Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Study in Sweden (1)

Every year many students leave their countries to continue their studies in a foreign country. The United States, Canada, Australia and Europe are the most popular destinations for students who are typically from Asian countries (e.g. China, India, Iran and ...). So far I have received many emails from these students asking questions about the Swedish universities. Since typically these questions are somehow similar, I have decided to dedicate a few posts to describe how students can apply to postgraduate studies in the Swedish universities. In this post I explain master studies procedure.
The language of instruction in Master studies in Sweden is Swedish. However there are some programs which are taught in English. The international students have the possibility to apply to these programs. They should be able to present a proof of the acceptable English language capability (Normally TOEFL 550 (CBT 213) or IELTS 5.5). The duration of master programs varies between 1.5 and 2 years. The total number of credits which should be passed to get the degree is 60 or 80. There is no tuition fee for these programs but student should be able to pay the living cost (about 700-800 Euro per month). A very limited number of scholarships are provided by Swedish Institute.
These master programs are offered only in some of the Swedish prestigious universities and here I mention some of these programs which are related to the engineering fields. The related links are provided.
1. The Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm):
Ten programs are offered in English. The deadline for the applications is 15 January.
2. Linkoping University:
Six programs are offered in English. The deadline for the programs starting in January is 1 September and for the programs starting in August is 1 February.
3. Lund University:
Three programs are offered in English. The deadline for the applications is 1 February.
4. Chalmers University:
Twenty five programs are offered in English. The deadline for the applications is 15 January.
5. Umea University:
Four technology-related programs are offered in English. The deadline for the programs starting in January is 1 September and for the programs starting in August is 1 February.

I hope this post covers most of the questions which arise for master studies. In the next post I will explain the Ph.D. application process.

Friday, March 03, 2006

Art

Sometimes ago I found a link of a homepage in a weblog which was really impressive. The homepage is about artistic sand-drawings by a lady called Ilana in Turkey. There are some video clips of her art. I recommend you to check this one out. I think art is beautiful in all forms but to be honest I had not seen this form before :). Enjoy it.