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RESEARCH

Sweden to give long-term boost to research

The government has announced that it will put four billion kronor ($605 million) into research and innovation in a long-term effort to secure Sweden’s place among the world's top nations for research.

Published: 12 September 2012 07:36 CEST
Sweden to give long-term boost to research

The investment is part of a three year process in which 11.5 billion kronor will be invested, with gradually increasing installments from 2013 until the full four billion kronor will come into effect in 2016.

“This is a research contribution at a historically high level. We’re reaching levels that we’ve never been at in Sweden,” said Education Minister Jan Björklund to the TT news agency.

“We hope the investment into research and innovation with provide the footing for Sweden to be strong in the future. This lays the foundation for new jobs,” said Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.

A large part of the investment will go towards high schools and universities, and also to “Life Science” – a programme for medical research.

“The focus with Life Science is about how we can be healthier and live longer. It’s about preventing and curing Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer and stroke,” said Björklund.

Uppsala University also welcomes the government’s decision.

“It’s great that the government, despite the strained global economy, chooses prioritize research. These investments are also largely in line with our own priorities, which is of course encouraging,” said university head Eva Åkesson in a statement.

TT/The Local/og

twitter.com/thelocalsweden

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EDUCATION

Sweden’s Social Democrats call for ban on new free schools

Sweden's opposition Social Democrats have called for a total ban on the establishment of new profit-making free schools, in a sign the party may be toughening its policies on profit-making in the welfare sector.

Published: 18 April 2024 16:09 CEST
Sweden's Social Democrats call for ban on new free schools

“We want the state to slam on the emergency brakes and bring in a ban on establishing [new schools],” the party’s leader, Magdalena Andersson, said at a press conference.

“We think the Swedish people should be making the decisions on the Swedish school system, and not big school corporations whose main driver is making a profit.” 

Almost a fifth of pupils in Sweden attend one of the country’s 3,900 primary and secondary “free schools”, first introduced in the country in the early 1990s. 

Even though three quarters of the schools are run by private companies on a for-profit basis, they are 100 percent state funded, with schools given money for each pupil. 

This system has come in for criticism in recent years, with profit-making schools blamed for increasing segregation, contributing to declining educational standards and for grade inflation. 

In the run-up to the 2022 election, Andersson called for a ban on the companies being able to distribute profits to their owners in the form of dividends, calling for all profits to be reinvested in the school system.  

READ ALSO: Sweden’s pioneering for-profit ‘free schools’ under fire 

Andersson said that the new ban on establishing free schools could be achieved by extending a law banning the establishment of religious free schools, brought in while they were in power, to cover all free schools. 

“It’s possible to use that legislation as a base and so develop this new law quite rapidly,” Andersson said, adding that this law would be the first step along the way to a total ban on profit-making schools in Sweden. 

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