345 scholarship holders from 41 countries attended the kick-off event organised by the Swedish Institute. They were welcomed by Kurt Bratteby, Head of department for international relations, and introduced to Sweden, self-leadership and study techniques.
A keynote speech was held by Darja Isaksson, Director General of Vinnova, the Swedish agency for Innovation. She introduced how Sweden works with innovation and sustainability and encouraged the scholars to make use of the many research centres of Swedish universities during their time here. Mindler and Hyper Island held a lecture that focused on how to lead a sustainable study life – where stress management, mental health and brain-friendly learning was discussed. When asking what the main take-away from the kick-off was, Solomon Manzi, a scholarship holder from Uganda found these lectures particularly interesting:
– Vinnova emphasized the importance of “systems thinking” in sustainability design and practice; while Mindler and Hyper-Island taught me practical techniques for stress handling and efficient learning—which I’ve implemented in my class assignments with immediate results!
Another highlight was a student panel with scholarship holders now beginning their second year of their master’s in Sweden. It gave the participants an opportunity to discuss how to best adapt into Swedish university and teaching, how to strategically make the most out of their time in Sweden and receive some well-appreciated advice for their first year. Phyllis Waithira studies the master’s programme Global Strategy and Management at Mälardalen University and found the kick-off fruitful:
– The event opened my mind to a possibility mindset. Now my mind is like a sponge; ready to absorb all the knowledge taught, especially on sustainability in global strategies and management where I am majoring.
As scholarship holders the students are introduced to the SI Network for Global Professional, an opportunity offered by SI to support the scholarship holders to make the most out of their time in Sweden. Today the network consists of 567 scholarship holders studying at universities all over Sweden. Johanna Lundin, Programme Manager of the network explains what is on offer:
– Network For Global Professionals is a competence-enhancing and capacity-strengthening program and network that aims to increase scholarship holders’ capacity to make a difference in their home countries. We also aim to build strong and long-lasting relationships between scholarship holders and we do this through different activities such as a leadership program, online sessions and networking activities. I look forward to the semester ahead and meeting the scholarship holders at our activities.