Sweden: students from countries outside the European Union
Swedish government plans to submit the Riksdag (Swedish parliament) a proposal for tuition fees for students from countries outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). It will be recalled that for the time studies are free for all in Sweden. The decision is based partly on the report of a commission of inquiry established by the former government, which has proposed this system of tuition fees (document appears SOU 2006:7). According to the Government, a large international market for students has emerged. According to the latest statistics available (2004), 2.7 million students studying abroad, and their number is growing rapidly. Today, there are fees for studying in universities and other institutions of higher education in many countries, which means it is a solvable market, thanks to the families of students or through systems of government scholarships. According to the Minister of Higher Education and Research, Lars Leijonborg, the objective is to increase the resources of Swedish universities to enable them to be more efficient and thus more competitive. Today there are about 8 000 students outside the European Union and associated countries in institutions of higher learning Swedish. The government considers it important that student in those countries studying in Sweden, and announced that he has no desire to reduce the number of foreign students. According to the proposals of the investigation, the introduction of tuition fees should be complemented by a system of grants, which enable students without resources to study in Sweden. It is a well-established principle that studies in Sweden must be free for Swedish, and it remains a basic principle, and is valid for citizens of the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, in keeping with EU rules. The proposal will be presented to parliament this autumn a proposal for a government bill on the internationalization of higher education.
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