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STRUCTURE OF FORMAL EDUCATION - SWEDEN
The full psychology degree (The psychologists programme) is
offered at the six universities of Uppsala, Lund, Stockholm,
Gothenburg, Umeå and Linköping. At all universities
he training programme is offered within the Faculty of Social
Science and distinctive is the almost complete lack of input
from university medical and psychiatry departments, which have
no influence on the training.
(References: * University ordinance (1993:100)
* Educational plan for psychologists programme (of July 1
1993) with local plans of study.)
Entry requirements. Higher education in Sweden has two kinds
of eligibility requirements: general and specific
requirements.
General requirements are common to all higher education and
are:
- completed secondary school or adult secondary school or
community high school or 25 years of age plus four years of
working experience or a minimum of 12 years at a foreign
school or successful completion of a Swedish equivalent to
the Higher Education Aptitude Test
- knowledge of Swedish and English from the last year of
upper secondary school. For visiting students, a one-year
intensive course in Swedish is offered at most of the
universities.
Specific requirements for the Psychologists Programme
are:
- a minimum of one year of working experience before
application
- minimal levels in Swedish, English and Maths from upper
secondary
There is a numerus clausus for all higher education and
competition is usually keen as the selection of students is
based on secondary school results and/or the Higher Education
Aptitude Test. At Linköping University selection in excess
to this is based on personal interviews performed by pairs
formed by one scholar and one practicing psychologist who
select the 50% best suited among the top ranking applicants.
Generally the Psychologists Programme requires top grades in
all secondary school subjects and is the most difficult to be
accepted to alongside medicine.
The degree structure for professional programmes designed to
train scientifically oriented professionals preparing for
research in the field differs from that based on single-subject
courses which enable their students to design their own
studies, mostly theoretically oriented and preparing for
research in the major subject.
In the latter area you will find the exams
- Certificate (> 3 years)
- Candidate/Bachelor (3 - 3.5 years)
- Master (3+1 years)
- Licentiate (3+2 years)
- Doctor (3 + 4 years).
Professional degrees are awarded and named after the
occupation involved followed by the word "examen" (degree) such
as "Läkarexamen", "Ekonomexamen" and "Psykologexamen" with
an official translation into English. In the latter studies of
120 - 140 points are translated as Bachelor´s degrees and
degrees based on 160 points or more as Master´s degrees.
Thus the 200 points "Psykologexamen" is translated Master of
Science in Psychology. There is no intermediate qualification
for this Master, whereas it is possible to obtain a Candidate
in Psychology based on single-subject courses. This will not
qualify for practice as a professional psychologist, nor will a
Master´s or Doctor´s degree based on such a
Candidate´s degree.
Credits. Sweden has a system of credit points where one
semester of successful full-time studies with a workload of 40
hours per week is equivalent to 20 points, and one year to 40
points. A ´major´ is normally 60 points and
includes a 10 points candidate´s thesis. For the
masters´ of 160 points a 20 points thesis is required and
80 points of studies in the ´major, for the licentiate of
200 points a 40 points thesis and for the doctorate 80 points
thesis.
Roughly 1 Swedish point equals 1.5 ECTS and consequently one
ECTS is .67 Swedish point. The Master of Science in Psychology
("Psykologexamen") thus would be of 300 ECTS.
Examinations in the university system are usually in
traditional forms: written and oral examinations, laboratory
exercises with written reports, group discussions, term papers,
written take-home papers, active participation in group
discussions, seminars and in skills training, practical
examination etc. Participation in degree project seminars. Upon
completion of the degree project, students are examined by way
of a degree project seminar. Both the written report and the
student's oral defense are part of the examination. In
assessing students' performance, special attention should be
paid to the students' professional judgement and attitude in
relation to clients.
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