The Newbie Guide to Sweden

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education in Sweden

Why Studying in Sweden is Beyond My Expectations

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Written by Hamzah Dzikri Fadliansyah

In the middle of uncertainty, fate decided that I would study in Sweden, a country that was not my top priority. I could tell you my rollercoaster story of applying for a master’s degree program, but this could be a very long story to tell. Fret not! I will tell you some fundamental reasons why I ended up choosing and living in Sweden for study.

Interdisciplinary Programs

Initially, I struggled to find a master’s program in Media and Communication Studies, which accepts graduates with a bachelor’s diploma in English Language and Literature. Luckily, I found out that many Swedish universities offer interdisciplinary programs in my areas of interest, meaning that I am potentially eligible. In fact, they also provide certain programs relevant to my academic background.

From the interdisciplinary programs, many Swedish universities allow people from various academic backgrounds to choose an area they want to learn. Personally, it gave me a chance to use my skills as transferable knowledge in an area that is new to me. I am learning to use background knowledge so that I can contribute to the discussion in classes.

Moreover, this interdisciplinary system also enables the students to critically examine specific problems that can only be solved using different ways of understanding. It allows the students to integrate different approaches to find innovative solutions. From my experience studying in Sweden, I can confirm that this is true. My classmates and I have learned and shared each other’s experiences and expertise. The discussion in classes is always lively. I can always feel the thoughtful learning environment in my courses.

Team Building

During my study here, I realized something fundamental and similar from my program of study and my friends studying at different programs and universities. Many teaching and learning activities rely mostly on team working or group projects. I could be placed into two to three different group assignments in each course with different people in each group. This is very unusual in my country, where we mostly did the assignment individually.

This is how the education system in Sweden works. They require the students to work collaboratively to solve the problems, manage the diversity, and develop decision-making and time management. This learning style also simulates the real dynamics of an international workplace. It helps students to enhance their skills working in a global environment. Besides, this also helps me get to know my classmates better, improving my interpersonal skills.

Lund University Library
Lund University Library

Academic Flexibility

Moreover, I am also really impressed by the education system in Sweden that allows the students to retake the exam several times until they pass the exam. I still remember when one of my friends told me that his teacher said to the students in the class, “We do not teach you to fail; we teach you to success.” This is something I could not find in the Indonesian education system. Even my friend who is studying elsewhere in a university in Europe also told me that there is no such thing as retaking the exam; once you fail, you have to retake the whole course. It is incredibly inspiring.

In addition, most master’s programs in Sweden are in two-year duration, although some other programs are also for a year. I initially thought it was a terrible idea since I could save time and money if I studied in a one-year program. However, I realized that a two-year program offers many more things to explore. Mostly, during the third semester, many master’s programs in Swedish universities provide their students the experiences to take on internships, exchange studies at other universities outside Sweden, or take courses inside or outside their department or university. This freedom provides flexibility to the student to foster their needs, empowering them to take their study independently.

Unconventional Education Culture and System

Most importantly, the student-teacher relationship in Sweden is also flat, meaning that students are as equal as teachers. Students can speak to and are treated by lectures as equals. I was shocked by the fact that students do not mention their professors with a title here. Everyone calls the teachers by their first name. In Indonesia, it is disrespectful, but it is a sign of equality and a nonhierarchical education system in Sweden.

One other unconventional thing about studying in Sweden is scheduling courses arrangement. In most programs, you only study one class for one term. So, you do not take two or more courses at the same time. It allows you to focus on what you are studying right now, rather than splitting your mind to focus on two different subjects at the same time. This way is also good for managing time and reducing stress for students. After one course finished, you then continued with the next course.

Lagom: Study Life Balance

It is noteworthy that the Swedish work-life balance value also extends in its education culture. In Sweden, studying life balance is a fundamental thing. From preserving this Lagom lifestyle, Swedish universities encourage the students to explore life and develop their interests besides their academic obligations. In fact, a normal study per week usually covers up 40 hours of studying. Therefore, you have plenty of time to discover many things surrounding you or simply have a Fika with your friends.

You can definitely do many things with a lot of time outside of studying. For me, I enjoy traveling around the Skåne area in Sweden. Sweden has beautiful natures where I love to explore. Some of my friends also work part-time in restaurants or other organizations. Some others also do an internship at the same time. Sometimes, studying also gets very demanding, depending on the current rolling terms. Therefore, you need to manage your priorities.

Well, those are the reasons why I ended up choosing to stay and study in Sweden. Life has decided to drive me somewhere that is beyond my expectation through rejections. I felt like this is a blessing in disguise. I really enjoy studying in Sweden, and I never regret my decision to study in Sweden. More importantly, I do not experience significant problems living here, including the language barrier.

In fact, many Swedes are fluent in speaking English, so you can communicate easily with the locals. Yes, most of the master’s programs in Sweden are also in English. However, if you want to get to know them and their culture better, I suggest you learn Swedish as well. In that case, you may be interested in understanding what are Swedish Learning Options available to you.

Are you now interested in coming to study in Sweden as well? What are your reasons for choosing Sweden as your study destination? Let me know by leaving some comments below! And, let’s share some insights with others!

About the Author

Hejsan! My name is Hamzah, an Indonesian student studying in a Master of Science program in Media and Communication Studies at Lund University. While I enjoy binge-watching movies and TV series, talking with friends, and everything involving food, now I have found traveling as a new hobby. Before going back to my home country in the middle of 2022, I want to share my stories about my life as an international student in Sweden with you.

Study in Sweden for International Students

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Sweden is one of the top destinations for study due to its innovative learning, students’ self-development, diverse society and quality living conditions. Furthermore, international students are eligible to work while they study in Sweden.

Sweden has top ranked universities like the Karolinska Institute, Lund University, University of Uppsala to mention a few. Swedish universities have contributed immensely to knowledge with innovations tilted at improving living conditions. For instance, Lund University invented the medical ultrasound and the Bluetooth. In the same vein, Karolinska Institute is leading the charge with modern innovations in the medical sciences.

In this blog post, I will provide newbies and prospective international students with helpful information on how to apply for the bachelor’s and master’s degree programmes. For the doctoral applications you can read our blog post on Ph.D in Sweden.

How to apply

Sweden operates a centralized application portal. Hence, applications to all the universities are done on the portal antagning.se (for Swedish applicants) and universityadmissions.se.  Kindly, get familiar with the two websites as information can change from time to time.

The master’s degree application allows applicants to choose four courses in their order of priority. The bachelor’s degree application allows applicant to choose eight courses. Moreover, there is a minimum requirement applicants must meet to qualify for some courses. Therefore, you should read instructions from the school’s website thoroughly before selecting the courses.

There are two application rounds for the autumn and spring semester. The first round of admission is mostly for international students while the second round is for Swedish and EU citizens. Non-EU prospective students should apply during the first round of the autumn admissions because of time needed to apply for the residence permit. Likewise, there are more courses for the autumn round of admission.

  • Autumn – The autumn semester starts in August of every year. The first round of admission is between mid October (15th) and mid January (15th). The second round is starts middle of March till May.
  • Spring – The spring semester starts in January of every year. The first round of admission starts from 1st June to 1st September. The second round is between 15th September to 9th December.
  • In some cases, there are late applications even after the stipulated application dates. You can check courses open for late applications after these dates on the university admission website. Furthermore, there are other key dates to put into consideration and you can check them here.

English Taught Courses

Sweden has good number of courses fully taken in English. There are over 1000 international bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. degree in English. For instance, there is an English course for every discipline. Moreover, some courses are solely in Swedish so you have to check during the process of application to study in Sweden.

Cost of Studying in Sweden

Ph.D students irrespective of nationality do not pay school fees. International students from the European Union (EU), European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland are not required to pay school fees for bachelor’s and master’s degree programmes. In addition, there is a comprehensive list of other exemption from school fees on the universityadmission’s website. Nevertheless, if you are not in the category of school fees exemption list, you can still study for a master’s degree at no cost.

Prepare your move to Sweden

Once you have decided to study in Sweden and been accepted to a program – the preparations begin. You will then probably have a long list of to-do’s and an even longer list of questions. Our online course Preparing your move to Sweden will answer a lot ot these questions + give you some very important insights into Sweden and its society.

What you will learn

  • Short (and long facts) about Sweden.
  • The history and background of Sweden in regards to democracy, religious freedom, gender equality, social security, child welfare and LGBTQIA+.
  • The types of visas and residence permits that are available plus the requirements.
  • Important Swedish agencies, and trust us, you DO need to know about these ones.
  • How to find a place to stay and how to avoid rental fraud.
  • How to pack for your move depending on the season.

You can take the course Preparing your move to Sweden from anywhere at any time.

Master’s Scholarship for Non-EU citizens

  • SI Scholarship for Global Professional  is funded by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Applicants must show how they can contribute to sustainable development of their home country and region. They must have worked for a more minimum of 3000 hours to qualify for the scholarship. Likewise, applicants must document their leadership qualities and motivate in line with the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
  • The universities in Sweden have scholarships for their prospective master’s students. The scholarships can be 100%, 75% or 50% reduction in tuition fees. The university’s scholarships do not include living cost.

You can read some tips on planning your move to Sweden from Africa on our blog.

Written by Bolaji Daramola, Growth Manager at The Newbie Team

Bolaji is a Swedish Institute scholar, from Nigeria studying Master’s of Science in Media and Communication Studies at Lund University. He is one of the LU student’s ambassadors. He is passionate about helping others and he is our Growth Manager saddled with outreach and collaborations.

 

Swedish Preschools

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Written by Charlotte Garbutt

Are you a parent of a small child (småbarnföräldrar)? Make sure you don’t get your förskola, dagis and öppna förskola confused! Read on to learn about what makes Swedish preschools, daycare and open preschools so special.

It’s no secret that Sweden is a fantastic place for families. With one of the most generous parental leave packages in the world; workplaces that truly understand work-life balance and family-orientated festivals, museums, cafes, the list goes on…

One of the most notable and well-appreciated items on that list is childcare and education. This article gives a brief overview of the first few years of nursery and school and provides links to websites with more information.

Förskola – Swedish Preschools

All children, aged one to five years old, have a guaranteed place at a preschool. Not only that, the fees are very heavily subsided by the government and parents only pay a fraction of the actual costs. The preschool teachers are qualified educators that follow a rich and varied, child-focused curriculum.

What makes the föskolor really special is that they incorporate values and learning techniques which have become a source of inspiration for preschools and nurseries across the world.

Friluftsliv

Swedish preschools are a place for children to grow and develop, not through traditional means, but through play and explorative learning. Specifically, with the concept of friluftsliv – open-air living. Whether it’s 25°c above or 20°c below freezing you can count on the kids playing and even napping outside.

‘There’s no such thing as bad weather in Sweden, only bad clothing.‘

Swedish proverb

During my first winter in Sweden, I was amazed by the creativity in school playgrounds. In England, outdoor play was banned during raining or icy weather. Snowball fights were a punishable offence. And yet in Sweden, the children build igloos, create giant sculptures, throw snowballs and knock down icicles. They learn for themselves, under supervision of course.

Some newbies may also be surprised to see that many swedish preschools do not have fencing surrounding the outdoor areas, but that back up onto a forest. The children are trusted to play within a sensible distance from the more traditional playground.

Challenging gender stereotypes

After an experimental preschool was set up in 1996, which set out to challenge gender stereotypes, the Swedish government has recognised the importance of allowing children to explore their own identities. The use of the guidelines set by the government varies in different schools and regions. However, the majority of staff avoid using the male and female pronouns and will instead use ‘hen’ a gender-neutral pronoun borrowed from Finnish.

Rather than separating toys, they are deliberately grouped together to allow children to make their own choices. For example toy cars next to the dolls. Gender experts are hired by schools to help tackle problems like classes of quiet girls or boys who refuse to paint. Preschool teachers are encouraged to be social engineers, who encourage choice rather than set limitations.


“We want to give the whole spectrum of life, not just half – that’s why we are doing this. We want the children to get to know all the things in life, not to just see half of it.” 

Director of the Egalia pre-school, Lotta Rajalin, told BBC news.

Open Preschools

Öppna föskolor are drop-in playgroups for babies and children from birth to six years old and their parents. The groups are free to attend and don’t require parents to register or book a place. They provide parents with a fantastic opportunity to meet other local parents, children and preschool teachers. Altogether, a wonderful source of support and information, especially for new parents.

Open preschools generally have a playroom and somewhere for you and the children to eat a snack. Of course, there is usually the option to pay for fika. The highlight for many children is song time ‘sångstund’ a great chance for you both to practise your Swedish.

Dagis

Now this one doesn’t actually exist any more, although you may hear people refer to a föskola as dagis. Before the National Curriculum was introduced in 1998, a dagis was a more casual form of daycare. It was fairly common for villages to share childcare duties. Families would organise a schedule so that each day of the week a different mother or father would take turns looking after the children in the village. Although this system was great for small communities, they were unregulated and generally run by normal parents rather than qualified educators.

Other educational options

Förskoleklass, once a child has reached the age of six the final year of preschool becomes compulsory before starting primary school (mellanstadiaet). This is to ensure a smooth start to school life and can be very beneficial to both parents and children.

Private options also exist. If this is something you are considering, try searching for fristående förskolor in your local area.

Read more

For more information about the school systems in Sweden to how to prepare your child for preschool follow the links below.

Getting ready for Preschool in Sweden

Education in Sweden

An index of schools near you

All about Swedish schools; including information for parents of children with special needs, asylum seekers and adult education.

Information for new arrivals in Sweden.

County administrative boards’ shared portal for information about Sweden for new arrivals.

About the author

I am a foodie and feminist with a strong sense of adventure. I moved, with my husband and little black dog, to Skellefteå, Sweden from England in August 2018. I have since been eager to explore and learn more about the Swedish culture and language.

Förskola: A lesson for parents and kids

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My baby and I have been inseparable since birth and I could not imagine her being taken care of by a stranger.  In India, where I come from, there are grandparents at home to take care of children so kids have to go to school after 2 years of age or later. But since living in Sweden, I have started working and I had no option but to send her to förskola. 

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One of the disadvantages of living away from your family is that you do not have help to care for your kid if you work. Also, I feel that kids do not see many people around. It is just mama and papa which makes the kid’s world very small. My baby doesn’t really like to be around strangers. I also realized I am too attached to her and I needed to distance a little bit so that she grows as a person and learns new things. As we all know, being overprotective can hinder your child’s growth. 

The basics of förskola

Here in Sweden, kids need to be minimum 1 year old in order to go to förskola. In Gothenburg, you need to apply here and there is a queue to get admitted. They give you a place usually very close to your home to make the commute easy. It is advised to apply at least 6 months before you want to start school.

Timing is everything

We started förskola when my baby turned one and did inskolning for 3 months during winter time. However, my baby cried a lot and could not settle down. Teachers and I tried our best but it was just too much.  I was then advised by teachers to take a break and start again the next semester in a different school as she will grow a little and might respond better. My best tip is to judge the situation and understand the right age to send your child to school. Every kid is unique.

I failed in my first attempt and I am trying again in August. My child responds better when I am not around now. Teachers are fun and patient and they are helping us with a flexible schedule too.  One week it will be just 2 hours of my baby being alone in school, then in the second week, she will be eating food at school.  The third week she will get to sleep there. Teachers have been patient enough to take a step by step approach to settle kids. 

The first day I cried like a baby myself as I could not bear the thought of abandoning her. Leaving your kids with strangers for long periods of time is a tough task. But when the Swedish förskola system gives you so much help, you feel mentally strong enough to go ahead and send your child to them. 

Here’s some information that I have found useful about förskola in Sweden: 

    • The “inskolning” is for 15 days but can be longer or shorter based on the child’s needs. Some kids settle down in just 3 days. For others, it might take 1 month or 2. Kids can start at age 1 and you will find kids until the age of 6. 
    • Teachers are extremely patient and loving towards kids. They give personal attention to each kid particularly when they start. 
    • Kids are fed healthy meals and the menu is different every day of the week. If Monday is soup and salad, then Tuesday is pancakes and salad. Wednesday is rice, curry and salad. Thursday is mashed potatoes and falafel. These are vegetarian options and there are non-vegetarian options too. Preferences need to be provided on the first day of school. 
  • Förskola usually starts between 8.30- 9.00 depending on the parent’s schedule. Then 9.00 to 10.30 is playtime and activities such as singing and dancing to nursery rhymes. They play with water and floating boats (during summer), build Lego castles, cycle, play on swings or colouring and drawing. During this time, kids are given fruits snacks such as apples or bananas. Then 11.15 to 11.30 is lunch time. 11.30 to 1.30 is sleep time and 1.30 to 4.00 is play time. Schools close at 5.00 so parents have to pick up kids before that time. 

Kids usually love the förskola atmosphere as it is very positive and child-friendly. There are numerous toys and books. Every corner is child-friendlyy so that they do not get hurt while playing. 

All in all, it is a wonderful and safe place to leave your kids as they learn new skills and develop values such as sharing and caring in a fun way. At the same time, one as a parent learns to let them grow on their own one step at a time.

Final tip:

Make sure you mark your kids clothes somehow. And I mean EVERYTHING they bring to förskolan. Shoes, socks, hats, favorite cuddly toy, blanket etc. With 15-20 kids in a group it is impossible for the teachers to keep track of every kids every clothes item and things will definitely disappear. Also, you will find items arriving home that do not belong to your child – and it’s nice to be able to send it back to the rightful owner. You can mark with a pen, embroider if you are ambitious or use stickers.

Find out how to make the most of your experience as a parent in Sweden here.

Written by Jyoti Kadukar

I was born and brought up in Mumbai India and have lived in different parts of India before arriving in Sweden. Luckily after coming to Sweden I got pregnant and had an extremely good experience delivering and caring for my child full time. Recently I started working full time and have been enjoying the work culture here. I love the fact that I can work and take care of my child here without compromising family life.