My studies at LTH included three master’s level engineering courses, a brief introductory Swedish language course before the semester started, two Swedish language courses, and my civil engineering capstone which I took online via UNH. The semester was broken up into two study periods during which I took two the first period and 4 the second period and had my capstone throughout the whole semester. It was a little unfortunate balancing in that I had a lot of free time during the winter and much less during the spring study period. Still, having a rather free first months of being in Sweden allowed me to focus on language immersion early on. My two Swedish courses helped me improve my Swedish language skills, but most of my knowledge is from self-study/using the language with friends and my roommates as well as being surrounded by the language.
I will next discuss my engineering courses individually and then discuss my overall findings of uni culture in Sweden. My engineering courses included a course on climate changes and impacts on water globally, a climate science and politics course, and a research course on global environmental issues within the realm of circular economy.
VVRN20: Vatten, samhälle och klimatförändringar
In this course, we had a mixture of Zoom lectures and prerecorded lectures on climate changes and responses. The course was based on a project in which three other students and I used ScalgoLIVE, a program for surface water analysis and simulation, to measure sea level rise and pluvial flooding of municipality on the west coast of Skåne and create an adaptation plan. The grading system was 75% final exam and 25% project report and presentation. This course was only during the spring study period.
FMIN05: Miljösystemanalys: Klimat som vetenskap och politik
This course was conducted during both study periods and was composed of a single weekly lecture within various topics regarding climate science and climate changes, primarily in the form of guest lectures. We read several reports each week in preparation for the lecture, as well as a book called “Doughnut Economics”, which we had a group discussion on. The grade consisted 100% of the final exam, but students could receive bonus points by doing well on the mandatory midterm exam and two optional writing assignments.
FMIN50: Miljöfrågor i ett internationellt perspektiv, projektkurs
This course was conducted during the spring study period and consisted solely of a research project in the realm of circular economy as an individual or in groups of two. I worked with a Swedish environmental engineering student to research the circularity and sustainability impacts of the production of biodiesel HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil) in Sweden by means of recycled feedstocks (tall oil, tallow, and waste cooking oil). With help from various student and professor reviews, my partner and I produced a scientific paper which I am very proud of and presented our final report to our advisors and other students. The grade was 100% based on our report.
Overall, it appears to me that Sweden has a relatively laid back and individualised uni culture. More often than not, the final grades for courses were solely based on a final exam, or a final exam and project, which greatly contrasted my education at UNH where I had several hours of graded homework assignments each week and multiple exams each semester. Additionally, it is an extremely normal occurrence that students fail their exams or don’t even take their final exam the first round. Take my roommates for example: one failed all four of his classes, another failed his one course, the third skipped the final exam for his one course because he was not prepared. In all cases, they are not penalised at all, but rather can take the “omtenta” (retake exam) later in the summer, or whenever they want. Of course, uni in Sweden is generally free, and students receive government funding in the form of a monthly grant and, if they want, they can receive a monthly loan with next to no interest.
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