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Why Stockholm is a global university center on the rise

Stockholm’s top three universities are united by more than geography. Channelling Swedish values of openness and social responsibility, Stockholm University, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and Karolinska Institutet are joining forces to strengthen each other – and the wider Stockholm region.

Published: 25 November 2019 15:11 CET
Why Stockholm is a global university center on the rise
Photo: Henrik Trygg

The Swedish capital has the world’s fourth-highest concentration of high-profile universities, and is one of the world’s most knowledge-intensive and pioneering places in the world.

Innovation and collaboration are in the city’s DNA which is why, in April this year, Stockholm University, KTH and Karolinska Institutet launched an extensive intercollegiate partnership that has become known as the Stockholm trio university alliance. It marked the beginning of a new era for cross-university research and education – with exciting possibilities for finding answers to the challenges that Sweden’s fast-growing capital is facing.

Astrid Söderbergh Widding. Photo: Eva Dalin

To strengthen the development of the Stockholm region and to highlight our internationally-distinguished research and education environments at Karolinska Institutet, KTH and Stockholm University, we launched the Stockholm trio university alliance,” says Astrid Söderbergh Widding, President of Stockholm University. “Our three respective universities share a common vision that is of importance to the city of Stockholm, to the region and to Sweden as a knowledge nation.”

In addition to their commitment to the social and intellectual growth of the wider Stockholm region, the three universities extol Swedish values such as equality, openness, respect, and responsibility – and they all strive to play a key role in Swedish democracy by educating the general public and circulating knowledge and research by giving open lectures, participating in public debates, and engaging with the media.

Stockholm University. Photo: Niklas Björling

There is also the shared understanding that the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, as defined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, present many complex challenges that require interdisciplinary and intercollegiate collaboration to a greater extent than ever before.

“It’s quite clear that some of the greatest challenges that we face today require cooperation across what was previously rather impenetrable silos,” says Ole Petter Ottersen, President of Karolinska Institutet. “For Karolinska Institutet, it’s extremely important to view health not merely as a medical or biological issue but something that is related to the environment and it must therefore be addressed in conversation with the humanities, the social sciences, and technology. So as a world-faculty dedicated to health and medicine, we really need collaborations like this because of the increasing complexity of health.”

Ole Petter Ottersen. Photo: Erik Flyg

Sigbritt Karlsson, President of KTH explains that the three universities all have their distinctive areas of expertise and, as such, are perfectly equipped to enhance each other’s research.

“By collaborating and complementing each other, we have become the top ten in the world in terms of research output,” Karlsson tells The Local. “At the same time, this promotes exchanges between teachers, students, researchers, and administrative personnel on an everyday basis at the different universities.”

Karolinska Institutet. Photo: Ulf Sirborn

The fruits of this collaboration go far beyond bolstering academic research projects. According to Söderbergh Widding, the alliance has brought the three universities closer together and resulted in a wide array of cutting-edge innovation labs, partnerships, and projects that aim at improving the quality of life for the citizens of the Stockholm region and beyond.

“Our collaboration is extensive and the examples are many,” she says. “From research facilities such as SciLifeLab and OpenLab to research institutes like the Aging Research Center, Nordita, and the Stress Research Institute, to educational programmes in a range of areas like mathematics, health informatics, and phonetics and teacher education, the alliance engages in broad and innovative collaborations across the capital.”

Sigbritt Karlsson. Photo: Tobias Ohls

Ottersen adds that the spirit of collaboration isn’t limited to the Stockholm region and the alliance has joined forces with several leading institutions abroad to contribute to education and research worldwide. One notable example of this work is a strategic partnership with the University of Tokyo.

“The Stockholm trio university alliance collaborates on the regional, national and international levels,” says Ottersen. “Right now we are also in the process of establishing an office together in Brussels in order to obtain decision bases and be engaged in informing and influencing research and education policies in Europe.”

In the spirit of contributing to international development, KI, KTH and Stockholm University also advocate, among many other things, open access. It’s led all three universities to take a firm stance on the importance of open access across the board – and strive to lead by example.

“We see open access as a matter of some urgency for the global research community,” says Söderbergh Widding. “The goal of this transition includes both open access to publications and to open research data.”

Photo: KTH

Karlsson emphasizes that KTH has a particularly strong tradition of knowledge-sharing and research-collaboration with the Swedish industry and business community. It’s something KTH has pushed for the collaboration to recreate on a grander and more holistic scale.

“Research issues, or societal challenges as they are often called, have become so complex today that one set of knowledge is not enough,” says Karlsson. “Co-operations such as the Stockholm trio university alliance, where you add several dimensions to your thinking and gain new perspectives that introduce new aspects along the way towards developing innovations and solutions, are crucial – and also much more fun, if I may say so myself.”

Find out how you can move to Stockholm and become part of the city’s innovative academic community.

This article was produced by The Local Creative Studio in partnership with Invest Stockholm.

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How to find a job in Sweden: Five tips from those who’ve been there, done that

The Swedish job market poses unique challenges for newcomers. The Local's readers share their best tips for cracking the career code.

Published: 10 April 2024 11:32 CEST
Updated: 13 April 2024 15:50 CEST
How to find a job in Sweden: Five tips from those who've been there, done that

Network, network, network!

A statistic that often gets tossed around is that seven out of ten jobs in Sweden are obtained through personal connections, and there’s no doubt that a good network is crucial to your job hunt, making the labour market extra challenging for newcomers to the country.

In fact, networking was the main tip mentioned by The Local’s readers.

“The job market is quite hot in Sweden, and talent is in short supply. People hiring do not have a lot of time to find the right talent, and tips from friends, colleagues and former colleagues are the way to first, find out organisations are hiring, and secondly, get your CV on the short list,” said Kyle, a Canadian reader who works in innovation management in Gothenburg.

“If you are going for a major employer like Volvo, network gets you in the door, as HR does not have much to do with hiring… the hiring managers do all of it and have no time, due to the insane number of consensus meetings. If you are looking for smaller organisations, they have even less time to find people, and networking is their primary way to find talent,” he added.

NETWORKING IN SWEDEN:

Some of the networking tips readers mentioned were going to job fairs, getting an internship to help you establish connections in your preferred field, joining clubs (this could be anything from your local gardening association to meetups for coders, but focus on clubs that may be popular among people working in your chosen field), and drawing on your organic network of friends, neighbours and others.

Don’t neglect the groundwork

The saying “dress for the job you want, not the job you have” is getting worn out (and people may look at you funny if you turn up to interviews in a Batman suit), but there’s truth to the notion of making sure you know what you want – and preparing for it.

In other words, don’t wait for a job ad to appear before you start to customise your CV and figure out what skill set you need. Create your CV now so that you’re ready to tweak it to your dream job – you could even have a general look at job ads in your field to see what requirements are needed. And don’t forget to spruce up your LinkedIn profile so that it fits with your career goals.

“I believe that several factors contribute to successfully landing a desirable job in Sweden. It’s essential to prepare to meet the requirements beyond just having a university degree. Many individuals realise these requirements only after completing their studies when they start searching for a job, which can be too late,” said Adnan Aslam from Pakistan, who works as a food inspector.

“I recommend identifying the job advertisements for positions you aspire to hold in the future and then preparing for those requirements during your studies. For me, acquiring a basic level of proficiency in the Swedish language and obtaining a Swedish driving licence were crucial. I pursued these goals during my studies and was able to secure a desirable job before graduating,” he added.

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Felipe Cabral even has a GPT assistant trained on his own CVs and old cover letters, and said the set-up only takes ten minutes if you already have your documents. “With that in place, you can give instructions like: Read this job description and create a tailored version of my CV and letter for it. (…) Remember to always review and ask it not to create data aside from your documents.”

Be flexible and ready to adapt

Moving to a new place inevitably means having to learn not just the practicalities such as how to write a CV or which websites to use to look for job openings, but also learning how to navigate a new culture with all its unspoken expectations.

Swedish workplaces are generally less hierarchical than many other countries, but that doesn’t mean you can say whatever you want whenever you want without anyone raising an eyebrow. Swedes are usually direct, but be careful of being too abrasive or boastful: raising your voice, even during a spirited argument, or banging your own drum to show off your skills may not go down well.

“Talk, deliberate, complain like a Swede and you’ll come across like you know what the job entails, so your trustworthiness increases,” said an Indian data analyst who preferred to remain anonymous.

“Office politics are just as strong in Sweden as anywhere else. The flat hierarchy is deceiving as social hierarchy is enforced quite a bit in that lack of formal hierarchy. Take your time in learning these dynamics wherever you work before revealing your talent and capabilities. Expect those internal politics to happen, and they won’t hurt so much when they do,” said Kyle, the Canadian reader in Gothenburg.

This article about Swedish office politics may be useful.

Stay true to yourself

Adapting to your surroundings is one thing. Completely changing who you are is another.

For one thing, your happiness is as important as your career progression, and for another, your foreignness need not be an impediment: it’s also a skill that sets you apart from the rest. It means you have unique experience, and also, in the right setting, provides an opportunity to sometimes violate those social rules we mentioned above, because people assume you will, anyway.

“Trust is key. Build trust in your network, work with integrity. It’s OK to violate jantelagen if you are maintaining integrity. Sometimes your outsider and more honest/open opinion will burn bridges, especially those that may feel threatened by talent. But it will build trust with other colleagues who see it as brave and more trustworthy to work with,” said Kyle from Canada.

Hunker down for the long haul

We don’t want to scare you, because there are plenty of examples of people who quickly find their dream job in Sweden and settle into their new workplace, enjoying perks such as long summer holidays, generous parental leave and the famous work-life balance.

But if you do find it tougher than you expected: know that you’re not alone.

Several readers who responded to the survey said they were still trying to find a job in Sweden.

“I found jobs all over Europe but not here. They say they have a lack of experienced senior engineers but the don’t seem to be doing much to solve this,” said a Brazilian in Gothenburg.

A reader from Bangladesh said she was “at a loss” as to how to make a career change from her current AI role in Stockholm, despite many years of experience as an IT project manager.

“Over the past 18 months, I’ve submitted over 600 applications to various organisations. Unfortunately, despite being overqualified for some positions, I’ve faced rejections at every turn, from both large and small companies. The job market here, especially for foreign-born women, feels overwhelmingly challenging,” she said, adding that the struggle had impacted her mental health.

The Local has on several occasions reported on foreign residents’ struggle to get a foot on the Swedish job ladder, with many facing hurdles such as employers’ unfamiliarity with international degrees, discrimination, or a lack of network that can provide paths into a company.

So during the job hunt, don’t forget to care for yourself. Share your concerns with fellow job-seekers, ask for help and join networking groups – this is good not just for creating new contacts, but also in terms of your social well-being and meeting people who are in a similar situation.

And finally, as one British reader in Stockholm advised, keep looking: “Be open-minded with the opportunities that present themselves. It isn’t an easy market to enter and doesn’t feel inclusive.” But he added, “don’t give up”.

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