Education and research

Brussels 29 may 2017. Check against delivery.

In Sweden, there are 31 public-sector universities and university colleges, and some fifteen private education providers at which 400 000 people are studying. In 2015, these higher education institutions had a turnover of SEK 67 billion and employed 75 000 people. An activity that is so extensive and vital to society needs active and forceful gender equality efforts to ensure that everyone is given equal opportunities to conduct research and get an education, regardless of gender.

Minister for Higher Education and Research Helene Hellmark Knutsson will visit Beijing and Shanghai in China on 11–16 June. The aim of the visit is to highlight Sweden as a nation of education and research, and to promote the internationalisation of higher education and research.

On 21–25 May, Minister for Higher Education and Research Helene Hellmark Knutsson will travel to California, USA, to visit world-leading actors in research and industry in the field of space. The aim is to learn about the latest developments in the space sector and collect knowledge for the Government’s work to produce a Swedish space strategy. During her trip, Ms Hellmark Knutsson will also visit NASA’s Ames Research Centre and the Mojave Air and Space Port.

Today, Thursday 11 May, Minister for Education Gustav Fridolin is in Paris to take part in an annual dialogue on and follow-up of the financial support that Sweden, via the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), has given to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

In the spring amending budget for 2017, the Government is allocating SEK 5 million to the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society to make preparations for school elections in connection with the 2018 national general election and the 2019 European Parliament election. The initiative will benefit a large number of pupils; approximately 1 800 schools took part in the school elections ahead of the 2014 parliamentary elections.

Today, Wednesday 29 March, Minister for Education Gustav Fridolin will travel to London to take part in meetings on inequality in education.

Tomorrow, Wednesday 29 March, Minister for Upper Secondary School and Adult Education and Training Anna Ekström will travel to Edinburgh to take part in the OECD International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP).

The EU’s new budget must be smaller than the current one and Sweden’s contribution must be kept down. Money should go to common areas such as migration and security rather than to agricultural aid, and payments to Member States must be subject to the condition that joint decisions in the area of migration are followed. This is the Government’s position ahead of the upcoming EU budget negotiations that was presented by Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and Minister for Finance Magdalena Andersson today.

On 17 November 2016, the Swedish Government decided on the written communication ‘Power, goals and agency – a feminist policy for a gender-equal future’ (Govt Comm. 2016/17:10). In the communication, the Government presents the focus of gender equality policy with a new goal structure, a gender equality agency and a ten-year national strategy to prevent and combat men’s violence against women.

Today, Tuesday 14 February, Minister for Upper Secondary School and Adult Education and Training Anna Ekström will travel to Tallinn, Estonia to take part in the conference ‘PISA and its meaning for policy and practice around the Baltic Sea’.

Sigbritt Karlsson, President of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and Martin Lundstedt, President and CEO of the Volvo Group, are new members of the National Innovation Council. Both will take part in the Council’s first meeting of 2017, on 13 February.

Gujarat, India, 10 januari 2017 Check against delivery.

On 7–13 January, Minister for Upper Secondary School and Adult Education and Training Anna Ekström will travel to India to take part in the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit and for bilateral discussions. During her trip, Ms Ekström will meet India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several of the country’s ministers.

The PISA 2015 results are a show of strength for Sweden’s teachers and pupils. Hard work makes a difference; we know this in the classroom and it has now been demonstrated in improved eligibility from year nine and better performance in two independent assessments of knowledge. At the same time, however, social gaps are widening. The conditions under which you grow up now influence your performance more in Sweden than in many other OECD countries. We can never accept this. It is your performance in school that should determine your future, not the home you grow up in. The PISA results are gratifying, but they place demands on policy. We will continue to prioritise more time for teachers, breaking segregation, and providing timely support to pupils. We will leave no one behind.

Space is the focus of the National Innovation Council meeting on 24 November 2016. Minister Helene Hellmark Knutsson provides an update on the Government’s work in the area of space. Space activities can and should contribute to a functioning society. They should also be a tool for development and innovation, leading to growth. These were the proposals of the Space Inquiry’s report, which was presented to Minister for Higher Education and Research Helene Hellmark Knutsson in September 2015.

The Government's efforts to strengthen Sweden's life sciences and the significance of policy innovations in developing the reception and introduction system for newly arrived immigrants were two of the topics discussed when the National Innovation Council held its first meeting of the year on Thursday 25 February.

This booklet provides a description of the Swedish education system and how it is financed, from preschool to university level. It also describes some of the publicly-financed research being conducted in Sweden.

Gothenburg, 30 November 2016 Check against delivery.