Written by Redwan
14 Nov 2014
You just read it! This particular exclamation has been my best friend ever since I decided where to go for my post-graduation. Many of my acquaintances, family and friends have been surprise as to why did I choose to come to Sweden, a calm & distant Nordic country, for my Masters Degree rather than following the usual trend of applying to the ‘Big 4’ – US, UK, Australia and Canada. Along with the flow, they have also expressed desire to learn and know more about what factors and situations made me eventually decide to choose Sweden as a Bangladeshi student.
‘I see! But it’s not a usual choice.’ – used to basically be the summary of our conversation!
Well first of all, interest is not rocket science, is it?! If you have a certain preference for a particular field of study initially, it actually helps you cut down on a lot of unrelated options. Someone with a passion in the field of technology in the realm of business, I pursued a Bachelor in IT with a specialization within Management Information Systems. After 4 years of hard work, it made a lot of sense to me and I was reassured that this is my thing – I am going for a Masters in a similar field too!
What followed after was a series of formalities and I am sure most of you are aware of it. I researched various programs into IT, Informatics, MIS and Computer Management Systems. Found some good programs in US, Australia, Finland and Germany. However, taking a deeper dive into my research, I took a series of measuring scale to help boil down a final choice using the content of the program, the courses being offered and their contents, the research strength of the faculties, publications made and prospect of pursuing my research interest. To my surprise, I discovered that programs in Information Systems in Sweden met all the requirements I was personally looking for. But was that enough to seal the deal? Not really.
To be further sure, I thought it might be a good idea to look into the opportunities that Sweden as a country can provide me during my studies. As a result of some more focused searching, I found out that Sweden was one of the most innovative-friendly nation on earth and ranked second-best in Europe. There was a lot of encouragement provided in Swedish institutes of higher education to explore and discover new ideas and answers. Moreover, the outlook on industry opportunities were also pretty positive and therefore it gave a good idea of the overall prospect for a student, like me, with lot of options on where do I want to go after completing Masters.
Time moves on quickly and it’s been 3 months I have been in Sweden and I must say, it has been extremely satisfying thus far. The academic programs are very flexible, allowing for a lot of flexibility, team work and research. The qualities of the professors are top-notch and they come with decades of experience which makes the class more interactive and informative. I do certainly believe that it has been the right decision and thus, encourage other students from around the globe to apply and come here. You will definitely not regret it!
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Image collected from Internet
