How can Sweden ensure it has enough researchers?

Fewer Swedish students are choosing to enter doctoral studies and only 54 percent of PhD-students from abroad stay in the country after they have finished their studies, according to figures from the Higher Education Authority.

The reasons for this, and what can be done about it, were discussed at a seminar in Stockholm on Monday.

"If you are a foreign student, it is easier to get a post-doc somewhere else, and if you are a Swedish student, you might not even start," said Michael Fored, director of research education at Karolinska Institutet, who blamed the uncertainty of the sector itself for the problems.