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Archive for Maureen Hoppers - Study

As a kid, Maureen moved a lot. She lived in some 10 countries before finally settling down in Sweden – as a university student, of course… Now she’s back on the road, traveling the world to market Swedish higher education and build relations with Sweden Alumni.

Visual evidence from alumni event in the US!

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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.

Hopefully we will see you there!

Maureen Hoppers - Study

February 8, 2012

Study Scholarships visit part 3 — Burkina Faso

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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%.

Maureen Hoppers - Study

December 14, 2011

Study Scholarships visit to Zambia, part 2; Alumni Event, Career Expo & Kabwe

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The second day we woke up early to prepare for “Career Expo”, the largest educational fair in Zambia. We were lucky enough to hold a presentation to over 50 students about Sweden, higher education in Sweden and the Study Scholarship program. It was a great success and we hope to meet some of them in Sweden in the future. We were surprised to learn that they are quite familiar with Sweden, one of the many areas of familiarity with Sweden, rather than Zlatan, was Dag Hammarskjöld, one of Swedens most famous Peacemakers. 

Right top & bottom: At the beutiful Career Expo in Zambia with students Left: With the Head of Dag Hammarskjöld Institution and in the bakground the Swedish School of Lusaka

 Since we spent most of the first day in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, we were delighted that we got the opportunity to visit the University of Mulungushi in Kabwe (a 3h drive northeast of Lusaka).

University of Mulungushi, Zambia

One of the most exciting events for me, being the Alumni manager at SI, was the reception as the ambassador’s residence where we met former international students to Sweden, and was graced by Zambias current Finance Minister Alexande Chickwanda who studied at Lund University  in the late 1960´s. Most still spoke Swedish!  More about the event on the Swedish Embassys website: http://www.swedenabroad.com/News____109603.aspx?slaveid=133631

Seeing that Sweden only has a handful of scholarship holders from Zambia currently in Sweden, we hope that this visit will help increase the number of applications for the current application period that opened the 1st of December. We rounded off a few but fantastic days in Zambia with lots of impressions. For more information about the scholarship program visit www.studyinsweden.se/study-scholarships

Maureen Hoppers - Study

December 8, 2011

Study Scholarships visit to Zambia, part 1 from Lusaka

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The Swedish Institute Study Scholarships Program visits Zambia and Burkina Faso to talk about the new scholarship program that targets students from Bangladesh, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

In mid-November me and my colleague Niklas Dahlberg, program Officer for the Study Scholarships, landed in Lusaka with a full program of visits to Universities and market the Scholarship program.

Down Town Lusaka, the capital of Zambia

Our first visit was to the largest, University of Zambia (UNZA) where we met the Vice-Chancellor who has been to Sweden on numerous occasions. We also had the opportnity to meet with Headsof Institutions at the University as well as a Postdoc currently at UNZA and Umeå University (in Sweden). We rounded off our visit with a radio interview at UNZA Radio. The University has approx. 16 000 students at BA and Master level, we were also received a wonderful tour of the Campus and the 14 storied library filled with students preparing for exams.

Visit to University of Zambia Radio (UNZA Radio), University of Lusaka and the Swedish Embassy

We rounded off the first day after visits to University of Lusaka (UNILUS) and Evelyn Hone College where Niklas held a presentation about the opportunities within the scholarship program.

At University of Zambia (UNZA) with Vice Chancellor and senior staff

For more information about the scholarship program visit www.studyinsweden.se/study-scholarships

Maureen Hoppers - Study

December 6, 2011

Welcoming over 200 new Scholarship holders to Sweden

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For the past few years the Swedish institute (SI) has been welcoming newly arrived Scholarship holders to a kick-off.  This year the program offered a two day’s program. So on Friday the 7th of October, around lunch time, 215 scholarship holders represented some 33 nationalities descended on the small town and Island of Lidingö, an island just outside the center of Stockholm.

Maureen with 4 alumniSI:s Director general Annika Rembe gave our Scholarship holders a warm welcome to Sweden and talked about the importance building relations and newtorks with Sweden. As the events moderator, we continued the program with renowned by Lars Trägårdh, professor in history on Sweden´s experience as a nation. Followed by Caroline Vicini, Head of Protocol, Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the image of Sweden. Both also shared their professional and personal take on Sweden after spending a number of years abroad which ignited a 45 min long session of discussions between the Scholarship holders and keynote speakers. We rounded off Friday with dinner and social activities.

ScholarshipholdersSaturday featured a session with four alumni (previous Scholarship holders) from four different countries. They shared their experiences in Sweden, talked about how to get to know Sweden and Swedes, how to dress for winter, the Swedish fika and the education system which ignited a Q& A on surviaval in Sweden as a student. Midday offered a Cross-Cultural Experience Seminar & workshop, led by Dr John Alexander.

The kick-off is intended to be the inspiring start of a long-term relationship with Sweden and the Swedish Institute. The Scholarship Holder are also offered a unique membership in SI Network for Future Global Leaders. For those of you curious about SI:s Scholarship holders, you can catch up with them on: www.swedenintouch.se, the official Community for international students who are in Sweden or who have been to Sweden.

Maureen Hoppers - Study

October 18, 2011