Study in Sweden
Coming to terms with making the best decision on where to study abroad is hard when you are not familiar with the countries you are planning to take your studies. With right information and constructive advice from students who have walked through that path in the past or presently, you will be equip to make a better decision if not the best life changing decision ever.
While I will be covering many countries in the series of post about study abroad, you will have the opportunity to gain some in-sight knowledge about each country and a chance to communicate with students in the countries following a course or program.
This post is focus on everything you need to know about study abroad programs in Sweden. Before you join me in this long ride, I will suggest you first read this post and I will wait for you to finish it before we start again.
[Related Post: 3 Reasons Why You Should Not Study in Sweden]
If you are done and wish to continue, I must say that this post is for you and you have to spend some time to really get all the information you need.
About Sweden
Sweden is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, a member of European Union, NATO and part of the Schengen agreement. Their language is called Svenska but majority of Swedes understand and speak English. You are allowed to travel to Schengen member countries for ninety days without a visa. Sweden shares her border with Norway, Finland and Denmark through Oresund tunnel.
Sweden is generally cold during the winter and warm during the summer. The environment is neat and ecological friendly. The standard of education in Sweden is very high compare to other countries and many of their universities are among the first hundred universities in the world.
Education has been free in Sweden but recently, the government of Sweden has introduced a tuition fee in higher education for international students (Non-EU Students) from 2010 / 2011 autumn academic semester.
If you cannot pay the tuition or lack funding and you are looking for where to study free, you can check this post.
[Related Post: Tuition Free Universities and Countries]
Admission Process in Sweden
Higher Education admission system is centralized in Sweden and it is manage by an organization called Studera. Studera is made up of all the higher education or institution in Sweden and you can visit their website at studera.nu to learn more about them.
The website has English version if you don’t understand Swedish language. Studera have the admission arm that oversee the admission process, screening of application and verification of documents
There are two admission period in every academic year. The first admission period is on spring (Jan / Feb) and it is for EU students. The second period is in autumn (Aug / Sept) and it is open for both international students and EU students.
The application process opens every 15th Dec to 15th Feb the next year as against coming autumn semester. There are easy step you can follow to make an application during the application period. Move straight to www.studera.nu. Create an account, search for programs and universities you are interested in. You have to choose a maximum of four programs. Go ahead and submit you application.
I will advise you choose some programs in more competitive universities like Lund University, Uppsala University, KTH University and some in less competitive universities like Kristanstand University, Malmo University, Hamstad University to widen you chances of getting admitted.
After you have done with the application, endeavor to send some supporting documents. Note, your home university should send your transcript of record. If you do it by yourself, you will lose your admission. Also remember to send a WAEC or NECO valid scratch card if your high school diploma is from WAEC or NECO.
The application and admission process ends in April and you will be notified if you have been admitted.
Tuition Fee
Since the introduction of tuition fee in Sweden, the number of international student has been on the decrease due to how expensive the tuition fee is. The cheapest program you can get in Sweden cost around 90,000 SEK (9000 euros) per year while some programs can cost as much as 450,000 (45,000 euros).
What about Other Fees?
I am glad that you asked? I have found out over the years that most international students planning to study abroad only think about tuition without knowing that there are other expense when added up together will become more than what you previously thought.
Accommodation
Almost every university in Sweden has an international housing office that helps to fix accommodation related problems for international students coming to Sweden to study.
Once you have been admitted, your name will be forwarded to the housing office and they will send you a notification and queue you in their system for a room slot.
What will a typical student accommodation cause in Sweden? The price range for a single student room in a shared host is around 200 – 300 euros per month while one room self-contain apartment will cost around 320 – 400 euros depending on city.
You can also find an alternative accommodation outside university hostel. The cheapest way to pay less is finding other students who wish to share accommodation with other students. In that case you will end up paying 80 – 120 euros.
Living Expense
Having a well detailed financial plan during your time as a student abroad will help you enjoy your time and make use of utmost time you have for your studies. According to Swedish Immigration Board, a student has live on 7300 SEK (730 euros) per month. Depending of your living standard and spending ability, many international students without secured funding for their studies lives way below this amount.
Environment & Weather Condition
Sweden is one of the cleanest countries in the world and they are in the for-front in promoting eco-friendly environment. One issue new comers in Sweden usually struggle with is the cold condition during winter. The temperature can drop as lower as -30 degree. Northern Sweden is colder than Southern Sweden. If you don’t like cold condition, make sure you choose a university around Southern Sweden.
VISA Extension in Sweden
If your program is for 2 year, you have to extend your visa for the last remaining year. The conditions for extension is to show that you have obtained 30 credit points in one academic year and you have around 73, 000 SEK that will sustain you for the remaining year.
Student Work in Sweden
It is very hard to find a student job or part-time job as a student in Sweden. It is not a generalized statement because there are few factors that can improve your chance or limit your chances of getting a job as student in Sweden.
One of the limiting factors in Sweden is their language. Without the language, it will be harder compare to when you can speak the language. Another important factor is location, if your university is in a small city, finding job in small cities are always hard.
But do not be discourage with my words, my advice for student coming for the first time, is to have enough money that will sustain them for month while they are trying with job hunting.
As humans, we share different lucks, some people might be lucky to find a job even where there is limited or no job. But having enough money from onset, can afford you some room to plan well and devise a better mean of getting a job.
If there is any other thing you wish to know about study abroad in Sweden, kindly drop your question. Beside if you wish to know more about other countries, you can learn more about them by following the links below.
[Related Post: Why Study in Norway]
[Related Post: Why Study in Denmark]
[Related Post: Why Study in Germany]
Recent Comments