Vice-Chancellor's blog
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Vice-Chancellor's Council
2012-02-06
The Vice-Chancellor's Council meets today and tomorrow in Vaxholm, for the first time this year, with the new Deputy Vice-Chancellors and deans. There are many points on the agenda: a review of matters concerning the University Board's meeting on February 15, opinions on the two inquiries into a new system of performance-related allocation of resources in research funding and the overhaul of the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education and the Swedish Agency for Higher Education Services, work on the revision of the list of leading research areas, the strengthening of ties to the jobs market within undergraduate education, the University's communications platform, the organisational placement of Stockholm Resilience Centre, the budget proposals to the Government and more.
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International students
2012-02-06
I have looked at the figures for the number of international applicants for master's programmes this autumn. Lund University, which has resolutely focused on the recruitment of international students for many years, is at the top among the nation's universities, with about 11,000 applicants, though Stockholm University has seen a gratifying increase in the number of applicants, and is now in second place with over 6,000 applicants. In relation to fee-paying students, the increase is over 50% compared to last year. I think this is mainly the result of the extensive marketing work we have conducted in several countries and at several foreign universities, including China and the USA. The greatest number of applicants are from Britain, Germany, China, Bangladesh and the United States, in that order. The most popular courses are found within the area of economics and business. We have the potential to garner even more applications and accept many more international students, but the biggest problem is, as we know, that of the shortage of student housing. Politicians are working on the issue, but now it is not simply a matter of starting new construction projects — rapid interim solutions are also required. It is unfortunate that international students who wish to come here and pay for their studies, and who have been accepted by Stockholm University, are forced to turn down their place and go home or to choose another university, simply because there is no housing.
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Seychelles
2012-02-06
I am in the Seychelles this week on a combined research and holiday trip. Research expedition in the sense that I am participating in a research group with Birgitta Bremer and others from the University's Department of Botany, concerned with collecting plant materials; holiday in the sense that this is for me a vacation. The research is about the plant migration history on the islands in the Indian Ocean. I'm back in Bloms hus on Monday while others continue to Reunion.
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Tuition fees
2011-12-15
The National Agency for Higher Education has released a new report based on a follow-up study of how things have gone with tuition fees, that is, how things went with fee-paying international students during the first term. That the number of international students is now low in relation to the total number is not good for Sweden as an international knowledge-based nation, and unfortunately entirely expected. What is surprising is the low percentage - 29% - of students who actually registered with their department after receiving an offer of a place. It seems that the main reasons are the problems with obtaining a residence permit, in relation to which the Migration Board and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs - as we know - acted in a bureaucratic and inflexible manner, together with the lack of student housing, rather than the study fees themselves. It is also strange to note that so many turned down the offer of a scholarship that eliminates the tuition fees, apparently due to the cost of living in Sweden. There needs to be many more scholarships that cover not only tuition fees but also living costs, or at least some of these.
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Södertörn
2011-12-15
On Monday this week the Stockholm Academic Assembly convened, the Assembly is a long-standing association of Vice-Chancellors/Presidents and Administrative Directors from universities and major university colleges in Stockholm. The Assembly's chief purpose is the exchange of information between institutes of higher education. The discussion on Monday revealed how Södertörn University College is being squeezed by cutbacks in education funding and difficulties in obtaining facilities and research resources. The current higher education policy is of course that a number of colleges should be merged with larger universities. Here I would like to emphasise that this does not apply to Södertörn University College, which is one of the largest and most successful university colleges, maintaining a high standard in several areas. Södertörn University College, for example, received the right to award research degrees for all areas that they have applied for. Stockholm is growing faster than other parts of the country and the future demand for higher education in the region is great. Södertörn University College should be converted to a university with a greater number of study places and control over the research resources available in the foundations that have responsibility for supporting Södertörn.
Recent posts
- Vice-Chancellor's Council 2012-02-06
- International students 2012-02-06
- Seychelles 2012-02-06
- Tuition fees 2011-12-15
- Södertörn 2011-12-15
- Nobel Week 2011-12-15
- Tuition fees 2011-11-15
- China 2011-11-15
- The Nobel Prizes 2011-10-05
- Doctoral Awards Ceremony 2011-09-30
- Student housing 2011-09-23
- International students 2011-09-21
