Friday's signing ceremony

Graduates in Seychelles will soon be able to pursue a post-graduate education at a Swedish university without having to pay tuition.

The Umea School of Business and Economics (USBE) in Sweden and the Seychelles Polytechnic will host an exchange program for students as a result of a memorandum of understanding signed on Friday October 17, by the principal secretary for education, MacSuzy Mondon, and the the dean of the USBE, Dr Anders Soderholm.

The signing ceremony took place at the Ministry of Education and Youth in the presence of the Minister for Education and Youth Mr Danny Faure.

Minister Faure said that the programme, coming into effect next year, would target existing professionals who already have an initial diploma, but would like to continue with their education towards a master’s degree.

The primary areas of focus will include business studies, marketing, entrepreneurship and accounting.

In return for the opportunity to undertake post-graduate studies at no charge, the ministry would require that the students who enroll on the programme come back to teach at the Polytechnic between five to 10 years after earning the degree. 

Mr Faure said the ultimate aim of the programme would be to improve the quality of business studies courses at the Polytechnic, with the long-term goal of having a strong Seychellois presence in the country’s business sector.

The application process for potential students to attend, Minister Faure said, would be held through the ministry, with plans for two to five students to be sent to USBE each year.

At the signing, Dr Soderholm assured Minister Faure that the Seychellois students would be treated well upon their arrival in Sweden.

“I will be waiting to greet them at the airport,” he said.

While the agreement appears to have a more tangible benefit for Seychelles, especially in that the potential students would avoid having to pay tuition, Dr Soderholm said the programme would help the USBE in two ways.

For one, the Polytechnic plans to host USBE students for a period of two to three months, whereby they could focus on writing a thesis for their USBE degrees. 

Dr Soderholm said that coming to study in Seychelles, even for a short time, would be an “unforgettable” cultural and educational experience.  It would also expose them to another business climate, he said.

“We’ve found that this is a place that people want to come to,” Dr Soderholm added.

The USBE’s other interest in the programme falls in line with its vision of having an international student body.  Dr Soderholm said that with an already diverse group of students at the USBE – the school hosts students from a number of countries in the European Union, the United States and Tanzania – Seychellois students would infuse the school with yet another culture.

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