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EDUCATION

Sweden ranks second in world uni rankings

Sweden's university education system was rated as the second best in the world and the best overall in Europe, according to a report published on Wednesday.

Published: 9 May 2013 13:49 CEST
Sweden ranks second in world uni rankings

The ranking measures which countries provide the “best” higher education, focusing especially on desirable attributes including resources, environment, connectivity, and output.

The list was topped by the US for the second year in a row, with Sweden’s second place also a repeat performance from 2012. The Nordic nation was closely followed by Switzerland, Canada, and Denmark.

The ranking, carried out and developed by Universitas 21, an international network of universities, and measures the higher education systems of 50 countries around the globe. It aims to provide a high-quality experience for students and help institutions compete for overseas applicants.

Despite finishing second overall in the rankings, Sweden’s results in each category were not as strong. The country finished third in the resources ranking, tenth in environment, fourth in connectivity, and fourth in output.

Sweden’s neighbours also performed well in the ranking, with Denmark finishing fifth, Finland sixth, and Norway twelfth.

The report did not include any measurements of teaching quality, something Universitas 21 labelled a major omission and admitted was too difficult to measure.

TT/The Local/og

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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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