2017-2020
Higher retention of foreign doctoral graduates in Sweden compared to master’s graduates
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2026-03-02 8.00
Three years after completing their studies, just under six out of ten foreign doctoral graduates from the 2017–2020 cohort remained in Sweden. Among international students who completed a two-year master’s programme in Sweden in 2019, only around one third were still in the country three years later. For incoming students who completed a one-year master’s programme, retention was as low as 15 percent.
These findings are presented in two new reports produced by Statistics Sweden (SCB) within the framework of the government assignment Work in Sweden.
A total of around 1,000 foreign doctoral graduates complete their degrees in Sweden each year. Roughly 5,000 international master’s graduates complete a two‑year master's programme, and about 1,600 finish a one‑year master's programme. Among foreign doctoral graduates, the most common subject areas of research are natural sciences, engineering, and medicine and health sciences. Among incoming students who complete a two‑year master’s programme, engineering and manufacturing is the most common field of education.
- The share who remain in Sweden after graduation is highest among those with degrees in engineering. This applies to both foreign doctoral graduates and international master’s graduates, says Tomas Westling, statistician at SCB.
Strong retention of talents in engineering
Lower labour‑market outcomes for foreign doctoral graduates
The share who are established in the labour market three years after completing their studies is lower among foreign doctoral graduates compared with Swedish doctoral graduates. Among foreign doctoral graduates who remain in the country, 77 percent are established in the labour market, while the corresponding share among Swedish doctoral graduates is 89 percent.
Gap in labour‑market establishment for foreign doctoral graduates
The highest levels of labour‑market establishment among foreign doctoral graduates are found among those with a degree in engineering and natural sciences, at 80 and 77 percent respectively. Among Swedish doctoral graduates, the highest establishment rates are found among those with a degree in medicine and health sciences and in engineering, both at 92 percent within these subject areas of research.
International master’s graduates often continue to PhD studies in Sweden
What happens after completing a master’s degree differs between international and Swedish master’s graduates. The rate of labour‑market establishment is significantly lower for international master’s graduates than for Swedish master’s graduates born in Sweden — 59 percent compared with 80 percent. This is mainly because many international students remain in Sweden to continue their studies at the doctoral level.
Further studies common among international master’s graduates
- It is common for international master’s graduates to remain in Sweden to begin doctoral studies, says Magnus Nyström, statistician at SCB. Among international students with a master’s degree from 2019 who were still in Sweden in 2022, 22 percent had started a doctoral programme in Sweden.
The highest levels of labour‑market establishment are found among international master’s graduates within the field of education engineering and manufacturing. The share who had begun doctoral studies in Sweden is highest within the fields of education health and welfare, and natural sciences, mathematics and ICT (information and communication technology). Within natural sciences, mathematics and ICT, the share with jobs that matched their education was also the highest.
Publications
A more detailed presentation of the results (summary in English) is available here:
Definitions and explanations
The follow‑up of graduates with degrees at the advanced level and doctoral graduates is presented in two separate reports.
The report on graduates at the advanced level follows up individuals who completed their studies in 2019, with a focus on those who earned a master’s degree. The report on doctoral graduates covers those who completed their degrees between 2017 and 2020. Both reports describe how many remain in Sweden after finishing their studies and what their labour‑market outcomes look like three years after graduation.
Population included in the reports
Foreign doctoral graduates are defined as:
- Individuals from other countries who have been granted a residence permit for studies in Sweden, where the residence permit decision was made less than two years before the start of their doctoral studies.
- Foreign born individuals who immigrated less than two years before beginning their doctoral studies.
- Doctoral students who lack a registered Swedish personal identity number in the higher education institutions’ administrative systems.
- Doctoral students with unknown background, meaning those with an unknown country of birth or who cannot be found in the Population egister.
The following groups of graduates with a one- or two-year master’s degree are defined as international students:
- Individuals who have been granted a residence permit for studies, where the residence permit decision was made less than two years before the start of their studies.
- Foreign born individuals who immigrated less than six months before beginning their studies.
- Other individuals who lack a registered Swedish personal identity number in the higher education institutions’ administrative systems. The group of international students also includes students studying remotely from another country.
Subject area of research/field of study
Doctoral programmes are categorised according to subject areas in research. See: https://www.scb.se/dokumentation/klassifikationer-och-standarder/standard-for-svensk-indelning-av-forskningsamnen/
Master’s and Magister programmes are instead presented using the Swedish Educational Nomenclature SUN 2020. Read more here: https://www.scb.se/dokumentation/klassifikationer-och-standarder/svensk-utbildningsnomenklatur-sun/
The full field of study categories for graduates with a master’s degree are:
- Humanities and Arts
- Health and Welfare
- Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Information and Communication Technology
- Social Sciences, Law, Business and Administration
- Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction
Establishment measure
The measure used to assess labour‑market outcomes divides the population into five categories based on how strong their position is in the labour market:
- Student: Enrolled at a Swedish university or in another form of education
- Established position: Strong position in the labour market
- Uncertain position: Relatively low labour income or some occurrence of unemployment
- Weak position: Low labour income or long periods of full‑time unemployment during the year
- Outside the labour market: No labour income