The number of applicants to higher vocational education declined for the first time since 2016, with applicants and qualified applicants scoring a five per cent decrease.
According to Statistics Sweden, the number of admitted students to attain studies in Sweden reached 88,500 students, reaching an all-time high, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Decreasing rates of graduates in Swedish higher education institutions were noticed last year as well, as the number of graduates dropped by 1,100 in the 2021/2022 academic year. In total, the number of graduates reached 73,500.
The most common vocational graduates were those in civil engineering programs, with a total of 4,440 graduates, followed by nursing. Compared 2021/2022 academic year, the number of civil engineering degrees dropped by 320 graduates. The vocational programme experienced the sharpest decrease. At the same time, the issuance of basic teaching decrease, such as basic teaching degrees, specialist nursing degrees and sociology degrees.
In addition, the number of doctorate students in Sweden is expected to drop in the upcoming 15 years as the interest in postgraduate education is headed downwards.
As per graduation rates from higher vocational education in Sweden, those differed between Swedish and foreign-born. In 2019, the graduation rate among Swedish-born reached 73.7 per cent compared to 62.5 per cent among foreign-borns. Those rates increased to 74.3 per cent for Swedish born in the following year while decreasing by 0.3 percentage points for foreign-born students.
According to the first AI-backed education search platform, Erudera.com, Sweden is home to almost 40,000 international students that enrolled in Swedish higher education institutions during the 2021/2022 academic year. This represents an increase of 19 per cent compared to the previous academic year, which was 33,293.
The majority of international students in Sweden come from China and Germany, with 4,166 German students and another 2,302 Chinese students. Out of the total, 2,346 German students are exchange students, while 2,003 Chinese students are free movers.
France ranks third for the number of international students – a total of 2,276 students in the academic year 2021/22, with 1,854 of them being exchange students. India, Finland and Spain follow, with 2,125, 1,951 and 1,463, respectively.
Among Scandinavian countries, Sweden also remains a favourite destination, as 145 and 474 students came from Denmark and Norway, respectively.
The top five Swedish universities with the most students include Lund University (5,362), Stockholm University (4,426), Uppsala University (4,263), University of Gothenburg (3,663) and KTH Royal Institute of Technology (3,333).
