Education and research

In its written communication A strategy for Swedish space activities (2017/18:259), the Government has presented a strategy that now forms a platform for Sweden’s long-term work on space activities. The strategy includes an overall description of the areas the Government wishes to prioritise and the targets that exist for the respective areas.

Paris, November 14, 2019. Check against delivery.

A temporary exemption from application and tuition fees at institutions of higher education was previously introduced for certain British citizens to mitigate the consequences of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union without a withdrawal agreement. The UK's withdrawal has since been postponed until 31 October 2019, and the Government has therefore decided to extend the temporary exemption from application and tuition fees.

Minister for Higher Education and Research Matilda Ernkrans travels to Japan Friday, 4 October. Her programme will include holding an opening address at the Science and Technology in Society (STS) forum on Sunday. The majority of the visit will take place in Kyoto and Tokyo, and the political focus will be on the climate and the environment.

Minister for Higher Education and Research Matilda Ernkrans will travel to Japan today, 4 October. Her programme will include a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and holding the opening address at the Science and Technology in Society (STS) forum on Sunday. The majority of the visit will take place in Kyoto and Tokyo, and the political focus will be on the climate and the environment.

Sweden took over the two-year chairmanship of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council at the ministerial meeting in Arkhangelsk on 19 October 2017. Since its inception, the Barents cooperation has aimed to promote peace, stability and the development of the Barents region, through cross-border collaboration and people-to-people contacts. The Swedish chairmanship programme, with the title ‘Regional sustainable development for the future’, was formed with a view to advancing cooperation and deepening collaboration in key areas of common interest.

The Government will soon present a government bill to the Riksdag containing proposals for new rules on residence permits for research and higher education studies. The proposals will implement the European Union’s ‘Students and Researchers Directive’. An important aim of the proposals is to attract more students, researchers and other highly qualified people to Sweden, and make it easier for those who have studied in Sweden to stay in the country to work.

The Government proposes in a government bill that the children of members of foreign missions from countries outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland will have the right to education in preschool class free of charge in the same way that they have the right to education in other compulsory school forms.

On Sunday 8 September, Minister for Education Anna Ekström will visit Yad Vashem, one of the world’s most prominent knowledge centres for Holocaust remembrance. Ms Ekström will be in attendance when a declaration of intent between the University of Gothenburg, the Living History Forum and Yad Vashem is signed in Jerusalem. This is the first declaration of intent between Yad Vashem and Sweden.

When Prime Minister Stefan Löfven met French President Emmanuel Macron today in Paris, the countries’ strategic partnership for innovation, digital transformation and green solutions was updated and deepened. When Mr Löfven and Mr Macron entered into the partnership in November 2017, it was agreed that Sweden and France needed to work together in a number of strategic areas to better address digital transformation and climate adaptation.