In Sweden we have the highest rate of nontraditional students among Europe. Coincidently, we also have the highest rates of drop outs among OECD. In this particular field, drop out from higher education, there is a need fore more qualitative studies that can support the "statistics". Studies about experiences of drop outs are significant for society, university and individual. The aim of this study is to describe and understand how nontraditional student experiences drop out from higher education.

In Sweden there is a long ongoing discussion about computer and cellphone usage during lectures in school. The discussion has mainly covered elementary school up to college students, but this topic is at least as relevant for university students. Today cellphones are so advanced; you can do everything with one that you previously only could do with a computer, the difference is that everyone is carrying one with them all the time. This study shows how concentration during lectures is affected by the cellphone accessibility and usage. With this study we want to find out how university students perceive cellphone usage affects their own concentration during lectures.

AbstractThe aim of this study is to analyze how the Swedish company VisitSweden and The Swedish institute creates an image of Sweden and what that image looks like? And also to compare their goals and their ways of present Sweden to find out how that contributes to the images of Sweden. The method for this analyze is chosen from the work and theories of Norman Fairclough called ?critical discourse analyze.? The analysis focuses on the text and how the text is created and if the author?s opinions are hidden in the words. The method can be applied in many ways.

The aim of this essay is to describe the historical development of the intercultural teacher training program at Södertörn University in Stockholm. I have also examined how the intercultural teacher training program was started, how and why it became intercultural and how the people in charge of the development of the teacher training program discussed intercultural science. The teacher training program has been an active part of Södertörn University since 1998, but it became intercultural in 2002. I have studied these questions through documents from the Södertörn University archives and literature by the funders of the education. The study shows that the university profile, ambitions and motives have been a key factor in the decision to make the teacher training program at Södertörn a multi-cultural one..

The aim of this Master thesis is to examine the institutionalization of Library- and Information Science in Sweden. I focus on the period 1978-1991, and pay special attention to the development of the discipline at the University College of Borås. My main method of investigation has been analysis of printed sources. After a brief description of the discipline and its history internationally, I describe how research and graduate education in Library- and Information Science developed in Sweden during the 20^th century. A major part of the thesis is an analysis of three reports from the chosen time period which are all, with slightly different prerequisites, trying to find a solution to the problem of how to establish Library- and Information Science as an academic discipline in Sweden.

In this essay, we attempt to study and analyze the work towards equality between men and women at the university of Örebro, Sweden. By using discourse analysis we have the ambition to test organizational theory with a gender perspective as the explanatory model for the schools successful work. We also have the ambition to develop our theory and ad an organizational theme focusing on actors..

In the old university of Turku there were written about 4 400 theses. About 1100 of them havefound their way to Linköping in Sweden. This paper describes these theses, new variants whichwere found and some characteristics of their provenance. They are compared with the largebibliography over theses from Turku by Vallinkoski. A couple of theses with completeinformation which have not been available since 1827 were found.

There are reasons to believe that recent changes in the Swedish academic library environment create new images of identity. New information technology, changed educational methods and increasing numbers of students in higher education heavily influence the professional basis for librarians. The purpose of this essay is to examine and describe how the images of identity are conceived and expressed by staff in two university colleges in Sweden, Malmö University and Södertörn University. We define identity as the images of what the library is, what it is aiming to be in the future, what it should do and how. In a qualitative study attitudes towards and opinions of the role of the library in the university environment are investigated.

This essay is a case study that deals with the integration of Scania into Sweden,which started for over 300 years ago. The purpose is to capture why theintegration of Scania succeeded, what were the main reasons or factors and todiscuss the effects the scanian identity and culture had on the integration. This hasbeen done with the help of different theories that will help sort out main factors tothe successful integration. The result of the study revealed a number of factors, tobegin with the scanian identity appeared not to be such a great obstacle for theintegration that one could believe. The identity developed because of the?swedification?, which were the measures the Swedish government took tointegrate the new territory.

This essay aimed to give a basis for the departement of social work in Lund in its task to recruit students from underrepresented parts of the population to the departement and to the university by presenting which social groups are underrepresentated. The research also aimed to give an explanation of how the backgrounds of the student´s have influenced them and lead them to undertake studies of social work. The main questions were: - What background do the students at the departement of social work have as seen from the variables; sex, age, national background, class, parents' educational level, society of childhood and direction of upper secondary school? - How can the background of the students at the departement of social work be explaned by the theories of Pierre Bourdieu? The research was performed with a quantative method based on a questionnaire. The data received by the questionnaire were compared with data of the general students population and of the population of Sweden at large.

Abstract and summaryThe glocal province of competence.The regional building up of knowledge at Växjö University and its choice of home region.The aim of the study is to give views on knowledge and to describe and discuss which home region Växjö University has chosen as its context. Taking my point of departure in the literature and in examples, I illustrate, discuss and examine how three different disciplines at the university have chosen their home regions. The disciplines are history, economics and biology. The study covers the last 33 years.The empirical study, with its focus only on regional matters, is based on four sources. 1.

The aim of the study is to evaluate how a law decided 2002 regarding discrimination against students in the higher education system in Sweden, was implemented at the University of Kalmar and Växjö University.The study asks two questions: How did the both universities implement the law? How did the universities manage to implement the law? In order to answer these questions the ?top-down? perspective, often used in field social science within discipline implementation, is used. First the study examines the goals with the legislation, and thereafter the actual implementation at the both examined universities.The conclusion is that the universities has high ambitions with implementation of the law and extensive formalized regulations but that it practically seems to be hard to get legitimacy with the implementation throughout the whole organizations. This makes the implementation work slowly though it?s working well with the people who have direct responsibility for the implementation..

The purpose of this master?s thesis is to examine how some university students, who are using the libraries extensively, use and experience the public and the university library and what they expect from the two different library types. I also compare their expectations with the different tasks and aims of the two library types. To answer this I have interviewed seven students at the department of history of literature at Göteborg University. I have also studied some literature and research related to this subject, for example user studies about students and libraries and the information behaviour of distance students.

The inherited education and the (un)free choice?- A comparative survey between five different programs on University of ÖrebroThe aim with this paper has been to examine and to report for different sociocultural background factors (class property, the parents' level of education, the parents' income) importance for the choice of type of education and to see if there is any differences between different university courses with respect to class property. Our issues were following:1. What/which sociocultural factors have had most importance for the choice of programs on universities?2.

The purpose of this master?s thesis is to examine how some university students, who are using the libraries extensively, use and experience the public and the university library and what they expect from the two different library types. I also compare their expectations with the different tasks and aims of the two library types. To answer this I have interviewed seven students at the department of history of literature at Göteborg University. I have also studied some literature and research related to this subject, for example user studies about students and libraries and the information behaviour of distance students.