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India in retrospect

The swedish delegation in India

The swedish delegation after the last fair held in Chennai

The “Study in Sweden team” is back in Sweden and it is time to settle our thoughts and evaluate our tour in India. Sweden is a small country and it is definitely a challenge to be seen and make an impression in a country like India. But we have a lot to offer for Indian students: the innovative and creative environment in Sweden which has shaped world class companies like Ericsson, IKEA, Volvo, Sandvik, Atlas Copco and many more. These companies are also active in India and are potential employers for Indian students worldwide.

The fact that we have been touring together with 7 universities made us one of the biggest delegations at the fair. One student in Pune commented “I was only thinking about studying in the US before but now I am definitely considering Sweden”.

Our visits to Sandvik in Pune and the Swedish Trade Council office gave us valuable insight into how to promote Swedish higher education in India. The tour has definitely given the whole Swedish delegation a deeper insight into India of today.  The speed of which India is developing today is truly impressing and to attract talent will be crucial for Sweden in developing ties between Sweden and India in the future.

We have been visiting six cities in total in India and we saw the greatest interest for engineering courses in Bangalore and Chennai and more interest for social sciences in Pune and Mumbai. The application process has opened now and it will be exciting to see how many applicants we will have from India. It is a central application process in Sweden and it is done through www.studera.nu.

Our tour has also attracted media attention with articles in the leading Swedish dailies Dagens Nyheter, Sydsvenskan, and Göteborgsposten. In India, an article in the Hindu has also been published in the Chennai edition.

Big interest for Sweden in Delhi and Pune

Swedish universities made a great impression on the Indian students at the QS fair in Delhi and Pune. Five Swedish universities were present in Delhi and four in Pune. Our presentation about Swedish higher education was held in front of a big crowd of students and all the representatives from the participating universities were busy answering questions. The universities have already got emails from several Indian students confirming that they will go to Sweden and study in 2011!

Many students were amazed over the Swedish representation at the fair and we are in fact having the biggest representation at the fair together with the Netherlands.

Today, the Swedish delegation will visit the Swedish multinational company Sandvik. Pune is almost a Swedish city since it is hosting the head offices for several Swedish multinational companies in India: Alfa Laval, Höganäs, Atlas CopcoSKF and Seco Tools.

We will update the blog after the visit!