KTH still in top in internationalisation
For the fifth year in a row, KTH has been awarded the highest rating for its work with internationalisation among Swedish universities. The award is presented by the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education, STINT.
“Thank you all for helping us retain our five-star status. As this can be attributed to very considered work over a number of years by a great many people, this is really wonderful news,” Sigbritt Karlsson said, when STINT presented the annual results.
With the aid of an Internationalisation Index , STINT has weighted the international engagement of 28 universities by looking at six different aspects within research, education and personnel at the different universities.
Positive trend
These different aspects, that are measured in terms of international co-publications, student exchanges, international doctoral students, degree programmes in English, the international academic experiences of the faculty and managers, should reflect the international flavour of the universities. The year measured was 2019.
“The trend for the year 2019 continues to be positive, which feels really good, as internationalisation and inter cultural know-how are becoming increasingly important in a more polarised world. However, there is a risk that we will see negative effects from the pandemic next year,” Andreas Göthenberg, Executive Director of STINT said.
In her address, Karlsson talked about some of the key elements in KTH’s internationalisation work and named, for example, the six strategic partner universities and the close collaboration in the form of student exchanges and research partnerships. Participation in the university network Unite!, the Stockholm Trio representative office in Brussels were other initiatives named. Britain, South Korea and the US are other countries where collaborations are being developed.
Africa important
“Africa is also important for KTH. A continent with many young people where we have built up exchanges and collaborations within the Global Development Hub with the aim of finding innovative solutions to global challenges.”
In addition to KTH, Stockholm School of Economics, Chalmers and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences SLU, ranked in the highest category, all of whom were awarded five stars for their internationalisation work.
Jill Klackenberg