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Tag archives for Alumni

It’s all about Sweden

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The highlight of Study in Sweden’s visit to Hong Kong was, from my point of view, the alumni meeting. Some 100 students from Hong Kong who been to Sweden for studies or research meet up with me, the Consulate General and representatives from the Swedish universities. And it was all about Sweden.

Discussions about everything from innovative university buildings and memorable lectures to someone’s first visit in a Swedish forest and Swedish culinary classics like meatballs and cinnamon buns. Standing in a skyscraper with a hundred people talking about different aspects of Swedish culture boosted my ego as a Swede and my belief that Sweden offers a truly unique experience for students with its open climate and student centric education.

One of the most interesting things to talk about is what they thought was the best thing about studying here and also what kind of advice they would give a newly arrived student. I recorded a few of the alumni talking about some of these things. Here is a short clip with Olivia, an alumni from Uppsala University.

An outcome of the alumni meeting is The Swedish Academic Alumni Association in Hong Kong. The alumni association will continue to arrange meeting and seminars, next one will be in April. The purpose is to stay in touch, network and build relations between Hong Kong and Sweden. You can find them on Facebook  and soon also on our community SwedenInTouch.

Lisa Larsson — Study

March 24, 2011

Promoting Swedish higher education in Hong Kong

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Study in Sweden reached Hong Kong! Together with six Swedish universities – Lund University, Linneaus Universty, Malmö University, Chalmers University of Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Linköping University and Halmstad University, we attended the annual EHEF European higher education fair. The fair took place last weekend at the Central Library in Hong Kong. Many students from the area met up with us and showed a great interest in Sweden. Bachelor and Master degree programs in business or environmental studies were much asked about.

Except from the fair we also arranged an alumni meeting together with the Consulate General of Sweden in Hong Kong, as well a lunch seminar where our Swedish universities met up with universities from Hong Kong. I will tell you more about the alumni meeting and the alumni association in Hong Kong in my next blog post.

Here are som pics from the fair to give you a glimpse of how things work when we are travelling the world to promote Sweden as a study destination.

In action during the fair.

Sweden alumni helpt us out during the fair. Happy after a busy day.

Sweden alumni helpt us out during the fair. Happy after a busy day.

Lisa Larsson — Study

March 21, 2011

Why Sweden? Visit to an alumni and his family in Mumbai

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Guest blog from our intern Sahra Hauer
First, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Sahra and I’m doing my internship at the Swedish Institute and the Study in Sweden team.

Vipul and I meeting up in Mumbai

Vipul and I meeting up in Mumbai.

Right now I’m in India together with my colleagues. In Mumbai, I and Lisa met up with a friend of mine, Vipul. We got to know each other during his exchange year in Umeå. He is now back in Mumbai after finishing his Master’s degree program in Transportation design at Umeå Institute of Design,  and we got invited to Vipul and his parents’ home for lunch.

During lunch we talked about how he ended up in Sweden and what he thought about it. Vipul told us that he knew 6 years before he enrolled in the program that he wanted to come to Umeå Institute of Design. According to him it’s well known among the target group in India, and one of the top universities in the world when it comes to design. They only admit approximately 8 students per year and the competition is tough. A Master from Umeå will ensure you a job when returning home.

In many cases, Indian families invest in the childrens’ education and send them abroad – expecting it to be a long term investment for the family. Vipul and his father, who is a professor, told us that the parents are 100% involved in the process of choosing country and university. In India, if the family themselves don’t have the possibility to pay for your education, it’s possible to take a bank loan for studying abroad.

How Swedish universities should promote themselves in India was another question discussed during lunch. Sweden is unknown in India, especially when it comes to higher education. Indian top students mostly go to the US, UK or Australia – countries with English as their mother tongue and hosting big Indian communities. This makes it easier, and cheaper, when it comes to accommodation and living costs.  But Vipul saw possibilities for Sweden. What he found most valuable during his Master’s was the fact that students are expected to think critically and out of the box. You are able to develop your creativity, analyze and solve problems. Although, according to Vipul, the Swedish universities also need to present hard facts and rankings when it comes to marketing. “That’s just the way it is here” he said.

Lisa and I together with Vipuls parents

Lisa and I together with Vipuls parents after enjoying a long lunch together.

Our lunch lasted for four hours, the same amount of time as his mother had been preparing the food! It was really interesting to get a glimpse of how an Indian family lives and how they think about Sweden and higher education.

Lisa Larsson — Study

December 6, 2010

Greetings from Moscow – Education fair and Alumni meeting

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After a three hour taxi ride from the airport I finally arrived in Moscow. The huge capital accommodates over 9 million citizens, the same amount of population as in the whole of Sweden. You can image that I felt rather small and overwhelmed.

I’m here together with two colleagues who work with The Visby Program, Swedish Institute’s Baltic Sea Region Exchange Program.  We’re in town for a few days to attend an international student fair presenting Swedish higher education to Russian students – Moscow International  Education and Career Fair

Apart from the fair we also arranged an alumni meeting for Russian international students who returned to Russia after studies or research in Sweden. We held the seminar together with the Swedish embassy in Moscow. Some 50 alumni listened to presentations by the Swedish Radio’s correspondent in Moscow, representatives from the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Moscow and last but not least a Visby Program Alumnus and  Phd. Dr researching on Export of Swedish music in the times of Web 2.0. Very interesting! These alumni meetings are truly valuable – to keep in touch with former international students and scholars, share experiences and thoughts about Sweden and foremost to create the possibility for networking. I can promise you that all of us, alumnus, SI and the embassy, felt inspired when leaving the RGGU Campus where we held the meeting.

As regards to Russian universities I and my colleague Markus went out sightseeing for an hour before the alumni meeting. After being amazed at the Kremlin we went to look at MGU, Moscow State University.

The picture say’s it all…

The impressive main building is 36 floors and 240 meters high (the tower).

What can I say everything is gigantic in Moscow. The metro system, the buildings, the streets. Everything…

Stay tuned I will update the blog with some pictures from the student fair. Btw did I mention that also the student fair is gigantic!?

Lisa Larsson — Study

November 12, 2010

Visiting the Swedish-speaking at Beijing Foreign Language University

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The Chinese capital is an ENORMOUS city, with a population twice the size of Sweden. I’m really impressed. Working with marketing of Swedish education abroad, one of the must-dos in Beijing for me was to visit the Swedish class at Beijing Foreign Language University.

My Chinese name, given by the students!

The Swedish class at Beijing Foreign Language University

There were some 25 Chinese students in the class and they had been studying Swedish for just over a year with their three teachers. Although still beginners in Swedish, they could have fooled me – they were pretty decent already.

We had a nice discussion with the Swedish students about what they associate with Sweden, and they mentioned Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrik Larsson, both famous football players, as well as the famous scientist Carl von Linné.

My Chinese name, given by the students!

My Chinese name, given by the students!

All of the students had been given a Swedish name by their teachers, and they delighted me by giving me a Chinese name — Mò Lì, which means Jasmine.

I sure hope there’ll be more opportunities for me to meet these students again….

Maureen Hoppers - Alumni

November 2, 2010