Today, April 10th at 10:04, students gathered at universities across Sweden to raise their hands for more teacher-led time. The action is part of a national campaign from the Swedish National Union of Students (SFS) to draw attention to the lack of teacher-led time in higher education.
“Swedish students have an average of only 10 hours of teacher-led time per week, which is the second lowest in Europe,” says Rasmus Lindstedt, chairman of SFS. For some students, the figure is as low as 4 hours. This means that many students have to take on a lot of their own responsibility without sufficient support from their teachers.
Through the joint show of hands, students across the country want to highlight the need for more teaching time and a higher quality in education. SFS believes that this development risks deteriorating Sweden's skills supply and international competitiveness, and that politics must now act.
– Sweden should be a strong knowledge nation, says Rasmus Lindstedt, SFS. This requires investments in higher education that ensure that students receive the education they are entitled to. In the long run, it is Swedish companies and Swedish competitiveness that suffer when students are not given the right conditions in education.
The campaign is implemented locally by student unions at universities and colleges throughout the country.
Contact
Spokesperson: Rasmus Lindstedt, chairman, 070-545 75 57, [email protected]
Press contact: Mathilda Fredriksson, acting head of social policy, 076-544 01 02,
Press photos
Press photos of Rasmus can be downloaded here
About SFS
SFS is an association of student unions at Swedish universities and colleges. SFS has around sixty member unions which together represent approximately 400,000 students and doctoral students.