New initiative for foundation programme in the Stockholm area
KTH will be offering a technical foundation year programme at learning centres in Norrtälje, Nynäshamn and Södertälje.
"This is part of our continued commitment to the region. It's a way of offering a more dynamic and modern range of courses so that more people have access to our programmes," says Anders Söderholm, President of KTH.
In collaboration with each municipality, from next autumn those who have been admitted will be able to study the foundation year programme at the place where they live via their learning centre.
Most of the teaching will take place with fellow students on site at the learning centre through remote learning. Unlike distance learning, students are together and not sitting at home one by one. The teaching is led by KTH's teachers and the centre have computers, a break room and some support staff. For laboratory work and some other elements, it may be necessary to go to the KTH campus.
"We hope that this will open more people's eyes to technical education and to us, and that we will attract even more talented students to our programmes. There will be more ways into KTH and more opportunities for those who want to study with us," says Amelie Eriksson Karlström, Head of School at the School of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, which is responsible for KTH's foundation year programme in Flemingsberg and the new initiative to broaden recruitment through learning centres.
Guaranteed place at a programme
The technical foundation year programme is a basic education in technology, mathematics, physics and chemistry for those who may want to continue studying on a technical programme. Those who complete the programme are guaranteed a place on one of KTH´s a 3- or 5 year engineering programmes.
There will be 36 places at the learning centre in Södertälje, 20 in Nynäshamn and 16 in Norrtälje.
"As an internationally renowned university, it is our task to educate engineers throughout Sweden, not just the children of professors from Östermalm, if you exaggerate a bit," says Nicole Kringos, professor of Higway engineering at KTH.
For many years, she has been working to lower the thresholds to KTH, including through various collaborations within the framework of Road2Science, a centre of excellence at KTH, and to see how to attract new talent and thereby broaden recruitment.
All over Sweden
Nicole Kringos is also responsible for an ongoing pilot study, involving 20 municipalities, which has led to the creation of learning centres.
"In the long term, it is to be hoped that this type of remote learning could spread to more locations around the country in co-operation with municipalities and the local business community," says Nicole Kringos.
Text: Jill Klackenberg