The bachelor program where I'm teaching, Software Engineering & Management, received 6451 international applications this year. Think about that number once more: assuming we have 90 places to fill, and even if we don't count Swedish or EU students, that means just over 71 applicants per place.

This is a crazy number! And completely irrelevant to the truth, as it is. It gives us a reasonable idea of what to expect, given that it's a rather significant increase from the number of applicants last year. But we also know that out of those 6451, there are a significant number of applications which are not complete, or where the people applying are simply not eligible, and perhaps not a small amount who are applying only to get the Swedish visa and will then not complete their education after getting here.

One of the debates in Sweden has been about charging admission fees for international students (we don't do this today), and it may or may not come to pass by 2010. Before that, Sweden is exceptionally open in that our university education is a free buffet for any takers, regardless of where you are from.

According to statistics from the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education there were, in the year 2006/2007, 7,3% international students studying at various levels in the Swedish universities. That's good! A good number of international students I think contribute positively to the quality of the education, both for the visiting and Swedish students.

Some universities accept more international students than others, and BTH for instance, has about 20% international students according to the same statistics. That's maybe approaching the limit of what can be reasonable: education paid for by the Swedish citizens through taxes should benefit first and foremost the citizens of Sweden and limiting the number of international students could sometimes be justified.

But is that limit at 10%, 20%, 50%? Programmes such as the Software Engineering & Management programme at the IT University, has a very clear international focus and in such a program, I would expect much more than 20% international students, since one of the key benefits of studying at the program is to be able to work together with people from other cultures, something which is challenging, but also highly rewarding.

Regardless of when Sweden will start charging money for international students, be it 2010 or 2011, or even later, I hope that the number of international students in Sweden will still remain at a high level, although universities such as BTH, might have to work quite hard in their marketing if they can't use the argument of free education as a selling point.