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Momodou
Denmark
11833 Posts |
 Posted - 10 Mar 2008 : 14:06:05
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UTG Holds Seminar On Swedish Education System
By Isatou Bittaye
The University of The Gambia, in collaboration with two visiting lecturers from Vaxjo University in Sweden, on Wednesday, 5 March, held a seminar on the Education System in Sweden, at the Girl Guides Training Centre.
In his opening remarks, the Vice Chancellor of UTG, Professor Andreas Steigen said Sweden has been very innovative in their educational system and is the leading nation in Scandinavia. Professor Steigen added that Norway and Sweden were in a union up till 1905 and even their foreign policy was the same.
In presenting his lecture, Mr. Hans Lindquist, Associate Professor at Vaxjo University said the Swedish educational system is in three forms beginning with nursery, where children from one year to six years can attend. He added that the next stage is preparatory schools where children from the ages of seven to sixteen can attend from grades one to twelve. Mr. Hans noted that the final stage is university where 50% of young people go before the age of 25 years. He said in Sweden 95% of the population go through 12 years of schooling which everybody should get (ie from primary to senior secondary school). He noted that they also have schools for football and hair-dressers.
Mr. Hans said that in Sweden they have advanced in their school system but also encounter problems such as teachers’ status, state financing and discipline among students. He said in Sweden, some universities specialise in business called business universities and draw students from other parts of the world. He said in the university where he is lecturing, Vaxjo University, their motto is “From a joining university to a leading university in education and research.” Mr. Hans noted that Vaxjo University started as a college in 1967 and in 1977 they had a teacher training college, in 1989 engineering programmes were integrated and it became a full university in 1999. He said in the Vaxjo University they have schools such as Education, Health and Social Work, Management and Economics, Mathematics and System Engineering, Social Sciences and Technology and Design. He said they have 94 educational programmes, 52 undergraduate programmes, 42 graduate programmes and they offer 1,200 courses.
Also deliberating, Mr. Magnus Levin, Senior Lecturer at Vaxjo University, dwelt on their degree award system. He said they have diploma undergraduate, which is 2 years and is 120 credits. He added that the Bachelors degree is 3 years and 180 credits, Masters 2 years and 120 credits. They also have professional undergraduate and graduate programmes such as Nursing, Special Work and Education. Mr. Levin concluded that at Vaxjo they conduct research in areas like Labour Market, Migration, Entrepreneurship, Welfare Studies, Inter-Media Studies, Technology and Wood and Energy.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issues
Issue No. 29/2008, 10 – 11 March 2008
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