At Lund Central Station, the international students are met by volunteers who will guide them through their first days in Sweden. The students are happy to have arrived at their place of study, after months of uncertainty about travel and restrictions.

- I was very happy, I have thought "when will they let me go to Sweden?", Says Bavo Tengio.

The Corona pandemic has led to far fewer international students coming to Sweden this year. Last autumn, approximately 19,000 students from other countries came to Swedish universities and colleges. This autumn, the figure is expected to almost halve.

Both in Lund and in Malmö, just over half as many international students come as last autumn. And the trend looks more or less the same at other Swedish universities. Umeå University received 535 international students last autumn. This semester, the number is expected to be approximately 330 people. In Linköping, the number has dropped from 281 international students to 215.

The universities of Gothenburg and Uppsala are also seeing a sharp reduction in the number of international students coming this autumn.

Many live collectively

At Lund University, just over half of the accommodation rented to international students is corridor rooms. In some of them, students share kitchens, showers and toilets.  

Do you have any concerns about your accommodation?

- Maybe over hygiene, because you do not know each other. But that's just it, otherwise I'm expectant, says Eva Meyermans Spelmans.

- In a corridor, you always meet the same people, which for me is a reason not to feel insecure, says Mika Rebensburg.