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International Student Recruitment

The International Office, the Communications Office, faculties, and departments work together with international student recruitment and student communication at Stockholm University.

The work with international student recruitment and student communication is based on Strategies for Stockholm University. The goal is to increase the number of international students by strengthening the preference for Stockholm University, improving the familiarity of and attitude to the university’s education, and providing support and service before and during the application process.

Recruitment activities and communication

The work with recruitment of and communication towards international students is a combination of physical and digital activities, with an emphasis on digital activities.

Examples of activities are:

  • targeted campaigns in digital channels
  • production and distribution of communication materials for different channels, such as web and social media (films, editorial materials, pictures)
  • coordination of communication activities targeted towards international students
  • personal meetings with prospective students seeking information about studies at Stockholm University
  • study visits from international student groups
  • targeted activities before application deadlines and for newly admitted students
  • virtual fairs
  • webinars
  • Virtual Master's Fair
  • continuous communication with applicants/graduates throughout the entire application process
  • emails with targeted information
  • hosting for international students
  • student surveys, i.e. International Student Barometer (ISB)
    participation in national networks such as the Network for international marketing and communication (Nätverket för internationell marknadsföring och kommunikation)
  • Sweden-unified recruitment activities in cooperation with the Swedish Institute, overseas agencies, and other Swedish universities

List of planned activities

Webinar series for prospective international students

The ‘Webinar series’ project is a collaboration between the International Office, the Communications Office and the departments and aims to record programme-specific webinars, which will then be marketed collectively to the target group of prospective international students.

Webinars are a good complement to written information on the web and to professionally produced films. Webinars are relatively easy to organise, but it can be a challenge for departments to promote their own webinars. By bringing them together, we can make them all more visible centrally and thus reach out to prospective students more easily.

On-demand webinars are pre-recorded webinars that students can watch at their convenience, these types of webinars are very popular and suitable for all time zones. The webinars become an opportunity to highlight unique elements of the programme and present reasons why students choose that particular programme, e.g. based on unique courses, skilled teachers and future career opportunities.

Each department records programme-specific webinars. To ensure that everyone uses the same approach and the university's visual identity, there is a ready-made PowerPoint template and instructions for the recordings. Institutions are welcome to book a meeting with the ISR team to ask questions or brainstorm ideas about the format. The recorded webinars will then be promoted on different occasions and in different channels.

Migration

Students that need residence permits and/or visas to study in Sweden have to apply for these themselves. It is however important that the university provides necessary support and guidance during the application process.

Students’ need of a residence permit or visa varies depending on their citizenship:

  • Citizens within the EU/EEA do not need to apply for either residence permits or visas.
  • Swizz citizens need residence permits but can apply for it from within Sweden.
  • For other citizens, see information below about residence permits and visas that need to be applied for and granted before traveling to Sweden.

Students that are admitted to studies that last more than 90 days need a residence permit in Sweden. It is the student’s responsibility to apply for the residence permit. However, as supporting staff, we can offer guidance and resources to ease their application process. Normally, the processing takes four to five months and the application fee is 1 500 SEK. That is why it is important to encourage students to start the process in time.

The departments should have a contact person for international students, preferably the International Coordinator or the person responsible for international study programmes, who can assist when questions or problems arise.

If the student needs an “entry visa”, then they apply for at the same time as the residence permit.

Direct your international students towards the residence permit instructions on our website: Residence permit for studies

Students that are admitted to courses that last less than 90 days do not need to apply for residence permits. They instead need entry visas, if they are from a countries that require it. List of countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when entering Sweden

More information about visiting Sweden can be found on the website of the Migration Agency.

More information about visas and residence permits for students, targeted towards students.

Welcome Activities

Before the semester starts in August and January, the International Office organises an introduction programme, “Welcome Activities”, for all incoming international students and exchange students.

The programme consists of information that helps the students get started with their studies and familiarize themselves with the student life at Stockholm University. More activities are organised during the autumn than during the spring.

Please refer your students to: su.se/welcomeactivities.

If you have any questions, contact welcome.activities@su.se

Cooperation within the university

International student recruitment and student communication at Stockholm University is conducted in cooperation with the departments. Some ways in which cooperation occurs:

  • Information meetings around international questions for staff are organised regularly
  • Information around international student recruitment and student communication is continuously posted in a channel on Slack
  • Central websites with information for international students
  • Webinars the International Office has together with departments: we organise webinars together with departments and can adjust the content according to the preferences of the department. Contact us to learn more!
  • Webinar series, recorded webinars for prospective international students
  • Migration questions: if there are any questions/problems regarding migration issues connected to international students, you are welcome to contact study@su.se
  • Virtual Master's Fair is a digital student recruitment fair aimed at recruiting students to the University's international Master's programmes. For questions please contact: mastersfair@su.se

National cooperation on international student recruitment

Stockholm University is part of the Network for International Marketing and Communication (NIMK, in Swedish). NIMK was established in 2016 and is a professional network within higher education in Sweden. Most Swedish higher education institutions and the Swedish Institute are members of the network.

NIMK aims to:

  • Be an arena for exchange of experience in marketing and communication of Sweden as a study destination
  • Work to remove obstacles to marketing and student recruitment
  • Initiate co-operation on common issues

Almost all Swedish universities have a representative in the network. The members consist of representatives that work with international student recruitment from the universities that are part of the network. The representatives are selected at each university.

Tina Larsson, Manager and Team Leader for International Student Recruitment at Student Services, is Stockholm University’s representative in the network.

Contact

Tina Larsson, Coordinator for International Student Recruitment at the Student Servicesn, e-mail: tina.larsson@su.se

Serena Nobili, project manager for international communication, Communications Office, e-mail: serena.nobili@su.se

Last updated: 2024-10-17

Source: Communications Office and Student Services