How did you experience Mid Sweden University?
The whole area is interesting for students to study nature based tourism and outdoor adventures. Many students and lecturers participate in these activities (often organised by the students themselves). The accommodation for students is well arranged. They can stay in a bungalow at a tourism resort except during the holiday season.
The tourism program at the university is very ‘teacher-centred’. Every day students have class from 10.15 till 12.30 and it is expected that they do a lot of self-study. Student contact in principle is only via email. This is very different from our system. Besides, every lecturer has his/her own room and conducts industry related research. ETOUR is founded and still managed by the faculty members. A new book about The Twilight Saga Travel experience has been published and deals with the theme “film tourism’.
The tourism faculty staff members originate from many different countries. This means that a wide range of research topics are studied and not only focus on Sweden. In general the communication in Sweden is very informal; the lecturers have coffee together in the morning and a hot lunch in a special corner of the faculty. Everywhere you can find microwaves as a cold lunch is not very popular. Besides, the separation of waste is much further developed as everything on your plate basically goes in a different bucket. Then almost every afternoon there is ‘fike’. This includes an informal gathering and enjoying coffee and Swedish cake. You cannot miss it and when you travel to Sweden, take some cookies or cake with you to share.