is the Inspector who makes the speech of honour at the end of each formal dinner in the nation and at the end of each semester he or she ceremonially "sends the students home".

Inspectors now also exist at some technical colleges, at some other universities and in some Swedish student unions. In the latter the inspector has some role as a person to whom one may complain about university processes.