Studying abroad comes with a lot of options to choose from so gaining a degree abroad provides a lot of benefits and chances. Sweden is also an exciting country to look at, which has put in place an admirable system, upholding a culture of independent study and group studies with the belief that it creates a sense of responsibility and freedom for student learning as a support system for their academic development.
You will need to meet up some general requirements in order to study in Sweden, largely there are additional program specific requirements for the different academic courses of study. It is not necessary you speak Swedish, because the English language is accepted and past required certificates are equivalent to the Swedish certificates also.
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Top 10 Things to Know Before Applying For a Masters Degree in Sweden.
Applying randomly to any university abroad could be a little tricky, so it is better to make plans towards this endeavour. Generally studying abroad whether it is a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree it requires some finance to cover various aspects like transportation, feeding tuition and accommodation, but with the right look out or planning you should see scholarships or country benefits for international students.
Sweden is another place of attraction to foreign students more recently. So if you are seeking to study in Sweden then you should abreast yourself with this top things to keep in mind when applying to study.
- The hello rule: Swedes are quite different from the normalcy of greetings at first meetings either formal or informal settings, though it is not a formal rule that is put in place it is for you to know and avoid awkward situations, for example when meeting someone for the first time you should only shake hands, no hugs. Asking the usual question “how are you” is quite not a thing with the Swedish people, but not to get it wrong, when they do ask, they actually mean it. This is quite handy information you would need if you really want to study with the Swedes.
- Equal rights and respect for diversity: the country understands the needs of its many international students, and more excellent than you could speak in English to anyone in Sweden without an interpreter. It respects the rights of every person be you homosexual, bisexual, or even transgender, its priorities within the educational system is for a thriving and vibrant outcome for the students, teaching you how to balance your ideas, interest, and needs and more importantly solving difficult tasks as a team player which is already a plus in career building for a student
- Scholarships awarded to international students: there are always several platforms on which scholarships are provided to international students in Sweden, it could either be a government-approved scholarship or from a Swedish university awarded to worthy international students. It is quite an in history that the country has been of tremendous support to international students before 2011, which they did not collect tuition fees, as soon as the universities started collecting tuition fees there was a significant drop in numbers to application. But notwithstanding there are many generous scholarship schemes that you could apply for to ease your studying in Sweden, some covers even living expenses though with different qualifications to merit these type of offers.
- Tuition fee to study in Sweden: studying abroad could be quite expensive generally, so tuition to study in Sweden depends on factors such as universities or programs. As an international student, you will pay between 7,500 – 25,000 EUR per year depending on your course of study, aside from the cost of textbooks to be in use by each student. You could apply for a scholarship if you are eligible to be awarded any of the available and generous offers. A student from another Nordic region or citizen of Sweden does not pay any tuition fee for a bachelor’s or master’s degree while PhD courses are all free to every student no matter their origin from the world.
- Provides a prospect for global career opportunities: you should know that Swedish universities prepare you for a real-life experience that includes almost all the employable skills needed in today’s business world, from teamwork or collaboration to critical thinking and creativity. Studying master’s in Sweden is a big plus because almost all the programs are required for some form of fieldwork, experience, or internships, working part-time could also be a possibility easily especially when it is in relation to the field of the current study. Swedish graduates are admired all over the world as great problem solvers and recognizing the Swedish degrees. These few reasons are why an international student will choose Swedish universities; post-study work opportunity, strong association between schools and industries, and the strong presence of world prominent Swedish companies and even international companies at schools.
- Exigent coursework: as earlier mentioned before, Sweden is graced with a long history of academic excellence with the pattern of pursuing high intellectual coursework or assignment schemes. With the country housing the best universities in the world, it comes with high demands of its students on reasoning, rationality, and application in getting an assignment done. The universities are using a culture that helps to build the students. Since the focus is more than just completing a course for degree sake then you should be ready for the challenging environment of learning. There are teams in place to assess your course work to keep putting you on track, and constructively, they help to criticize your work. It could be challenging but after all, it is the home of the Nobel Prize.
- Cost of living and other costs: living in Sweden is slightly above the average of other European countries. The Healthcare system for student function according to your region, so for an international student it will cost slightly more than an EU/EEA or a Swiss citizen. Accommodation is dependent on the place you choose to live, but your first contact for accommodation should be your universities to get into the dormitory else you also have options of looking at other places outside the school like shared apartments and this could be a little expensive depending on the area. Food is also another consideration you should plan for, either you are eating out always or you would cook, cooking could actually save you some extra cost if you don’t mind, else you should spend about 200EUR per month in food. Lastly, transportation in Sweden is quite affordable, a budget to spend around 60 EUR per month of which more than 40% of students commute with public transport.
- Sweden will give you more than a slice of nature’s best: as they say ‘all work and no play make Jack a dull boy’ Sweden will provide you s chain of long exciting places to visit or to be at during the course of your study in the beautiful Nordic country. It is a place that takes serious concern already of its environment, so it is a safe country to go on mountain hikes, ski, forest exploration, other nature reserves, and also beaches in the south. The northern light is also an experience to enjoy at the Abisko national park which is one of the most awesome of the 29 national parks in the country.
- Grabbing ‘fika’: this act is a very endearing culture of the Swedes. This act is as simple as taking a break of coffee and something sweet with a colleague either a work partner or a study mate who is a Swede, it is a time that little talks pop up and helps to groom a relationship and get to know each other better. This is not a trick it is a culture of the people to take these breaks helping them to socialize as well.
- Active cashless policy: this policy is one that works really well in this part of the world, you would almost not need to purchase anything with physical cash, though you pay as you buy, but it’s with your card always. So many supermarkets or stores do not even accept cash, so why spend so much on withdrawal fees anyway, when there is the ease of the working cashless policy.
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Application Requirements and Documents Needed For International Student Master’s Degree in Sweden
The application requirement for the international student begins with completing and submitting the electronic application first for your chosen university but do not forget to check your eligibility with specific universities. The English language is a requirement to study for a master’s in Sweden because you are going to be taught in it. The document required are; specific entry English tests and custom requirements depending on the master programme, so the popular English test are TOEFL IBT, IELTS academic, etc. Other required documents are:
- Identification document
- University records in English
- Signed cover letter
- Record of obtained secondary school education in English
- Change of name (applicable only if you have legally changed four names)
Sweden is a beautiful country that still attracts international students to itself especially with the freedom and challenging educational system it has incorporated to help groom students to become the best expressively in their desired field of study. The plus benefits of post-study work are one to reckon with and get to see how you can eligible fit into this awesome system. The icing on the cake is the free tuition fee to study for PhD in the country regardless of country of origin.
