International students advise against pursuing doctoral studies in Sweden. According to a recent survey by the SULF Doctoral Candidate Association, Sweden is no longer a desirable destination for foreign early-career researchers.
About 40 foreign PhD students were asked by SULF-DCA if they would recommend Sweden to other foreign researchers. According to SULF-DCA board spokesperson Aimee Miles, “the answer was an overwhelming no.”
Over two years, the SULF Doctoral Candidate Association, or SULF-DCA, has interviewed about 40 international PhD candidates in-depth for the study.
According to Aimee Miles, a SULF-DCA board spokesperson, “We asked all the interviewees whether they would recommend other international researchers to come to Sweden.” “The response was overwhelmingly negative.”
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According to Aimee Miles, the public portrayal of Sweden’s internationalized, inclusive higher education system misleads incoming PhD candidates. When they get there, they encounter an entirely other reality.
“It is a system that is fundamentally unequal in nature,” she says. “As a third-country doctoral student or researcher, you are relegated to second-class status. The people we interviewed felt that migration policy was structured to ensure that they fail and that they were hostage to arbitrary and arcane bureaucratic processes.”
According to the SULF-DCA report, long processing times, unclear and inconsistent criteria for evaluating permit applications, systematic unfairness, limited opportunities to apply for long-term residence status, and limited appeals of the Migration Agency’s decisions are some of the significant challenges faced by PhD students and postdocs from non-EU/EEA countries.
The interviewees offer proof of a terrible parallel reality that third-country scholars must contend with. Due to Sweden’s immigration policy, they feel that their research prospects are limited and that they are professionally marginalized. The study also reveals a lower standard of living and serious repercussions for PhD students’ mental health.
The survey claims that universities are not doing enough to help PhD candidates. Many administrators and managers lack the communication skills necessary to interact with the Migration Agency.
“Doctoral students often feel that they do not get support from their departments, their supervisors, or the university administration in general,” says Miles. “Universities need to do a better job of supporting international researchers, not just make broad statements about the importance of internationalization.”
Numerous interviewees in the research express regret for their decision to relocate to Sweden rather than another nation. The result is that Sweden is no longer a desirable location for early-career researchers from other countries.
The report’s main takeaway is that Sweden urgently needs to change its immigration laws for foreign researchers from non-EU/EEA nations.
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