Sweden offers hundreds of postgraduate scholarships to Ugandans

By Innocent Anguyo

The Swedish government is offering hundreds of scholarships to Ugandans to pursue courses at masters and post-doctorate level.

The full scholarships cater for tuition fees, travel grant and living allowance. The scholarships will be pursued in Swedish institutions of higher learning. At least 300 courses are up for grabs.

According to Niklas Dahlberg, of the Swedish Institute, applications for the scholarships ( for the next academic year) will be online effective December 02 of this year. To get further details on how to access the applications, visit, www.studyinsweden.se.

Asked to reveal the number of scholarships accessible to Ugandans, Dahlberg said he did not know the exact numbers but was quick to add that the scholarships would come in hundreds.

However, to be eligible for the scholarship, a student has to apply to Swedish institutions of higher learning that have the sole privilege of admitting students before they can access the scholarships. To get information on admissions, visit www.universityadmissions.se.

Also, mandatory is an application fee of approximately sh350, 000 payable before submission of the application form. All applications are done electronically and so is payment of the application fees.

The scholarships were announced by the officials of the Swedish Institute, which is in charge of Swedish scholarships. The pronouncement came during the Swedish Day celebrations which were held at Makerere.  

Other activities of the Day included presentations by the Swedish Institute on why Sweden remains a top destination for quality higher education; quiz on Sweden; photo exhibitions; presentation by Ugandan scholars in Sweden and screening of a Swedish movie.

Swedish Ambassador Urban Andersson, flanked by the Director General of the Swedish Institute Annika Rembe, encouraged Ugandans to apply for the scholarships saying Sweden was a hospitable country devoid of racism.

Makerere University Vice Chancellor, Prof John Ddumba Ssentamu commended the government of Sweden for the generous support to the University saying a great proportion of research funding for Makerere came from the Swedish International Development Coperation Agency (Sida).

“Many Makerere staff have received funding from Sida to undertake graduate education. Since 2000, over 120 people have completed PHDs and over 30 have completed masters degrees,” said Prof Ddumba.

“Sida funding has enabled us to acquire modern laboratory equipment and upgrade our internet bandwidth which has seen us improve our online library resources with a system of more than 20,000 e-journals accessible all over the country,” added Ddumba.