February 13, 2012
Published: 28 May 09 14:30 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/19720/20090528/
Foreign students make up one third of doctoral candidates studying at Swedish universities and more than half of them stay in Sweden upon completing their studies, new statistics show.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
A Stockholm woman fed up with male passengers on public transport taking up the space of women sitting next to them, has started a blog snapping secret pics of straddle-legged commuters and posting them on the internet. READ (15 COMMENTS) »
A suburb of Mjällby, southern Sweden, known by locals as ‘Negro Village’ for forty years, will be changing its name after a storm of recent attention. READ (6 COMMENTS) »
A 27-year-old German man has been living at the Gothenburg Landvetter airport for two months having no wish to return to Germany and nowhere to go in Sweden. READ (5 COMMENTS) »
Every second Swede is at risk of developing dementia, according to a new study from Umeå University, which concentrated on the 85+ population in northern Sweden. READ »
After a 28-year-old woman was pulled off her bicycle and raped by an unidentified assailant in Malmö over the weekend, and police are fearing it could be the work of a budding serial rapist. READ (10 COMMENTS) »
Families of children in Sweden suffering from narcolepsy caused by vaccination for the swine flu can expect some form of compensation, Swedish health minister Göran Hägglund said on Sunday in response to new calls for help from parents. READ (1 COMMENT) »
The new leader of the Social Democrats Stefan Löfven has indicated he's ready to negotiate with the government over the future of nuclear power despite a previous party decision to phase out nuclear energy in Sweden. READ (1 COMMENT) »
One in five Swedes believes that people rise from the grave after they've died, a new survey has shown. READ (9 COMMENTS) »

As diverse as Sweden is, there are a few societal norms that are distinctly Swedish. Understanding a handful of them will hopefully prepare you culturally before you relocate. When you're invited home to a Swede, you better be on time and take your shoes off, writes expat Lola Akinmade-Åkerström. Read more »
Sweden is a country where almost everyone can speak English. So why bother to learn Swedish? Edina Varnagy from Hungary managed with English for a whole year but then found that Swedish could open doors – to a job, a social life and greater understanding. Read more »
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"The ice dripped in the winter sun. It was the first day when the light had been intense enough to cause dripping in the sunlight. To hear it was an extraordinary wakeup call. The cycle was happening again as it always does, always will (or so we think). I imagined that on my summer island, the bees..." READ »
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fin
adjective
Fin means anyhting from sweet to proper. When someone says, Du är så fin it's quite a compliment.
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thats the same greed that has driven the western world point. taking only the best from other people. when you take away the best, you leave the place in chaos so you still have to take the rest as time goes on.
what you see today in sweden was in-evitable from the start, stop blaming refugees and blame the forces behind the conflicts in their land.
i am from Nigeria and the only conflict we have there is caused and promoted by greedy western oil companies with the backing of their governments.
I agree about the hidden racist views held by many swedes but for pretence, fortunately there is a good balance on the part of genuinely kind swedes, especially those from the south of sweden. This isn't perculiar to sweden though as you can find worse scenarios elsewhere.
In addition the report said that the numbers of overseas PhDs was partly as a result of the high numbers coming to Sweden for international Master's courses taught in English - many apply to PhD programmes as a result
Also I think that a PhD programme in Sweden is very attractive for many overseas students:
- no fees
- you get paid a salary while you do your PhD
Otherwise, the Swedes perc. will be only 2 to 5 % not only in university but in all places related to scientific matter, so really if the racists or nationalist or whatever they called themselves love thier country they should respect and Appreciate those people that Serve Promote And Save thier country, and u see in the News the blood shortage in Swed wherase this rarely happened in other countries where people themselves donate without ask, anyway may be ill try 2 donate Blood next days
if i can give openion to improve this
A: diversity in university staff not just on bases of man and women (as used to be in sweden)but on bases on cultuers,ethinicity is very helpful for students. that will help a lot to become social
B: some change in trade unions and language policy aspacially in research and technical jobs to create competion and capital.
C: critical review of admission process to stop fake students, and suport true students socially,ethically, can make system perfact.
Swedish nations pays a lot tax for us and we students are thankful for that but these problams dont let students pay back, i know many students plane to go to DK,NG,IR,UK because of these issues
In any case it's not a bidrag - it's a salary - and with a doktorand position you get employment rights
- 33% of PhD students are foreign students
- 44% of those foreign students who complete their PhD thesis are still in Sweden 5 years after graduation
I don't know what you mean about fake PhD students - it's pretty hard to fake and very competitive
who are these foreigners? it is said that they are asians.
if they give country wise break up then it will be good.
they are from india,china or pakistan,iran,bangladesh.
who are funding those phd s.that is the same situation in usa . almost all master students are foreigners.they are form china , south korea and india.
i will get some information by asking some of my swedish friends. i will get the facts soon.
Nowadays The Local is flooded with people who barely speak English and certainly cannot spell nor use punctuation. Judging by their undeveloped brains it would not expect it to make any sense...
I have often noticed your racist and anti-immigrant opinions on this site.
Judging from your name, your parents must have been refugees in Sweden and you were most likely brought here as a child. Funny how people of Hispanic and Arab origins like to point fingers at Caucasians accusing them of racism when they are actually worse off.
I have noticed that Arabs and Hispanics in Sweden are even more racist towards Africans than the Swedish people are but they are always the first to cry foul at the slightest show of discrimination from their Swedish hosts.
PS. I make a lot of derogatory statements towards stupid people like yourself, but rarely any racist comments except for some UK/American bashing now and then...
*nice one Bender*
PS..You may shortly be receiving a letter,stating your inheritance of $9,000,000!
i saw people who have done 5 master degrees and 2 phd because he dont have job.
because of financial crisis people lost jobs and many are trying to enroll in colleges and universities for master programmes and phd.
i may be wrong but it is a good topic.who will do PHD?
you come from a part of the world where all they do is kiss white people's arses.
Inheritance? ..that definitely is for the greedy, ..you probably have been a greedy victim once.
I personally am really sorry that you feel this is a site where this kind of crap passes as conversation. I don't appreciate it, so at least one reader-poster is going to be extremely leery in the future of any postings with your name, or variations thereof, on it. Tyvarr.
just university and study is not solution until you make way clear for new labour,
Good riddance!
The point is not about getting paid while pursuing a PhD., Sweden has great reputation in PhD education. The undergrad education here has been very bad for many years now but the PhD one is still among the best in the world.
I agree also that the report has a hidden agenda but in any case it is good that they write it. It will show to the world that foreigners do contribute to Sweden in decent ways. By the way the majority of foreign PhD students in Sweden are still from Europe. In my department there lots of Russians and ex Soviet countries, Germans, Italians, Danes and Finns + a few Chinese.
- in other countries you get a grant/scholarship as a student - whereas in Sweden you get a salary once you have a full doktorand position with social benefits - PhD students are eligible for paid sick leave and parental leave.
- in Sweden PhD students are very much colleagues - most have an office, computer and phone provided by the department.
- some visiting post grad students have found it unusual that PhD students attend the hgher research seminars and sit with their professors in the lunch room - don't know if this is unsual in an international perspective.
- there are different types of PhD contract - with a full doktorand position there is often a 20% teaching role included in the position whereby you automatically lecture, teach seminars etc
I got 3 from my family one brother who is a doctor and one sister too a doctor the last sister is a pharmacist all are getting very well paid in the United States.
Then there are my relatives two cousins are doctors working in the states too. My brother's wife is a doctor too. My sister's husband is a doctor as well.
All are getting very well paid there.
No one asked me from my family or relatives to study or work in Sweden. All on my own here without any family only a Swedish husband, my Swedish parents in laws and our kids.
Besides many Swedish doctors are working in the United States.
It is a nice article about Sweden. I hope a better multicultural, better intergration, coexistence and tolerans for Sweden!
Sweden is my ideal, if I am a politician I would like to implement Swedish higher education and welfare system in my country. It is really nice.
One fellow said that '' the quality is important than quantity" . In my opinion, the Swedish higher education is really good and worldwide famous. Every Swedish inistitute has a lot of knowledgeable and responsible professor and researcher. The PhD students in Sweden also very resourceful and creative.
http://www.doktorandhandboken.nu/2.44aba2d...5800056276.html
I think that some departments take advantage of this
Overall quality of education should be standardized in Sweden.
Some Swedish organizations like Stint, Swedish Institute have funding for foreign PhD students but the sum is far below the doktorandtjänst and no social benefits. In principle the department can upgrade foreign PhD students on such the funding to the full salary but they choose not to.
It is also very common for a PhD to remain in the host country upon completion of the degree- either for domestic situation (they end up marrying someone that they met there) or for employment purposes. I witnessed this in Sweden and in Canada.
I say good luck to all those who stay in Sweden... and all those Swedes who end up in their "adoptive" countries... After all the work involved in obtaining a PhD, there is no doubt that you are a hard worker.
Old black joes still pickin cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows....
Pls any foreign PhD students out there put your affliates in your home countries in your articles and scientific papers . The PhD education in it self is not free because most contribute scientifically to the research of their professors.
In other for me not to be discriminatory an average student be it masters or which Swedish university has an impact factor of 2.75 in the last years Please finish your studies and move to places like Cali ,Singapore where knowledge is rewarded irrespective of colour .
Having seen a lot of theses (though not my students' work!) end up as unread books on library shelves, I'm a bit cynical towards the whole process. If the research is substandard then there's little point in it being done since the conclusions of the work are questionable. Without personal drive, a good project and a supportive supervisor its probably more worthwhile to get a job than waste several years in academia just to get a title and a fleeting sense of personal satisfaction.
If not, then it means it is same for both categories and in that case a foriegn student will spend even more time to make ends meet. Moreover, foriegn students will always have to be mentally worried about finances in an alien land.
2.There are a lot of things that can eat up your time, e.g parental leave, socializing, chating, finding new places, time and money spent in communication problem for foreigners especially, visiting new places by foriegners etc. This could be common for both foriegn and local students.
So it simply means that foriegn students are more focused as compared to local students.
In our university there are no scholarships awarded anymore, and every new PhD has to be employed which gives you more benefits like parental leave and ...
I am just stating the case in my university, I don't know about other universities. In terms of quality, I must say that (except for me) the foreign students studying here are of the best in their home countries. Obviously not the best, but all come from the best schools and had the best grades.
Within Lund University's Medical faculty, the salaried 'doktorandtjänst' position you mentioned above usually applies for only the last 2 years of a PhD student's time spent here - the first 2 years are simply stipends, thus no social benefits.
The rest is also broad generalisations: facilties in the work place, attendance of fellow students at seminars, amount of teaching required, vary WIDELY as I said above. It depends on many factors, the chief one being how well funded the research group is.
As regards comparing countries for quality of PhD students, that's a waste of time - I would look first at the quality of the potential supervisor and his/her setup. A great research groups usually thrives anywhere, as long as they have the support they need, and they would then i turn attract and churn out some high calibre PhD graduates.
In my field (engineering and applied maths) I know that both German speaking countries as well as the Nordic countries require that you have at least a 5 year engineering diploma before you start your 5 year PhD studies, so the students tend to be a bit older...
http://www.goforstudy.com/study-in-sweden