Eight students receive Karolinska Institutet Global Master’s Scholarship

Top row, from the left: Karin Dahlman-Wright, Acting Vice-Chancellor, Alejandro Cabello Lopez, Mexico, Public Health, Simeng Yan, China, Public Health, Maria Masucci, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for International Affairs, Sabbir Ahmed, Bangladesh, Toxicology, Gunnar Nilsson, Pro-Dean of Higher Education. Bottom row, from the left: Stephanie Super, Chile, Global Health, Lana Al Soufi, Syria, Global Health, Ka Wai Lee, Hong Kong, Molecular Techniques in Life Science, Shupei Zhang, China, Biomedicine, Isabel Hernandez, Mexico, Bioentreprenurship.

For the fifth consecutive year, the Karolinska Institutet Global Master’s Scholarships have been awarded to students outside of Europe. The Global Master’s programmes offered by Karolinska Institutet received more applications than any other Swedish university for the autumn 2016 semester.

The eight master’s students out of the 1,200 who applied each received a scholarship worth from SEK 180,000 to SEK 360,000 at a ceremony on 19 October.

The scholarship, which is provided by the Swedish Council for Higher Education, is meant to cover tuition fees.

“This is a key part of KI’s strategy and efforts to be a more international university,” says Gunnar Nilsson, Pro-Dean of Higher Education at KI, who also enjoyed meeting the students in person.

Awards on grounds of merit

The scholarship is awarded solely on grounds of merit, and is based on the students’ grades, work experience and research experience and a letter of justification that they write themselves in their application.

One of the scholars is Ka Wai Lee from Hong Kong, who is studying molecular techniques in life science – a master’s programme offered jointly by KI, KTH and Stockholm University.

“The reason I chose KI, like many of the others here, was its good reputation and quality,” says Ka Wai Lee. “I also love my courses and the lectures are great. It’s awesome that I can go to different universities and study what they actually specialise in. It’s a combination that really suits me.”

Scholar Isabel Hernandez from Mexico is on the master’s programme in bioentrepreneurship:

“I really like this programme in entrepreneurship because it enables two different but mutually complementary worlds, research and entrepreneurship, to cooperate, and I think this makes a difference for the patients,” she says.

Over 3,000 students applied

Ahead of the autumn 2016 semester, over 3,000 students from 128 countries applied to KI’s global master’s programmes, putting KI ahead of any other university in terms of the number of applicants per international master’s programme.

Acting vice-chancellor Karin Dahlman-Wright attended the ceremony to hand out the scholarships:

“It’s wonderful,” she says. “These are incredibly ambitious students from all over the world.”

Text and photo: Susanna Forsell