Report 2009:14 R

Doctoral students from other countries in Swedish third-cycle programmes

Foreign doctoral students are defined as persons born outside Sweden who have come to Sweden less than two years prior to starting third-cycle studies. These doctoral students are admitted to third-cycle studies in Sweden and they aim to take a licentiate or doctoral degree. The analyses are based on data from national records for doctoral students and responses by higher education institutions to a Högskoleverket (Swedish National Agency for Higher Education) questionnaire.

Some results

• The proportion of foreign doctoral students increased from 15 per cent in 1997 to 29 per cent in 2007. The proportion of foreign doctoral students in the doctoral student population as a whole and among those who take a degree is less than this, however: 19 per cent of all active students in the autumn of 2007, and 18 and 19 per cent, respectively, of all doctoral and licentiate degrees in 2007. The proportion of foreign doctoral students in the active student population and amongst those awarded degrees will probably increase as a result of the considerable inflow of entrants from other countries.
• Swedish higher education institutions have probably contributed to this trend as a result of wider information concerning student aid at the international level, and the establishment of international one and two year Master´s programmes.
• Foreign doctoral students are financed to a greater extent than their Swedish equivalents by stipends, student aid or their own resources.
• Stipend programmes aimed at foreign applicants presumably contribute to the increase in the number of foreign doctoral students.
• The net study-period is roughly the same for Swedish and foreign doctoral students, although the maximum period of study is longer for Swedish doctoral students. This suggests that Swedish doctoral students break off their studies to a greater extent for parental leave or for other reasons, and that they study on a part-time basis (departmental duties or research studies, combined with other employment).
• A higher proportion of foreign doctoral students take their degrees within a specific period, as compared with their Swedish colleagues (5 and 8 years, respectively). This difference may be noted in all the major subject areas.
• 44 per cent of the foreign doctoral students who took their doctoral degrees in Sweden in the period 1997-2001 remained in Sweden five years after taking their degree, while 43 per cent had emigrated and 12 per cent could not be traced.