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Life and studies in Sweden / Free Education is over

Sweden that used to hitherto offer free education to foreign students has made it clear that  international students from outside the EU region will begin paying fees as from the 2011/2012 academic year. The government tabled the bill to the parliament in February.  The exact amount of fees to be has not yet been disclosed. However, some people say it will ranged between 8 and 12 dollars US dollars per academic year while  others say the fees would be decided by various institutions.

There is however, agreement  by many international students to the fact  that for any thing near a quarter of 8000 dollars to be imposed as fees, Sweden would not only need to improve  on the quality of education offered international students, but also open it hitherto extremely closed job market to foreigners. Sweden is one of the four countries of the Scandinavia including Norway, Denmark and Finland. It has a population of 9 million people among which 1 million are immigrants according to public sources. In recent years Sweden has been an “Eldorado” of studies for thousands of migrants from around the globe.

It is calm, peaceful and its citizens are generally welcoming. Though not necessarily an English colony, the second language after the Svenska (official language of Sweden) is English. It is really amazing to know that most Swedish speak good English as well. However, Sweden is certainly not a destination for those who want to come there and look for jobs. The jobs are quite few and those available are often for people who understand the Swedish language. This does not in any way mean that it is totally impossible to have part time jobs in Sweden as a student. The educational system is well organized. Education is tuition-free and most of the things in school, as in most of the country, are highly computerized. This is good though, but, has drastically cut down jobs.

It must be said here ahead of time that, the introduction of fees will certainly and drastically too, reduce the number of students who will come to Sweden. This is mostly because, unlike in most developed countries, foreign students in Sweden have limited part-time employment opportunities.

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