One of the priority issues for SFS is that work-based education (VFU) should be free of charge. For many education programs, VFU constitutes a large part of the study period and is fundamental for several professional education programs to obtain accreditation. However, the activities where students do their VFU cannot always accommodate the volume that the programs demand at each study location. This means that students may have to commute daily or weekly to their VFU location, which results in both extra travel costs and sometimes extra accommodation costs for the student.
This post is written by medical student Tilda Jalakas, a member of the SFS quality committee, who thinks it is time for the issue of additional costs during VFU to be included in the government's efforts to provide skills in healthcare.
On January 25, the government sent out a press release about an investment in nursing education in Sweden that included 50 million kronor to Sweden's colleges and universities. The most that was allocated to a single institution was 2,700,000 kronor. The funds will be used to expand the supply of VFU places to address the shortage of care places in Swedish healthcare.
At the same time, nursing students testify to the high costs that the mandatory VFU entails, both for travel and double accommodation. Individual students at Linköping University state for example, that a VFU placement has cost them over 12,000 SEK, more than the study grant from CSN at the time.
The shortage of nursing places can only be addressed by more students completing nursing education and then deciding to remain in the profession. It must not be the case that the costs of VFU mean that people choose not to apply for nursing education.
I would therefore like to urge all higher education institutions that have now received increased government funding for the implementation of VFU to seize the opportunity to support nursing students' ability to complete their education. Distribute the funds as travel and housing grants to those students who are forced to complete mandatory components outside the place of study. Dare to take the opportunity to stand on the side of your students and do something about the problems that outsourced VFU places cause for individual students.
Qualitative healthcare is not created through quantitative scaling up, but through qualitative healthcare education with interested and curious students.
Previously, SFS has released the report No student should pay for their degree – A study of costs and conditions for workplace-based education (VFU) where we have investigated the extent to which students need to make their own expenses for travel and/or double accommodation in connection with VFU. In the spring of 2023, we will present proposals for national guidelines for higher education institutions, which state that students' costs for VFU will be covered.