The Local's reader survey on what life is like for foreign-born researchers in Sweden revealed as many big pluses as major minuses.
In some ways, the responses to our (highly unscientific) reader survey on what it's like working in higher education in Sweden were deeply divided.
In response to a question asking whether they were generally happy with their salary level and terms and conditions of employment, for example, just over 50 percent said yes, while just under 50 percent said either no or that it was either very mixed or on a negative trendline.
But viewed from another perspective, there was a lot of agreement. Almost all respondents, for example, had quite similar things to say about what made up both the positive and negative sides of working at the university level in Sweden.
The difference was largely in how big of a role the pros played in their career to-date, compared with the cons.
Across the board, respondents cited a relaxed, flexible, and relatively low-stress working environment, a culture of cooperation over competition, work-life balance, opportunities for high-quality research work as Sweden's big pluses in the higher education sector.
Kirill Postoutenko, a history of ideas professor at Södertörn University and a German national, said he appreciated the "culture of cooperation", in Swedish academia, and that there are "no oversized egos".
Similarly, a Canadian researcher who moved to Sweden for her PhD and is currently doing a post-doc in Uppsala said that she appreciated the "good research atmosphere" in Sweden, finding it "productive with less stress".
"Work-life balance is much easier to manage," she added.
Another Canadian post-doctoral researcher, this one in Lund, also said she appreciated "the flexibility" of research work in Sweden. "You don't have to log your hours, you can come into the office and leave as you please. As long as you get your work done no one minds if you work 5 hours or 12 hours in a day from home or from the office," she wrote.
A professor at Gothenburg University had similar comments, writing that he liked "the level of independence in research and where work is conducted".
Peter Schurtenberger, a Swiss professor emeritus at Lund University, said: "Superior work-life balance compared to all other countries I have worked and experienced in higher education, much less pressure to be highly competitive."
A Mexican researcher, who said she had studied and worked in several European countries and found Sweden to be the best, wrote that "flexibility and flat hierarchy" were the best things about Swedish academia, and that overall "there is a great working environment".
When it came to the perceived worst parts of working in higher education in Sweden, respondents were almost as united in their views as they were with the best elements. Most said that the two worst things are residence permit uncertainty and the Swedish culture of conflict-avoidance resulting in opaque or inequitable hiring practices – and the interplay between these two factors.
A post-doc studying political opinion change at Uppsala University, for example, commented that in an environment where "getting a permanent position is very tough, very often a permanent contract is offered to a person who is very embedded in the department (who happens to be a Swedish dude with a Swedish boss...), even if another candidate has higher qualifications. There are a lot of non-transparent department politics and since Sweden has a very conflict-avoiding culture, it's hard to resolve things and get clarity by talking things through with someone."
Julie Garrison, a Stockholm-based American with a PhD in Marine Biology, wrote that while she thinks Sweden is a great place to pursue a PhD, she "would not recommend staying and continuing in academia if you don't have EU citizenship or other ties to Sweden, like a partner, who can resolve residency issues that won't be solved by your career".
Like the Uppsala postdoc respondent, Julie, who now works as a limnologist in Sweden's private sector, cited Sweden's conflict-avoidance culture as a major contributor to obstructive hiring practices. The worst thing about Swedish academia, she said, is "the complete lack of accountability. Bad actors continuously have no consequences and so many in positions of power throw up their hands and say there's nothing they can do, without [doing] any problem solving. The Swedish fear of conflict allows bullies to persist in a way that feels like it rewards them."
Similarly, Peter Schurtenberger, the professor emeritus at Lund, wrote that "decisions for hiring, promotion and election into academic leadership are made by a small circle and in a rather non-transparent way, elections are pseudo-democratic only, [and there is] too much inbreeding in hiring for faculty (professor, associate and assistant professor) positions".
That such a hiring environment is particularly hard for international researchers, who are not only culturally on the outside but also have to navigate residency permit issues, was brought up by most of the survey respondents.
One associate professor who wanted to remain anonymous said they find the Swedish system "quite bureaucratic but at the same time there is little help for newcomers. There's not much appreciation that people make big decisions to move here, and the assistance can be limited or non-existent. The system also works in ways that often exclude outsiders. It's simple things like meetings held in Swedish, when the university says it wants to internationalise and attract the best researchers, for example."
"The salary system is the most undemocratic and unequal I've ever encountered," they added. "If you aren't a good negotiator you could be paid very differently to your colleagues at the same level. I find that to be bad practice."
A postdoc working on AI in biomedicine emphasised how questionable hiring practices in Swedish academia have far more profound effects on international workers, due to residence permit vulnerability. He mentioned the "stipend" hiring system as particularly problematic:
"In some case, you can get hired with a stipend, not a regular contract. That is very problematic, as you are not entitled to benefits and you don't pay taxes. You cannot register into a-kassa [Swedish unemployment insurance]. I was under such a contract for three years and I was very uncomfortable in my lab. However, I could not simply leave because I would be deported in three months due to my permit being tied to the host institution. This took a large toll on my mental health."
A former PhD student in Västerås wrote that PhD students from outside the EU can be subject to similar vulnerabilities and exploitation, but from their supervisors.
"For me and many non-EU nationals it was the dependency on the supervisors, no boundaries in work-life balance. Many were scared to confront their supervisors since we depended on them for our visa. In one extreme case a student got deported by his former supervisor."
Overall, the political science postdoc in Uppsala summed it up well: "The funding landscape and hiring qualifications are oriented to people who do not have to build their career taking into account migration regulations. HR units are extremely incompetent when it comes to everything, especially handling internationals."
What did international researchers make of this mixed bag – a bag with often superior work-life balance and daily working environment but also toxic hiring practices and residence permit anxiety?
Respondents basically broke even on whether they thought academic working life in Sweden ended up as a net positive or net negative.
"With all the disadvantages, Sweden is still one of the most secure countries for academics," wrote one, while another – a researcher at KTH Royal Institute of Technology – said, when asked if they would recommend Sweden to others interested in a higher education career: "Yeah. But will highlight all downsides."