Ten years after. Reflections on the introduction of tuition fees for some international students in Swedish post-secondary education

Abstract

In 2011, Sweden introduced tuition fees for students from countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland when they enrolled at higher education institutions (HEIs). As a direct consequence, the number of students in Sweden from those countries decreased by 80% that year. Since then, the number of students has increased again and, before COVID-19, was on its way to reaching the same level as before 2011. Nevertheless, the number of tuition fee-paying students only dropped by 3% for the academic year 2020/21, after nine consecutive years of growth. In this article we are assessing changes in inbound student flows and compare the outcome with the ambitions expressed by the Swedish government when the fees were introduced. The introduction of tuition fees in Sweden and the experiences from this offer quite unique possibilities to learn how students, HEIs, other actors, and societies react and adapt. By use of previous studies and new empirics we analyse and reflect on the outcome given the motives behind the reform, especially with regard to the ambition to continue internationalising post-secondary education and, furthermore, on the reform’s possible benefits and costs for post-secondary education in Sweden.