The Quarneval parade will pass through Stockholm on Saturday 16 May, starting from KTH at 14:08.

This student-run event takes place every three years, with a large number of students involved as organisers and participants. It’s also something of a public festival for both the general public and students at KTH and our neighbouring universities. So do take the opportunity to join in and experience the students’ creativity, playfulness and enjoy all the floats along the parade route, which starts and ends at the KTH Campus on Valhallavägen!

Student life involves hard work and a constant drive to achieve good academic results and, eventually, a degree. However, there are also plenty of opportunities to get involved in a wide range of other activities, such as through the student union and its sections, student revues, the freshers’ welcome and Quarnevalen, to name a few.

Everything that surrounds your studies helps to make your time as a student more fulfilling and enriching. Getting involved in student life also brings students together, fostering a sense of inclusion and security on campus and among the student body as a whole. We don’t always fully express our appreciation for the value that students create for each other, KTH and the future.

To everyone in Stockholm: Don’t forget to head into town and check out the Quarneval on Saturday!

On April 13, the spring supplementary budget was presented, including an injection of 14,4 million kronor into our educational mandate for 2026 and double that amount for the following two years. The argument is that the Swedish labour market needs more Masters of Science in Engineering.

This represents an increase of just under one per cent of our ceiling amount and provides us with the extra resources needed to fulfil our educational mandate. Otherwise, we have been struggling to reduce student numbers in order to adapt to a shrinking mandate.

While this will make the reduction somewhat less severe, it is, of course, still a reduction in the number of students on Master of Science in Engineering programme compared with the previous year.

Nevertheless, it is positive that the government is prioritising this issue. It demonstrates an understanding of the needs of our high level of applicants and the opportunities this presents in terms of providing more young people with the chance to pursue higher education.

In our budget proposal, we argued that the need was far greater than the 14,4 million SEK (or 28,8 million next year), but this is nonetheless a step in the right direction. I hope that this issue has now been raised and will result in more forward-looking decisions in future.