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MY SWEDISH CAREER

STUDENTS

Foreign students scrub their way to success

Four international students who share a passion for sustainable development have filled a gap in the Swedish market for eco-friendly cleaning. For this week's My Swedish Career, we meet the founders of a new green business designed to make a lasting difference.

Published: 1 December 2014 05:34 CET
Foreign students scrub their way to success
The green cleaners. Photo: Private

Coming from different parts of Europe, students Alexis Bouges (France), Jan Cihlar (Czech Republic), Liridona Sopjani (Kosovo), and Martha Mancheva (Bulgaria) met when studying the same master’s program in Sustainable Development at Uppsala University.

"Seeing how socially and economically advanced Sweden is, I believed it would be the best place to study and learn from people and culture here," co-founder Liridiona Sopjani from Kosovo tells The Local.  "And then later I can contribute to my country."

But like many students, she was unable to find any work without speaking Swedish. So, she and her friends decided to create their own jobs – by building a company from scratch.

“We felt the need to step up, use our academic background in sustainability, and change something,” she tells The Local. 

Since May of 2014, the student entrepreneurs have been running a sustainable and eco-friendly start-up in Uppsala: the Grandma Knows Best cleaning company.


Photo: Grandma Knows Best

Sweden is renowned for being at the forefront of sustainable development and environmentally friendly products. For most Swedes, being environmentally conscious is a way of life, and looking for alternatives to meet their demands has become second nature to many.

Eco-friendly and green cleaning is not an entirely new invention – but as an increasing number of Swedes hire home cleaners, the students’ timing couldn’t have been better.

They say that what makes Grandma Knows Best unique is their 'refuse, reduce, reuse, and recycle' policy in every aspect of their work. From their products to their mode of transportation, the aim is to provide a cleaning service that is environmentally sustainable – leaving behind a squeaky clean home and happy, environmentally aware clients.

In order to avoid using solutions that are harmful to the environment, Grandma Knows Best develops and manufactures its own cleaning products.

It is quite a lot of work for the students, who are all still studying full time. They clean homes in the morning, then rush off (on bikes rather than busses of course) to lessons, and manage the business after class. 

Alexis Bouges takes care of the company's finances, Jan Cihlar handles internal management, Liridona Sopjani works with communication and brand management, and Martha Mancheva leads marketing. Swedish student Josefin Brodell joined the team shortly after its foundation, taking care of customer service. Today the five-student team is on the way to small-business stardom.

"Everyone is definitely interested in knowing more about what products we use," the students explain. "Especially how we can clean so well with simple raw materials such as baking soda and vinegar!"


Photo: Grandma Knows Best

Czech student Jan Cihlar, responsible for product development and testing nature-based cleaners, says he was surprised to find that the range of natural products available to cleaners is very limited in Sweden.

“The amount of chemicals and toxic agents found in our homes is alarming. We saw that there was a need to find more natural alternatives to maintain a clean living environment.”

The team behind Grandma Knows Best has managed to stay away from perfumes and preservatives altogether. 

Still in the process of perfecting their brand communication to reach a wider audience, the start-up is gaining momentum and the students say they are hoping to inspire other young entrepreneurs.

In the words of Martha Mancheva from Bulgaria: “Don’t be afraid to put yourself and your business idea out there. Use your academic knowledge out in the real world.”

Mimmi Nilsson

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EDUCATION

English-language programmes at Danish universities face cuts

Denmark's government has agreed on a plan to significantly reduce the number of courses offered in English in the country's universities.

Published: 2 July 2021 16:31 CEST
English-language programmes at Danish universities face cuts
Life sciences faculty hold an open house at Copenhagen University. The university is now expected to reduce admissions as part of a plan to decentralise higher education in Denmark. Photo: Thomas Lekfeldt / Ritzau Scanpix

At the end of June, the plan aims to reduce the number of English-language higher education programmes while also expanding educational opportunities outside of Denmark’s major cities.

The exact number of courses to be cut – and where they will be cut – depends on the future employment of graduates.

Cuts to English-language programmes

The reduction of English-language programmes at institutions of higher education is rooted in an effort to reduce rising costs of state educational grants (SU) in Denmark. Despite attempts to reduce SU expenses, the cost is expected to rise to 570 million kroner by 2025, far above the cap of 449 million kroner set in 2013. 

There are a number of cases in which non-Danish citizens are entitled to SU, from moving to Denmark with one’s parents, marrying a Danish citizen, residing in Denmark for more than 5 years, status as a worker in Denmark, and more.

The reduction is targeted at English-language programmes where few English-speaking students find employment in Denmark after graduation, according to Denmark’s Ministry of Education and Research. 

Among the targeted programmes are business academies and professional bachelor programmes, where 72 percent of students are English-speaking and only 21 percent find work in Denmark after completing their education. 

However, programmes where higher proportions of English students enter the Danish workforce, and those that have a unique significance on the regional labour market, will be exempt from the reduction. This amounts to 650 education institutions around the country. 

In 2016, students demonstrated against cuts in SU. Photo: Emil Hougaard / Ritzau Scanpix

The agreement also establishes a financial incentive for institutions that graduate English-speaking students who remain to work in Denmark.

According to a June 10 analysis from consulting firm Deloitte, EU students who receive higher education in Denmark contribute an average of nearly 650,000 kroner to Denmark’s public coffers over a lifetime. 

However, the report notes, a student’s positive or negative contribution depends on how long they stay in Denmark. Although students who leave Denmark shortly after graduating constitute a cost to the Danish state, the analysis found that the contribution of students who stay in Denmark to work offsets the cost of those who leave.

The analysis expressed concern that reducing opportunities for English-language higher education could “have a number of unintended negative consequences,” including deterring students who might stay in Denmark to work from moving in the first place. There’s also the risk that it will become more difficult to recruit foreign researchers to Danish universities, which could impact education quality, the analysis claims.

The UCN professional school in Thisted is expected to open one new training program as a result of the decentralisation plan. Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

Decentralisation of Danish education

The plan to decentralise higher education in Denmark not only expands educational opportunities outside of Denmark’s major cities, but it also aims to reduce enrollment in higher education within major cities by 10 percent by 2030 (but not more than 20 percent).

For example, a law programme will be established in Esbjerg, a medical programme in Køge and a veterinary programme in Foulum.

Minister of Education and Research Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen said the goal was to offer students educational opportunities regardless of where they live within Denmark and strengthen the economy outside of major cities. 

However, the Danish Chamber of Commerce, Dansk Erhverv, expressed concern that the decentralisation plan doesn’t factor in labour demands within Denmark’s major cities.

Mads Eriksen, head of education and research policy at Dansk Erhverv, said it was “unwise” for programmes to reduce acceptance rates to in-demand fields in that particular city. 

“They are trying to solve a problem with labour in the countryside, but at the same time they are creating labour problems in the cities,” Eriksen said. “The English-language programme cuts are far more aligned with the demands of the labour market.”

Denmark has utilised unemployment-based admission for higher education since 2015. Programmes whose graduates experience unemployment consistently 2 percent higher than average are subject to a 30 percent admission cut.

Eriksen thinks it shouldn’t be a matter of reducing admissions across several universities by

“For example, we have five philosophy education programmes in Denmark, each of which have high unemployment rates among graduates,” Eriksen said, referencing a recent Dansk Erhverv analysis. 

He would prefer to see resources concentrated into making a couple of those programmes the best they can be and closing the rest, versus reducing admissions in all five programmes. “We have to be ready to close programmes that continue to have high unemployment, not just reduce them.”

In 2018, the University of Southern Denmark closed one English-language program and converted two from English to Danish. Photo: Tim Kildeborg Jensen / Ritzau Scanpix

Opposite impacts on provincial institutions

Gitte Sommer Harrits, vice chancellor at VIA University College, shared concern that although the decentralised education aspect of the plan aims to increase the number of students at provincial universities, the reduction of English-language programmes is likely to have the opposite effect.

A report from the organisation Akademikerne in early June found that international students have played a significant role filling educational institutions outside of Danish cities. Nine of the 10 educational institutions with the largest proportion of English-speaking students are outside the country’s largest cities. 

The University of Southern Denmark in Sønderborg has the highest proportion of international students; 40 percent of its 628 students are not affiliated with Denmark or other Nordic countries. 

While significantly larger with nearly 37,000 students, Copenhagen University has 5.2 percent international students.

Already in 2018, the University of Southern Denmark closed one English-language programme and converted two others from English to Danish after the Danish government ordered universities to reduce the number of international students.

Harrits said she found the possible closure of English-language programmes drawing international students to provincial areas to be puzzling when paired with the intention to decentralise education.

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