Free Swedish degrees for 'bondage'

Tied to working in Sweden pays for tuition and board during postgrad studies. 

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  Swedish students have taken loans for decades to study, mainly in college or university courses. Loans to live, not to pay tuitions.

• Starting with next autumn's school term, foreign students will be obliged to pay fees to study at Swedish universities and colleges. In order to continue attracting students with high potential talents to study in Sweden, Minister of Colleges and Research Tobias Krantz is proposing that foreign students who are entering certain fields of study receive free tuition, with the stipulation that they remain after graduation in Sweden and work for a specified period of time.

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  In 2008, nearly 940,000 people had some form of student aid through the Swedish CSN.

• Announcing his idea of binding students to Swedish workplaces in exchange for their higher education, Krantz told the Stockholm newspaper, Svenska Dagbladet, that young and talented students in areas of science and technology could, for example, obtain their two year masters degree along with money for their maintenance in exchange for the promise to work "a few years" in Sweden. Otherwise, if they break this agreement, the entire sum would be subject to repayment.

• Members of the opposition political party, Social Democrats, viewed the idea as making "serfs" in Sweden by putting bonds of servitude on young foreigners. Milieu and Leftist parties agreed, and their spokesmen argued that students should be broadly educated rather than forcibly specialized in specific areas. The Swedish union of students also expressed reservations, particularly in regard to the burden of repayments that might be demanded.

• More on the new restrictions for foreign students in Sweden: http://www.nordstjernan.com/news/educationresearch/2498/ and on Swedish higher education in general: http://www.nordstjernan.com/news/educationresearch/970/