Borås

Housing

The municipality's website has summary information for persons looking for housing. We do not act as a flat agency, but you can look for flats in Borås and the surroundings yourself using our property links.

Language groups in the locality

Borås is a town where social, ethnic and cultural diversity drive development forwards. The languages spoken here are, among others, Finnish, Arabic, Persian, Somali, Kurdish, Dari, Thai, Albanian, Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian, and various other minority languages. Sweden has five national minorities and minority languages. These minorities are Jews, Roma, Sami, Swedish Finns and Tornedalians.

Associations and organisations

Borås municipality has a large range of associations. You can find them in the municipality's association register where you can search for associations within your area of interest.
There are also a number of organizations in Borås, among them Red Cross, the KFR Churches refugee advice centre, Save the Children and other associations (sports and cultural associations and neighbourhood groups).

What is available in the immediate area

Borås is located in a heavily populated region in western Sweden. 1.5 million people live within a 100 km radius. With more than 106,000 inhabitants, Borås is the country's thirteenth largest municipality. Apart from the town of Borås, there are 20 population centres in the municipality. The largest are Dalsjöfors, Fristad, Sandared and Viskafors. On the Borås town website you can find more information about facilities available in the region.

There are around 600 not-for-profit associations, 14 open-air centres with 70 km of lit running tracks, a leisure pool, tennis hall, 15 leisure centres, an indoor riding school, golf courses and a motorsport stadium offering lots of options for leisure time.

The Borås Regional Establishment Centre (BREC) works to receive refugees in six different municipalities: Borås, Bollebygd, Mark, Tranemo, Ulricehamn and Vårgårda.

Childcare

Borås town operated around 90 nursery schools, 20 family day nurseries and 41 comprehensive schools. There are around 40 after-school clubs, usually in conjunction with the premises of comprehensive schools. Apart from the municipal nursery schools and schools, there are also nine independent nursery schools, of which two also run independent comprehensive schools.

The pre-school class is voluntary for parents and children, but mandatory for the municipality. 6 year-olds can choose to start a pre-school class or start school. The pre-school class has the same curriculum as the rest of the comprehensive school. Children attend for 15 hours per week. The operation, which is free of charge, unites the methodological and pedagogic traditions of nursery schools and schools.

Compulsory schools and upper secondary schools

Borås has five municipal upper secondary schools, offering a large range of national programmes with various specializations and profiles. There are both programmes preparing for university studies and occupational programmes, with great options to choose for the pupils. Within the occupational programmes, there is also apprenticeship training in collaboration with business in Sjuhärad.​

Education opportunities

Short-cuts for foreign university graduates (KOVA)

Take the short-cut to work. Short-cuts is a training programme for persons with a foreign background who have studied for at least three years at a foreign college or university and who is registered as seeking work with the employment service. The training, which is delivered at Borås University, is a labour market training course run on behalf of the employment service. The purpose of the training is to make it easier for people to get work that corresponds to the education and professional experience they bring with them from their home countries.

Swedish for Foreign Academics

The education in Swedish for Immigrants, SfI, is intended for immigrant refugees with university qualifications. The training is intensive, and is carried out together with the municipal adult education in Borås town and the employment service. The catchment area is Borås and the Sjuhärad region.​

Centrum för flerspråkigt lärande, CFL

CFL, the Centre for Multi-Lingual Learning is a joint school organization in Borås town for pupils at comprehensive and upper secondary level. CFL is responsible for receiving and mapping newly arrived pupils, for first-language teaching and study guidance.

The aim of CFL is for all newly arrived children to be sitting at a school desk within 3 days after we have received notice.​​

Health and medical care

The hospital Södra Älvsborgs Sjukhus, SÄS, is located in Borås and Skene and is one of four hospital groups in the Västra Götaland region. Our hospital carries out county medical care within all specialities and some regional medical care within oncology and radiation treatment. Borås has several medical centres. More information is available from Närhälsan.

Interpreter assistance

You can get interpreter assistance through Tolkförmedlingen Väst.

Public transport

Borås is an attractive place to live, and invests in good communications. Frequent train connections give opportunities for commuting to study and work in other locations, such as Göteborg.

Västtrafik is responsible for public transport in Västra Götaland county and Borås municipality. They operate buses, trains, trams and boats in Göteborg and western Sweden.

Borås' strategic location is one reason why many companies choose Borås. Borås is the hub of four national roads, among them the motorway between Göteborg and Stockholm. There are also railways going in four directions. With the X2000 train, you reach Stockholm in just over three hours. A half-hour journey away is Landvetter international airport.

Work and entrepreneurship

There are around 10,000 persons in 248 different occupations who work for Borås Town. This makes us Borås' largest workplace.

Borås is a centre for design and trade, but also has a long tradition as a textile town. Borås is today a centre for textile design, development and trade. Many well-known textile and clothes manufacturing chains have their head offices in Borås, among them Hemtex, Gina Tricot, SVEA and 8848 Altitude. Engineering and electronics are also major parts of Borås's industry. Here you can find major companies, such as Ericsson, Volvo Bussar and Parker Hannifin.

A good business climate is important for the development of our town. We want to create good prerequisites for our companies to grow, for entrepreneurship and new companies and for entrepreneurs and investors to feel Borås is attractive.