Sunday, April 10, 2016

“How often are exams at KTH?” – Swedish daily newspaper

KTH is the most Googled the Swedish universities. Photo: Claudio Bresciani / TT

On Friday it last day to apply for university and college for this year’s fall semester. What is the most popular? Svenska Dagbladet has asked Google to provide figures of the Swedish universities and colleges that people in both Sweden and abroad are looking at.

It turns out, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, that the most sought after schools located in cities like Linköping Lund, Sweden, Kalmar and Sundsvall. Stockholm University is not even on the top 10 list.

Most of all Googled among both Swedish and foreign persons are Royal Institute of Technology, KTH.

– How fun! Internationally, it is not so surprising, we are very active there. But in Sweden, I could not believe we were the greatest, says Peter Gudmundsson, President of KTH.

But KTH a strong brand, he thinks. Main competitor Chalmers University in Gothenburg is in place among the seven Swedish googlarna, and in place five among the foreign.

– It’s fun if we are more visible. Only it is not because people have questions on things that they can not find answers to our information. But I understand it, basically positive, says Peter Gudmundsson.

Linköping University in second place among the searches from Sweden. Among the searches at Swedish universities from overseas is the ranking seats eight.

– We have a very large proportion of students coming from outside our region. Of the 27,000 students, 70 per cent from places outside Östergötland, says Helen Dannetun, Rector of Linköping University.

Google has developed what searches made during the last year, data that only the company itself has access to. They do not report the exact figures, but only a ranking.

– It is interesting that the image of searches in Sweden and abroad are pretty coherent, says Gustaf Brusewitz, head of communications at Google in the Nordic region.

Google has also picked until the common questions that people seek answers to. Among them are, for example, “How often are exams at KTH?”, “How long will the correction exam at the university?” and “How do I jump a course at the University of Lund?”

– It is interesting to see how the issues have been expanded over the last ten years. Previously, the most navigational searches, but now the issues are quite sophisticated, says Gustaf Brusewitz.

In Sweden, there are no national rankings of universities. But on the site Studera.nu information about quality follow-ups Universitetskanslersämbetet have done, says Tuula Kuosmanen, head of the analytical department of the University and College Council.

However, there is a range of international rankings . But how they affect the popularity of the Swedish universities are not explored.

– There’s no question we’re working with. We have not done any investigation of how students apply for courses. There is so much at play, says Tuula Kuosmanen.

But the universities themselves has of course an eye on how they are in the rankings. The Shanghai ranking, the World University Rankings, lists the 500 best universities of the world’s approximately 20 000 university. Where ports, for example Uppsala in place 61, Lund among the 150 best and Linköping will among the 400 best in the world. The ranking Times Higher Education ranks younger universities. There is Linkoping University in 47th place.

KTH will always highest among the Swedish technical schools, and is also one of the Nordic region in several measurements, according to Peter Gudmundsson.

– We come out well in all rankings. But one should take them with a grain of salt, and check what is actually being measured, says Helen Dannetun.

Sweden’s universities are generally well, she says.

– In the big Shanghai ranking Sweden has eleven schools. It’s amazing, says Helen Dannetun.

One of the most common questions googlarna inquires is when the autumn term begins in schools. One might wonder if schools are not sufficiently clear in their information.

– Yes, they are a little strange. Those who are new here at KTH will receive information with the notification of admission, and the old students ought to know how they can find it, says Peter Gudmundsson.

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