On Wednesday the 3rd of December, a group of around 15 students associated with Ockupera Universitetet (OU) rallied for five hours out in the cold outside Universitetshuset, against a proposal that would compromise the interests and welfare of students, joined by an intermittent crowd of interested students.
“The government is trying to sell our education”, says Emma Petersson, organiser from OU.
Currently, tuition fees apply for students from foreign universities studying in Sweden as part of an institutional agreement, and more broadly, any international students in Sweden who are not EU/EEA students. Within the budget proposal, there was a policy to introduce tuition fees for Swedish students partaking in international institutional agreements, thereby bringing parity between those students and foreign students involved in the same.
The aim of the manifestation was to put pressure on the rector to take a definite stance on the issue and release an official statement to in turn pressure the government to step down. Similar rallies have been held across universities in Gothenburg, Stockholm, Malmö and Uppsala, where OU is also active. The Facebook Event contained a link to an online petition supported by student unions from universities all across Sweden.
According to the organisers, the rector, despite listening to the students’ demands, refused to sign the petition or walk under either banner expressing support or opposition to the proposal, to the disappointment of the students.
They cited Germany’s abolishment of tuition fees as a sign of how the winds are blowing in Europe. To some extent, it’s hard to disagree. A month ago, Lundagård reported on the Finnish government’s decision to bring into place similar international student tuition fees as those in Sweden, and the campaign resulted from that. A few weeks later, the government caved to this pressure and revoked its proposal.
It was clear that what was it stake for OU is not merely greater financial burden for a portion of students, but the principle that the university should be a place where students can learn various skills and engage critically with the world without economic duress. Also mentioned during the discussion, as well as on their official pamphlets, is the view that university in Sweden is not free due to the cost of books and costly aspects of student life, and that this should change.
At a movie screening later on, OU showed two short documentaries depicting the Chilean student movement, and the Red Square protests in Montreal, respectively. Both movements were in reaction to austerity budgets that would have shifted the economic burden of university funding from governments to students. As Europe attempts to recover from economic crisis, it is no surprise that university funding and tuition fees are becoming an increasingly controversial topic. In this context, one cannot but recognise the role of student movements in safeguarding the right to an accessible, quality tertiary education.
Though last Wednesday’s re-election announcement significantly re-arranged the current political climate, some things will stay the same. It is unlikely that the fees proposal was a major reason for the budget’s failure, and it is unlikely that a future budget or government won’t push for a similar proposal. Students activist groups and unions across Sweden will continue to fight against the imposition of any further tuition fees. The OU has told Lundagård that it intends to hold another rally on the issue this coming week.
