Initially programmes offered focused on engineering, although other subject areas were also represented. Today, engineering accounts for about 35% of the programmes and is one of many strong areas of research.

At the end of the 1990’s, Malardalen University became Sweden’s first environmentally certified university. Sustainable development and ecological economics became new areas of focus. In 2001, the university was granted the right to educate and award doctoral degrees in the scientific field of Engineering.