Stockholm funding boost for internationalisation

By Jan Petter Myklebust. Stockholm University Rector Kåre Bremer last week announced that he would allocate SEK100 million (US$13 million) in extraordinary funds to enhance internationalisation.
He said the university was among the world’s top 100 and the new investment was “to enhance this position and meet the demands of an increasingly globalised research and higher education world”. The funding will be used for:

• 50 sabbaticals for Stockholm University researchers going abroad.
• 25 two-year postdoctoral positions for international students (SEK850,000 per postdoc per year).
• A collaborative programme for bilateral cooperation with the universities of Helsinki, Illinois, Cornell, Wisconsin-Madison, Singapore, Fudan and Queensland, strengthening the Stockholm University Academic Initiative.
• Establishment of an institute for advanced studies where 15 to 20 foreign researchers will be recruited for research visits as Wallenberg Academy Fellows, and where Swedish researchers might also be supported.
• SEK17.5 million will be used to recruit foreign researchers.
• SEK5 million will be allocated to departments at the university, with SEK50,000 for each international student the departments recruit who is paying tuition fees, in order to strengthen the international study programme – 100 such student placements will be supported.

The investment by Stockholm University is strategically aligned with the budget proposal this year of the Alliance government to strengthen Swedish research and higher education with SEK4 billion each year from 2016, notably for biomedical research and international collaboration.