There has been a 13% increase in international student admissions to Swedish universities despite the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing restrictions and risks involved in travelling between countries.
According to the Swedish Institute, the number of international admissions has risen to 27,329 in 2020-21, up from 24,099 in 2019-20, based on data from the Swedish Council of Higher Education.
“Given all the hurdles related both to international mobility caused by the current pandemic and to the delayed residence permits process, it’s remarkable to see such positive numbers,” said Douglas Washburn, marketing manager for Study in Sweden*, an official resource for prospective and current international students provided by the Swedish Institute.
Sweden offers more than 1,000 English-taught programmes. Some of the most popular subjects are engineering and IT, life sciences and business. Sweden also has a strong reputation in design and areas such as international relations and human rights.
“International students are not only critical in terms of helping the Swedish economy recover from the corona[virus] crisis, they are also an important source of skilled labour for Swedish companies and they provide an important international dimension to classrooms at Swedish universities,” said Washburn.
In 2018-19 new fee-paying international students contributed SEK1.1 billion (about US$122 million) to the Swedish economy, the institute estimated, based on the tuition fees in Sweden for international students and the Migration Agency’s calculation on the living costs in Sweden.
“We have roughly 4,500 new international fee-paying students per year and about 60% of the [revenue] comes from tuition fees and the rest from the money they spend in Sweden,” a spokesperson for the Swedish Institute told University World News.
She said the total impact of new international students is far higher.
The economic impact on the Swedish economy of all international students in 2018-19 (the most recent year for which there are official numbers) is estimated at around SEK3.9 billion and includes only tuition fees paid to Swedish universities and an estimation of living expenses spent in Sweden.
The figure comprises SEK2.16 billion in living expenses for 25,374 degree students, SEK0.66 billion in living expenses for 13,004 exchange students and SEK1.04 billion in tuition fees from 8,053 international fee-paying students. This does not include additional contributions from students paying taxes on any part-time jobs they hold.
Global interest
The interest in studying in Sweden is global, with students coming from more than 117 countries, with the biggest representation of students from Finland, India and China.
When asked why they chose to study in Sweden, a majority of the more than 10,000 international students surveyed by the Swedish Institute pointed out the country’s lifestyle and the open, progressive values.
The focus on equal rights, LGBTQ (Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender-Queer) rights and sustainability are as important as excellent education at an affordable cost.
Over the past few years, Sweden as a study destination has developed an appealing reputation as a safe and modern country with a unique work-life balance, along with a lack of hierarchy and strong sense of equality, which is often reflected in classrooms, the Swedish Institute’s survey of international students found.
“Sweden is known for its genuine equality, irrespective of class, gender, country and even sexual preferences,” Samhita from India, studying business intelligence at Dalarna University, in Falun and Borlänge, 200km northwest of Stockholm, said in the survey.
“When I looked for studies abroad, I researched about the growth of IT and saw that the informatics sector is doing so well here,” said Samhita.
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