Sweden eyes more students from India

After US and UK, Indian students are no exploring other European destinations. Scandinavian country Sweden seems to be one of the preferred destinations for Indian students. Indian students going to Sweden for higher studies has gone up significantly. In 2012 the Indian student contingent was around 750, which has gone up to 1,300 in 2013. The senior officials at the Sweden Consulate in India said that it has received 1,200 applications up until now. The overall number of international students in Sweden have also increased from 7,800 in 2013 to 6,500 in 2012. Explaining the reason, Fredrika Ornbrant, Consul General, Sweden said, “Swedish universities are renowned for their investigative research and independent thinking. Much focus is placed on developing students’ ability to engage in critical thinking through an analytic mindset. Sweden has one of the most ambitious educational evaluation programmes in the world, aimed at maintaining the system’s competitive edge.” Few renowned Universities in Sweden are: Lund University, Stockholm University, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, Uppsala University, Linköping University, University of Gothenburg, Stockholm School of Economics, Malmö University and Blekinge Institute of Technology. Ornbrant  adds, “Swedish universities will encourage you to discover and develop your true strengths and talents. The focus is on translating theory into practical results by applying knowledge to real-world problems.Sweden has a long tradition of actively pursuing global efforts in sustainable development.” Until recently, all students could study tuition-free in Sweden. In 2010, however, the government passed a law which altered the payment structure to include both tuition and application fees for international students from non-EU/EAA destinations. A number of scholarships are available to compensate for this change, providing financial waivers for international students. Application and tuition fees apply for students who are not citizens of an EU/EEA/Nordic country or Switzerland. The fees apply only to bachelor’s and master’s programmes and courses, while PhD programmes are tuition-free. Universities set their own tuition fees, and these vary between Rs  8 lakh to Rs  14 lakh per academic year for most subjects. However, programmes in the fields of medicine and art have notably higher fees. Sweden attracted the second largest contingent of Indian students since 2012 after Thailand. There are 2,000 students studying in Sweden. Indian students willing to go to Sweden can apply for KTH –India Scholarship which is open to Indian students only and established in 2012 through a donation made by an anonymous donor. According to the ‘Sweden- India Business Guide-2014’, the trade between India and Sweden in 2013 is pegged at $70 million as FDI’s from Sweden to India in 2013, while the export of goods to Sweden from India was pegged at $732 million. The export of goods to India was to the tune of around $167 million. Hrhishikesh Joshi September 25, 2014 http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/sweden-eyes-more-students-from-india-114092500818_1.html