Finally Swedish Govt Have Stamped School Fees For 2011 Also Application Fees

Visiting students must begin paying
Published: September 9, 2009, 19:47. Last Modified: September 9, 2009, 20.15

In the autumn of 2011 introduced tuition fees for overseas students studying at Swedish universities. The government would also authorize the filing fees for foreign students, according to Higher Education and Research Tobias Krantz.

  Swedish universities are attractive for foreign students. A team that has quadrupled in the last ten years is students themselves who have applied to read this so called free movers.

During the last academic year was the 19 300 people. The largest increase has been from Asia, particularly China. The vast majority view the Master - and masters at the advanced level. Most common focus: science and technology.

- Because they have been allowed to go free in Swedish education has led to the Swedish university funding has gröpts out in a way that we do not think is reasonable, "said Higher Education and Research Tobias Krantz.

- Sweden will compete in the global market, not by having a free education, but by competing with quality.

This autumn, adding Therefore the government a bill which modifies a principle in the Swedish academic world: that higher education is free for all students.

From autumn 2011, new students who relocate to Sweden from outside the EU, the EEA (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) and Switzerland pay a study fee. Colleges and universities decide the fee.

The Government's assessment is that the fees will provide approximately 500 million. It is based on a flat rate of 70 000 per foreign student annually.

- But of course there are programs that cost more than that and courses costing less than this also. It is important to emphasize that it is the universities themselves who will determine the fee, "says Tobias Krantz.

The issue of fees the universities were surveyed by the Socialist government, but no bill never came during the last parliamentary term. Last summer the college announced the then Minister Leijonborg in Svenska Dagbladet that a proposal was under way, but it has dragged on. A key issue has been how scholarships to those who can not afford to pay the fees to be funded.

The proposal to introduce a fee for overseas students has met with strong opposition, including from the Swedish National Union of Students, which argues that education is a right - not a commodity.

How do you see the criticism?

- It is important to state that higher education for the Swedish students and EEA students should be free of charge. There has been a concern that we would compromise on the principle but we do not intend to do, "says Tobias Krantz.

And although the number of foreign students "likely to be reduced at an early stage", is also without thick wallets to study here, according to the minister.

- There will be scholarships for students from developing countries. They will be funded from aid budgets, "he says.

The exact amount the government wants to come back to, but there should be scholarships for "fairly significant amount" of students from developing countries and also to students from other countries.

On September 15, reports the Higher Education Service Agency, a proposal on how the registration fees for Swedish colleges and universities can take. The government will await before the modalities of the fees are determined.

- It's very large management fees associated with searching for colleges and universities and we think it is reasonable that there is also an opportunity to charge a fee for the costs of universities thereby incur, "says Tobias Krantz.