Open Arms, Emty Pockets: Cutting Corners to Receive the World

Open Arms, Empty Pockets: Cutting Corners to Receive the World

TEXT chARlie MåRTeNSSON PHOTO iNTeRNATiONAl RecepTiON

fourteen days into the new decade, KTh welcomed nearly 360 international students from all over the world. This fall, the number will be closer to 2000. But the opportunities for the ThS international Reception to give new students an amazing introduction to Sweden and KTh look very different from the bachelor receptions—especially with regard to funding.

Full disclosure: OL’s writer is part of the Project Team for this spring’s International Reception. Having been initiated into KTH via D chapter’s bachelor reception, I associated reception time with a solid month of sponsored meals and free events. As such, the difference between this experience and what I found when I began working with the International Reception was striking.

Investigations done by the project team of the 2019 Fall Reception compared the International Reception’s budget to that of the chapter receptions. When the budget is broken down to money per student, the results begin to look absurd. While the median for the chapters is around 2500 SEK, the International Reception’s budget per student is only 271 SEK. The chapters make a contract with their respective school to receive funding; for the International Reception, this money comes from the central administration. While the chapters receive between 180 and 1060 SEK per new student in this way, the International Reception receives less than 50 SEK per student.

“The current budget is based on Reception as it was five to ten years ago,” explains Stefanos Burbaum, one of the Project Managers of the Fall Reception in 2019. “The Reception and the team working on it have grown enormously as the number of international students has increased, but the financial support isn’t keeping up.”

The consequences of this lack of money are that the International Reception team must spend a disproportionate amount of time finding creative ways to cut costs. One example Stefanos offers is spending hours making pancakes and burger patties made, simply because it would be too expensive. Meanwhile, some of the chapter receptions are able to fly in a helicopter for entertainment — a difference in resources that seems downright bizarre. This is despite the fact that international students need to pay for events like gasques and Osqviks, and a single student can spend close to 1000 SEK in order to participate.

Far from an indication that international students have a lot of money to blow, this is proof of how much students value the social aspect of university life and how the first weeks in an entirely new country are key for forming bonds with others. Recepfrom scratch instead of buying them pre-

tion time is hyped up as one of the most iconic KTH experiences, a time to forge lasting friendships that absolutely should not be missed. Unfortunately, this enjoyment comes at a considerably higher price for internationals. The problems the International Reception faces feed into an ongoing frustration among international students. It illustrates, black on white, the vast gaps in the resources available to accommodate internationals as compared to Swedish students, and the indifference with which the issues are handled if no one speaks up. While some chapters are actively trying to include internationals, many still frequently face hurdles to participating in student life. Even though international students make up a third of the student body, there are still many cases where events and information are shared mainly in Swedish and little actual effort is made to open up activities beyond the Swedish audience.

“International students have come to Sweden because they want to: they are independent, hardworking, and want to participate,” Stefanos says. “If they are welcomed it could benefit everyone. Right now one third of highly motivated people are being left out for no real reason.” He emphasizes that Swedish student life is unique and vibrant: “At my bachelor university back home, the student union can barely get permission to use a lecture hall for an information meeting. It’s insane what you are able to do here, and international students would love to take part in it.”

KTH continues to place emphasis on the value of international visibility, brought on by improved rankings that are attributed directly to the increased internationalization. Yet, the contributions made to internationals in practice does not seem to live up to those grand words. Thus, this becomes a key question for the future: Can THS and KTH grow their financial contributions to match the reality of projects such as the International Reception and beyond? And can KTH truly begin to embrace its international community as warmly as it deserves?