Scholarships help students realise Swedish university dreams

Tingting Li, from Changsha in China, is now in her second year studying Supply Chain Management at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. Armed with a bachelors in Logistics Engineering, she chose Chalmers after it was recommended by a teacher at her home university.

Tingting is one of 40 students to be awarded an Avancez scholarship by the Chalmers Foundation this year. The scholarship covers 75 percent of tuition fees and is open to all students from outside the EU and EEA - European students are exempt from fees at Swedish universities.

“Without the scholarship, I would not be able to pay the tuition fees and I couldn't have held the place here,” says Tingting.

The Avancez scholarships are awarded on academic merit and in most years are open to students in all academic disciplines on offer at Chalmers. When selecting students for scholarships, the university takes into account factors including the student’s home university’s international ranking and Chalmers’ own targets for diversity among its overseas students.

In addition to the Avancez programme, Chalmers’ international students are also eligible for a range of other scholarships. Some of these are sponsored by the government or charitable foundations, others by industry. Some are open to all international students, others are targeted at specific nationalities.

The Swedish Institute Study Scholarships are available to students both at Chalmers and other Swedish universities who come from countries with which Sweden has long-term development cooperation.

The industry-sponsored programmes are provided by companies with strong links to Gothenburg and traditions of recruiting from Chalmers.

Volvo Cars, for example, provides full scholarships to two Chinese masters students in a number of engineering-related subjects. Volvo Group, the commercial vehicle maker, sponsors four scholarships, open to students from India and China.

Another corporate sponsor of Chalmers scholarships is Swedish telecom networks giant Ericsson, which pays for two scholarships in Communications Engineering. For Ericsson these scholarships, available to most non-EU students, are part of an effort to attract the best students to Gothenburg - and to give the company a fertile recruitment ground:

“We are keen to educate people in fields that are valuable to us,” says Dag Jungenfelt, Head of R&D Microwave Networks at Ericsson. “There have always been a lot of overseas students on this course, and we want to contribute to make sure that this remains the case in the future.

“We have always had very good experiences with the international students who have taken this course,” he adds.

In addition to providing the scholarships, Ericsson, Volvo Cars and Volvo Group have deep practical relationships with the university, providing internships and other support to students on relevant courses.

For Tingting, the decision to choose Chalmers has turned out well. Swedes’ excellent English skills mean there’s “no worry about the language”, the people are “kind-hearted” and the Swedish west coast air is “fresh and clean”. She also appreciates the informal and cooperative Swedish academic culture:

“You can communicate freely with teachers - you don’t always need to use academic titles. You can disturb and ask questions in lectures. And you get the chance to put into practice what you have learned in lectures through company case studies, site visits and guest lectures," she says.

Scholarships are available to overseas students wishing to study at all Swedish universities. For general information visit the Study in Sweden website, or universities' own sites.

Article sponsored by Study in Sweden