Which country has the best higher education system? Last week a study was presented by Universitas 21, an international network of leading universities from 16 countries which attempts to give us an answer. The ranking of higher education systems has been developed as a benchmark for governments, education institutions and individuals. The aim is to highlight the importance of creating a strong environment for universities to contribute to social, economic and cultural development and so that they can compete for talent globally. Read more »
The Study in Sweden team together with the Swedish Embassy is now at the International Exhibition & Conference on Higher Education (IECHE) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The Swedish booth stands out with the little red and white ”House of Sweden”. We have had thousands of students visiting us and asking us questions about studies in Sweden, most of them interested in medicine, dental hygiene, engineering and business.
The IECHE is a big event in Riyadh and the fair is heavily advertised and several TV- and radio channels are reporting from the fair. Both Karolinska Institutet and Uppsala University was interviewed live on Saudi TV.
Niclas Boborg (Swedish Institute) and Pär Skånberg (Embassy of Sweden) with two Saudi students at the Study in Sweden booth.
According to Universityadmissions.se the number of international applicants for master’s degree programs at Swedish universities have increased with 24 % compared to 2011.
The number of students that have paid the application fee has increased with 22 % so the increase is not mainly related to an increase in applicants that are exempt from fees. (Due to EU legislation, students from the EU/EEA, like Swedish students, do not need to pay tuition fees.)
Increasing number of international applications for Swedish mastern's degree programs. Photo: Ulf Lundin
Here’s a list of the top ten countries (with the number of applicants from each country in parenthesis)*:
Sweden (1330)
Germany (918)
China (883)
Great Britain (807)
India (755)
U.S.A. (639)
Greece (562)
Iran (531)
Bangladesh (475)
Pakistan (425)
And here’s a breakdown over the top ten most popular universities (with the number of applicants in parenthesis):
* The list refers to the number of students that have either paid the application fee or are exempt from application fees. The total number of applicants per country can be found in the excel file above.
On the 5th of November 2011, around 70 alumni attended a special seminar on Swedish innovation in conjunction to the Exhibition; “Innovative Sweden”. We had the honor of having former Swedish Institute scholarship recipient, Dr. Anna Stenport as our moderator. The program offered two different perspectives on Swedish Innovation, with Christian Quarles Van Ufford, Vice President, Director Global Marketing Metro International, giving his take on why Metro has become a global success story. Another angle on the Swedish innovative climate was presented by Cecilia Hertz, Founder & CEO of Umbilical Design.
With breaks for “fika” and rounding off with a plenty of time to mingle, all in all it was a success. We are planning our second alumni meeting in the US to take place in April at the Swedish Embassy “House of Sweden” in Washington DC.
Soon after our visit to Zambia, Niklas and I left Stockholm once again, this time for Burkina Faso (West Africa), another country the Study Scholarship Program targets. For the fall semester of 2011, Sweden only managed to attract one student from Burkina, currently at Uppsala University. With our visit, we hoped to positively improve the number of Scholarship applicants for the fall semester of 2012.
Once in Burkina Faso our first impression, being from Sweden, was the fantastic weather: we were swept away with Sub-Saharan temperatures of approximately 38 degrees Celsius on a daily basis, even though the country was getting closer to what they called ”winter”.
Panorama view of Ougadougo, capital of Burkina Faso
Our first visit was to the University of Bobo, a four-hour drive from Ouagadougo (the capital of Burkina Faso). We where very lucky to have the opportunity to speak to some 200 students.
Meeting students at University of Bobo-Dioulasso
Leaving Bobo, to drive back to Ougadougo where we where staying, we were lucky enough to pass the beautiful Grand Mosque in Bobo, built in the late 1880´s.
Grand Mosque in Bobo Dioulasso
Back in Ouagadougou we spent the next few days visiting a number of universities, one of them the University of Ouagadougou with over 35,000 students at Bachelor and Masters levels. Along with the students we met, we also met with government officials.
On the left; Owe Andersson Chargé d'Affaires in Burkina Faso, followed by Head of Assambus, Researcher and Niklas Dahlberg last on the right.
We managed to catch up with the local alumni association “Swedish and Burkina be friendship association” in Swedish: ”Vänskapsföreningen Burkina Faso – Sverige ASSAMBUS-BF”.
An extraordinary experince for us was the press confrence held on December 1, the same date as Universityadmissions.se opened for international applicants. Visit our Youtube channel to se the TV interview and coverage, in French. As a result, we increased the number of visits to www.studyinsweden.se from Burkina Faso with an astonishing 25000%.
… is run by Study in Sweden’s crew: Niclas Boborg, Marketing Strategist and a big fan of outdoor sports; Niklas Tranaeus, Project Coordinator and gourmet chef; Maureen Hoppers, Alumni Manager & Coordinator Swedish foreign missions and global citizen loving Sweden’s four seasons; Lisa Larsson, Community manager, SwedenInTouch and former seaman with a passion for the Swedish archipelago; Karl Peterson, Web manager, Studyinsweden.se and Japanophile. This blog is our personal take on Swedish higher education and the work that we do at the Swedish Institute — making Swedish education known to the world.
