'Free tuition for students who stay in Sweden'

I think it's a brilliant idea!

The biggest catch is finding a job. IF and that's a big IF they can get hired in Sweden. Most of the foreign students I met ended up not getting any job of PhD so they have to go back home or work with things totally unrelated to their majo, e.g. catering. Unless the Education Ministry also comes up with a plan to integrate these people into the labor force, everything said remains complete bogus. First they attract you with a possible way of skipping the tuition.... Then they make you pay by not providing the job opportunities.

Election time is promise time. How will you obliged them to pay back when they have looked for work and can not find, and then decide to move away from sweden. Why dont you propose a law after which international or non EU students comes to sweden, pay the tuition fees themselves and then get two years working visa after their studies as it is done in the UK.

@krow

100% agreed. How you can stop foreign national to stop travel to his/her own country??? Its practically impossible.

I agree with Krow, why doesnt the govt come up with a rock solid idea instead of proposing weird ideas like these..

I am really excited to see how many international students want to pay and study in Sweden from this year .. No doubt the education quality is very high here but the language and other factors contribute alot towards the negative side..

I think UK has this good policy that the student is atleast allowed to live and work for 2 yrs after completing the study so that the student can atleast earn the same as he has spend during his study and can also look for jobs during this time. A system like this gives enough time to student to explore all the possibilites and also learn the culture more as you cannot learn much abou the culture in just one/two years when you are studying..

The system in UK should not be such a carbon copied system in Sweden. Foreign students studying in UK already can speak English before embarking on their studies, while those coming to Sweden must have to learn Swedish after their studies. Currently, Sweden has thousands of immigrants who had their masters education in Sweden and who still live legally in Sweden without jobs. The waiting time to learn, understand and master the language in order to secure a meaningful job is minimum 5 years. Except in some exceptional cases where such people are privilege to secure jobs not necessarily requiring good swedish language knowledge.

The policies: Swedish and English, are inversely related because of the language barrier. The bottom line is for the Minister to include a promise of a job rather than "forcing" such people to remain in Sweden. If Sweden educates as well as provides the right jobs for these immigrants, the tendency of the proposal succeeding is high. But if these people (masters graduates) will end up learning the language in order to secure a job, they will surely be frustrated to migrate to other countries.

This is my take on the policy.

zillion times agree with Krow....

this is all bullshid that student will be in the obligation to payback the money. The brilliant idea would be if they permits them two yr of full time working visa.

Swedes need to open their eyez and look at US ,Canada Australia. They are integrated people and warm wellcomming talented people and Sweden is still stuck btween the issue of who is from sweden and who isnt-

Already sweden in the corner of the worl they need to globblize and show their country is a strong well developed and integrated Country.

Tats it !! huh

Great idea!

Sweden has a major "braindrain". All the educated Swedes have moved out of the country to make more money. There is absolutely no lack of jobs in Sweden!!! Companies are on their knees because they can't find people to hire. The people that ARE umemployed in Sweden have either no education or the WRONG education or just plain lazy.

Sweden needs to give educated immigrants priority before others. People that contribute to society need to move in!

If you look at all the successes of the USA. 90% of all the accievements have NOT been from "homegrown" Ammericans. It has come from educated immigrants.

Without "Von Braun(Germany)" USA would never have walked the moon.

Einstein - Born in Germany, was a dual citizen(Swiss and US) till his death.

With educated immigrants, there is no limit to how far Sweden can go!

In principle offering an education in return for work is good.

Problems

1) they go home at the end of the course - no chance of recovering the course costs.

2) selection of students for receive masters education - many I have seen come to Sweden because the course is free, universities want as many students as possible and the result is many students who do not have the background to benefit from the course.

Good idea, students need serious vetting.

@ oasking

What on earth are you talking about? Don't you know that around 90% of Swedish Masters degrees are taught in English??

idea is good but to secure job after the education will be challanging

@ Puffin, read my comment again.

For clarifications I compared learning Swedish after studying in English (Sweden) to England style where the graduates do not have to learn another language since English is the only language needed to study and work.

It's pretty obvious why stupid socialists would see this type of contract as "serfdom".

What's not obvious to the untrained eye, is that Sweden is not particularily attractive to competent people (be they "Swedes" or "foreigners"). Taxes are high and work is heavily regulated. What's more, the society is not good at integrating foreigners the way the US or Canada are. And that's a matter of mentalities, not government intervention. There is a lot of xenophobia, latent racism, and nationalistic sentiment in this country.

I frankly never understood why Sweden takes up uneducated by the boatload, but kicks out folks who just got a fancy Master's degree or Ph.D. Anyone cares to explain the rationale behind it?

The law is broken in that sense. A highly qualified researcher or doctoral student is only "granted" a visa on the grounds that he or she will not settle in the country (source: migrationsverket.se).

@locaxy

"And that's a matter of mentalities, not government intervention. There is a lot of xenophobia, latent racism, and nationalistic sentiment in this country."

I dont agree with this statement. Swedes are not more racist than for instance, americans.

The language barrier and, as you stated, a rigid labourmarket are the primary reasons for the lack of integration.

"I frankly never understood why Sweden takes up uneducated by the boatload, but kicks out folks who just got a fancy Master's degree or Ph.D. Anyone cares to explain the rationale behind it?"

This however, is an excellent question, and has also baffled me for years. I dont think there is an economic rationale behind it.

It has more to do with a leftist "save the world through human rights" mentality.

@Jannik #14

You are a liar, a very bad liar though.

As far as I know, I have not heard about any research that has been done to find out the most racist country in the world. However, as a Swede I can conclusively say the Swedes are one of the most racists nations ever on this planet since the humanity started. So, zip your face and cut the crap!

Yeah and how do you get the racist ignorant private sector to get them in once they are done with school? Sweden must be crazy to think that someone developing world student who has can afford the cost of foreign education will choose Swedish Universities over established names institutions in the UK, Canada, USA. Do you imagine someone paying say 9000 pounds to study in say the University of Orebro or one of those so called hogskolas when the same money can fetch him the same, and may be better, training in say SOAS? Swedish policy makers need to grow up and realise the drove of foreign students to Sweden in the past years was essentially because it was free, easy to get into(which is, unfortunately, typical of uncompetitive institutions) and had nothing to do with the quality of education or reputation of swedish schools, by world standards. Far from it. They should turn to their next door neighbours, Denmark and Norway for some lesson learning on this issue.

In my opinion this is bit stupid. Every single students who came from outside Europe and north America try to find out a way to stay in Europe as long as possible. Specially they really want to settle a country like Sweden which has good welfare. So there is no need to give a huge scholarship to students for work couple of years for return.

As far as my concern, they decide to do this but couple of years they start to complain about these foreign students, ow yeah that time they will not called as "student" ; they will be called "immigrant".

All these people who responsible for administration are quite mindless. They not concern long run. They only can see just couple of years. The immigration and asylum policy are just two examples.

Well if they failed.... you'd better be candid about this and say it's a kind of loan. And there're supposed to be some conditions when a student is unable to keep to her/his side of the bargain. So, let us be more informed in order to form ideas whether this is a no-brainer or one of those unrequited wishes that certain politicians get.

This incentive is offered only to "gifted" or "talented" students of natural sciences or technology-related subjects. Who decides who qualifies as "gifted" or "talented". Tell us please Tobias Krantz.

Poor Ylva Johansson seems stuck in a time warp of sad socialist dogma. ".... the best students from other countries had better options than living in "serfdom" in Sweden." Newsweek this week awarded Sweden third place in its list of the top 100 countries to live in. The only two better options than a life of serfdom in Sweden are Finland and Switzerland. I am sure there are plenty of "talented" graduates from further down Newsweek's list who wouldn't mind a bit of Swedish "serfdom".

If the red/greens are going to have a chance next month they are going to have to do much better than reaching into their worn out 1970's dogma box to shoot down government pre-election initiatives. People will start to think they have run out of ideas; heaven forbid.

Norway will definitely be the new talking point of foreign students.

1. The are no school fees

2. The government has introduced laws that gives foreign students visa after 6 months to look for job on completion of their studies.

3. Students who intend to stay for one or two years to study the language as well as get a job are given visas to do that.

I dont think sweden will benefit on the long run with the school fees thing or given 'talented' student scholarship on the ground of enticing them to come to sweden. Wrong policy from politicians who talk with all four corners of their mouth

@Marko2010S

If i am a liar, then i should be deliberatily telling a falsehood, which i regret to say, i am not.

I dont know of any studies comparing "racist" additudes across countries. Only indirect measures of "racism" are possible, which will make definitions some what arbitrary.

First of, my personal experience tells me otherwise, but this offcourse is anecdotal evidence which is on the same level as your own experience.

You being a swede, does not give your statement some special standing, i have lived in the country for several years, which i think is sufficient to give one a decent impression of the state of things.

Its especially not relevant if you dont have anything to compare with. So which countries are you in fact comparing Sweden with?

There are however some more objective criteria to use;

1) A number of the neighboring countries have some of the same problems as Sweden, regarding the integration of foreigners.

2) Their labour markets are structured in a similar fashion. For instance Denmark, Norway and to a lesser extent, the Netherlands.

This leads me to conclude, that labour market organization and possibly the language, are the main causes for the lack of integration.

Otherwise, your theory would imply that all northwest europeans are very racist, but this explanation is not the more simple and obvious one. Again, i dont know which countries you are comparing with, so this makes it difficult to interpret what you are referring to with the following statement;

"....I can conclusively say the Swedes are one of the most racists nations ever on this planet since the humanity started."

If you intend to reply, try to control your foul mouth and please lay of with the baseless accusations. Your additude is not civil or constructive.

Seems like a reasonable sentiment on the surface, but how will this actually be implemented?

As an american who just arrived here for grad school (technical area of study), I feel that it's my obligation to stay after I get a degree and contribute in some way to Swedish society. But I have not heard any good stories about this. I've heard nothing except various versions of the above: it's impossible to get a job if you do not know perfect swedish, it's impossible if you're anything but white, it's impossible to get a work visa, you will be taxed into the poorhouse, only the elites really control things here, etc., etc. I hope it's not the case as I really would love the opportunity to work here, or even start a company.

With that said, I was also accepted into Northwestern University and the two primary reasons (all others basically being equal, except Chalmers isn't anywhere near as well known as Northwestern) I chose to come here were: 1) The free tuition (saved me ~$80k); and, 2) The cultural experience of studying in a new country where I could meet many different people, and gain exposure to different viewpoints and experience. The introduction of fees will most certainly mean a decrease in attracting foreign masters students. It's a guarantee. You may think "So what?" but I would argue that graduate students often generate significant intellectual property for their host school and country. I have six patents pending in the US and I'm certain the work I'm embarking on here will have opportunity for generating intellectual property as well. This in turn feeds spinoff and/or licensing opportunities for the schools, generating revenue for them and the government. At the end of the day though, I can always go back to the US and get another high-paying job and chalk this all up to "life experience" or a long vacation, but others may not be in that position. Most probably didn't leave a six figure salary, and arrive with decent savings and a US citizenship as their safety net (Plan B).

It seems to me for this idea to be successful there will need to be an incentive for businesses to hire these talented foreign individuals. If the swedish business community is as insular as it's made out to be, this will be mighty tough and may perhaps take a generation to fully work through. But perhaps it could be spurred by special tax breaks and incentives, as long as native swedes are not being displaced in the process (or immigrants being exploited either). Also, I can appreciate cultural values and all that, but there are only 13-14 million people worldwide who speak swedish. Mandating it as a prerequisite for employment is not commensurate with Sweden's position on the world economic stage. Just a thought.

Haven't read more than a few of the comments above but can someone explain to me what constitutes a "gifted young person"? I graduated with 4 majors from my college with straight A's & honors...and I'm 25. Am I elligible?? :P

Oh and @tuerd1982, you are a complete moron. Any person who is considered "gifted" and is coming from N. America would never seek to stay in Sweden because it "has good welfare". We have an opportunity to make a killing in our own country while not having the burden of paying into an excessive tax system...and having the benefit of a plethora of job opportunities at our feet back at home. Don't let your stuffy pride blind you.

The system Sweden is proposing is no different than how employers offer grad school to their employees - you sign a contract, and the employer pays all (or some) of your tuition for you as per the verbiage of the contract. Should you be fired or choose to quit while under the specified terms of the contract (usually it's signing a 3 to 5 year employment contract), you must pay back the pro-rated amount you owe, or sometimes the full bill for your education. It is quite ingenious, because the country (or, in this example, the employer) is investing in human capital but ensuring they reap the benefit of said investment as opposed to handing it out for free and then losing it. It makes perfect business sense and is good for the country...Assuming, that is, that they have competitive career options with competitve salaries to attract these young people away from what they could obtain for themselves elsewhere, regardless of free or paid education.

I want to stay but i am unable to find a job. a big question mark . some people ask me to study swedish if you i want a job but is this a surety that after learning swedish i can get a job. right now swedish laws are a big problem because student came here to study and want to work here but you can't get work permit without work in sweden. student move to denmark because denmark gave them an opportunity to get work visa without work. summarized form is denmark getting benefit from those guys who nourish from sweden.

I have got two friends who have left to Canada to accomplish their graduate projects.. and then after finishing.. they have contacted a professor and they get a stipend covering two years of their living expenses, time to perform their master program in Wireless Communication.. They told me that in Canada, once you have got your master degree you have the right to apply for PERMANENT residence permit.. quite interesting.. because it is not the same in Sweden.. even after staying 4 years as a phd student..

Someone has mentioned Norway.. I really want to know your opinion about conditions there and if it is possible to stay after finishing the master program.. is it true that Norwegian Higher Education system is free of charge ??

Speaking about racism which I believe is not the subject of this discussion.. (but I can not understand why people keep speaking about racism everywhere)

I think that is a personal issue.. Swedish people are nice and polite but sometimes racists :-)) I think it is a hidden racism..

The Swedish labour market is quite separate and different from the Swedish accademic environment. The swedish society/labour market is Not open and yes, discriminatory and I do not believe that this problem can be solved just by politicians passing some laws. Rather it is the way the ordinary swede perceive and treat foreigners (foreign sounding names just get passed on by employers!. Remember the crap on the media some years back about introducing annonymous job applications?) At a prsonal level: towards the end of my studies in Medical Physics at Umeå Uni and in a class of just 7 students my swedish classmates DID NOT EVEN EXPECT let alone informing/involving us foreign students in applying for summer jobs in the hospital. I have had two internship positions in the hospital aftter taking swedish language classes and I can tell you that it is a constant struggle to be part of the team in a swedish work place. So tell me why a young and gifted student should pay the price to force themselves in the swedish work environment when they have alternatives some where more open and welcoming?. As a foreign person here tell me how often you have been asked the question : " DO YOU LIKE IT HERE?" More in the form of a confirmation not curiosity, about what they already know about their society?. In fcat my neighbour asked me this today!

Been here 4 years, fluent in swedish plus 3 other languages, degree and going for my second master...no job.... Sweden. That is it.

1) 90% of foreign students either comes from China, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh or India.

2) 85% of them doesn't want to return to their home countries after the studies.

so it does not make sense to me.......

Do you guys happen to know under current and proposed rules, if I would receive free tuition for a master's degree in sweden if I'm a swedish citizen but have lived abroad (u.s.) since childhood?

For certain jobs, good command of Swedish from day 1 is a demand, this is the case in every country in the world, some positions just require knowledge of the local language! For most of jobs in technical areas, my own experience and other cases I know, is that the employer will prioritise technical skills and expertise, and overlook the lack of swedish. Neverthelesss, in these cases what they are interested in knowing is if you have the intention to settle down and stay in Sweden, becasue then they know that it is a question of time that you will know the language, they tend to think more in the long term, just an insight...

Hurrah, free school! Now where is my free job??

Well I for one would love to get a job after graduation, just that I know I can't compare to someone fully fluent in Swedish. I am learning Swedish but I don't think I can do it fast enough so that I could go all out Swedish......not much confidence in finding a job really.

don't they do this in cuba?

One loves this notion. It would help make a lot of people as pretty as the swedes (eventually) and if the Swedes can improve their hearts also (along with their minds) then they would make for wonderful solace for everyone during the cold winters :) You can't blame the Swedes for being racist : they are just the prettiest people on earth for heaven's sakes!

How about investing in students that are going to return the investment by working & paying taxes in Sweden.

Many foreign students attain their goal & leave for home, others just keep on "studying" & depleteing resources desperately needed for the education system as a whole.

Invest in childrens education & let the foreign students finance their own education through respective goverments.

@Localer

90 % sounds like an exaguration to me!

Majority of those that do not want to return are those whose:

Plan A ( often work/PhD studies in Norh America) HASN'T WORKED!

Plan B (bigger and more open economies in Europe) HASN'T WORKED!

Plan C ( the situation in their home countries not better) MAKING IT WORTH WHILE SUFFERING IN SWEDEN!

I love being in Sweden, particularly the South of Sweden however after 4 years here I find that the Swedes are less happy to be in Sweden to the extent; how they seem to portray matters, that they no longer come across as though they in control of their own destiny.

why should swedish tax payers pay for foriegn students? they should be paying tuition.

Of course universities want to be prestigious so they could have multiple scholarship programs to help attract the right people from both in and outside of sweden. just like in the US.

However, these scholarships usually funded by successful people donating back to their alma mator. And well, everyone is too taxed in Sweden to actually donate any money by free will.

hpunlimited

I am sure that American astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin Jr. would find your comments interesting. NOT..... Your comments are totally off base. We are not getting educated immigrants.... Like Sweden we are getting the illegal immigrants who are draining our, Social Security, Healthcare and Schools. They do not pay taxes so who do you think is picking up the slack?

Folk, I can tell you something. Sweden has thrown out and almost thrown out many talented people who have even received PhD degrees from here. It normally takes time to wait for research grants and job applications to go through..they (migrationsverket) dont even want to extend the permit for a month while these people have to wait for decisions/announcements .

I know someone in this situation and he was saved in the last minute by the university giving him a place as a guest researcher.

Nothing is worse than now migrationsverket treat well-educated foreingers. Their arguments were simply that he had no ties to Sweden but the truth was he speaks Swedish and has even paid taxes here while working as a PhD student.

As an U.S. citizen, who just completed an MA at Lund University, I think this is a good idea in general. The main issue is that jobs can be hard to come by. My wife and I had planned to stay in Sweden but ended up returning to the U.S. after several months of jog hunting.

How can you not see that it is a duty of every foreigner to admire Sweden, buy expensive Swedish cars, learn Swedish, donate their savings to Sweden, support Sweden in international institutions, etc, etc. It's so obvious! And yes, the best and the brightest, with their MBAs and PhDs from all these arrogant elitist international universities, should move to Sweden, and be unemployed here so that Swedes can feel better about themselves.

What about PhD student after completing their studies here in Sweden. It seems a little funny for me. We are paying you tax for at least 5 years same as people which are working here. But there is not any facility or temporary permit to stay here after completing our PhD at least for finding a job.

For me 2 years of MS and 5 years of PhD living in Sweden is 1/4 of my life. But still we have to leave if we cannot find a job before completing our studies.

Its an excellent idea. Countries like US, Canada and UK already rely on talented expats. I am going to start my two-years masters programs, tuition-free, this Autumn. I don't really need any support or allowances and I already intend to work in Sweden for some time to gain international experience during my studies and once I am done.

I still need to experience the Swedish lifestyle, but if I hopefully finish my Master program, a policy like this would surely encourage me to stay for longer and perhaps pursue a PhD in Sweden.

The idea is simple and makes sense.

I just read some of the comments about immigrants being a burden on the Swedes. I am not really an immigrant but just an international student who intends to leave once done, but I find these comments a bit naive, with all respect. We all saw how China and India withstood all the economic troubles recently. They did so because they have a population large enough to reply on when exports drop. Students rent, eat, shop and conduct research. All this help the Swedish economy. The real estate market in Sweden is booming because of students and perhaps immigrants. Also, we're not talking about illegal or useless immigrants, we are talking about students and academics. Population growth is crucial from any growing nation with a growing economy. Sure, policies should be put in place to only attract those students and immigrants who actually add value, but ignorantly generalizing the matter is just wrong. As for America, let us not forget it is a country with immigrants from across the world. Imagine if only the native Americans and the British settlers were in America, you think it would be a super power today?

@ Sting: Dude! I think you are not aware of the problems about finding job here in Sweden. I think this idea is meaningful when there are jobs available and the governors want to promote graduates to stay here. The situation is completely reversal! There are so many graduates which have enough motivation to stay here for work but there is no job position for them!

There is a bit of a disconnect from reality that is shown in more than a few comments.

First off, the United States has an major unemployment problem.

That is, there are now over 30 millions of underemployed, part-time employed, totally unemployed citizens, and a million or so who have quit looking for work, and there are millions without homes and millions more who will soon join them.

The United States is suffering the worse economic scenario since the Great Depression of the 30s. The social fabric of that country is worse off than at any time during the Vietnam era.

There is a real polarization of right-left radicals, and a divisive racism, that has almost stopped their black President in his tracks, purely out spite for his having taken the Presidency from those who wrecked the economy for eight years. The radical "Tea Party" fringe and the right-wing Republicans driving wedges in the society.

There is a great divisivness across many spectrums of their society over the whole of their society that has seen no equal in the last one hundred years.

Sweden has no jobs to offer the people who have here earned PhDs,as several commenters have so stated who have left Sweden because of that fact.

There are many PhDs in the U.S. who are out of work, and many more there with Bachelor and Master's degrees who would kill to have a job waiting tables.

Some of the comments do not reflect these basic facts about the abysmal job conditions in the U.S. nor do many seem to understand that Sweden has no jobs to offer even after the commenters who have already earned their post graduate degrees in Sweden have stated such.

Hello everybody, This law will target a majority of students in Swedish universities. And it will have possitive and negative impacts. So we have begun a research on the causes and effects of charging students for tuition at the KTH. Please help us with your opinion by filling out this survey:

(Swedish):

http://www.impressity.com/Survey/sl.aspx?SurveyLinkId=aveuykoxwzuondxxcjry (English):

http://www.impressity.com/Survey/sl.aspx?SurveyLinkId=teursqmbzwiisrbqdjgp

Please invite your friends to take this survey.

Thanks in advance,

Bob

@hilt_m: No, in Cuba you don't have to learn Swedish !

@babak_kth

I wish your survey had more meaningful options, it seems to be 'leading' us to either extremes. And it would definitely be better if you had checked the grammar. A final comment section would be very valuable.

I did my "Exjob"/Thesis in Germany and I was quite surprised by the system there. The universities there charge a fee but nominal ones at around 600 Euros or so (except the elite ones). Most students had jobs either at the university assisting Phd students or in the private industries. Most people could speak some German not because it is a real necessity. And more than anything I made more German friends in those six months than I have had in 2.5 years in Sweden (and I always though I was not so social). So my recommendation is go to Germany to study. But I wouldn't deny that I really missed Sweden particularly the lakes and the islands, so visit Sweden in the summer.

what are the chances for those who are interested to study but it is really hard to even pay the installment. Are there any third party organizations?