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The Swedish Institute is a public educational agency with a staff of approximately 140 employees, serving students in its offices in Stockholm and Visby in Sweden, as well as Paris, France. The commitment of the Swedish Institute is to gain knowledge and understanding of different cultures, their people, and to promote Sweden and Swedish issues globally.

About the Swedish Institute

The Swedish Institute helps Sweden reach various international goals concerning foreign policy, education, international aid and development. The wide range of activities with which the institute is involved spans over fields such as culture, society, research, higher education, business, innovation, democracy and global development.

The Swedish Institute promotes interest and confidence in Sweden around the world, and seeks to establish cooperation and lasting relations with other countries through strategic communication and exchange programs in different fields. Their work with Sweden’s image abroad and their activities in international development cooperation go hand in hand. The primary goal is to create mutual relationships with other countries around the world, and to support Swedish language instruction at foreign universities. The Swedish Institute acts as a coherent representative of Sweden and of Swedish skills, values and experience in the world. The institute operates within the framework of public diplomacy – understanding, informing, influencing and developing relations with people in other countries – and works closely with Swedish and foreign partners as well as with Swedish embassies and consulates around the world.

Brief History of the Swedish Institute

The Swedish Institute was founded in 1945. With the Second World War at an end, the principal aim was to develop international cooperation. Both the government authorities and the business community wanted to make Sweden better known abroad and to boost international confidence in the country. The result was a new association charged both with disseminating information about Sweden and with supporting a broad-based program of cultural exchange with other countries. 

Today the Swedish Institute has become an agency with the task of creating goodwill and confidence in Sweden. The Institute is now openly referring to “public diplomacy” and “nation branding” to spread knowledge about the tools they and others are using to promote Sweden abroad. With the recent launch of Sweden.se—the official gateway to Sweden—the potential to spread information about Sweden has entered a new phase. Many more people around the world now have access to information about Sweden. The Swedish Institute also helps to arrange greater initiatives in selected countries, such as the Scopriamo la Svezia in Italy, and Svédületes in Hungary. The institute additionally develops and utilizes contacts with the many students who annually come to Sweden through an alumni network. 

Swedish Institute:  Its Centers

The Swedish Institute has three separate centers, located in Stockholm, Visby and Paris.

• The Stockholm office is located in Old Town in Stockholm and serves as the institute’s main office with approximately 100 employees.
• The office in Visby is known for being the center for the Swedish Institute’s cooperation with the Baltic Sea Region and houses approximately 20 employees.
• The department the Swedish Institute maintains in Paris, France is its only cultural center located abroad, boasting around 100,000 visitors every year. It houses showrooms, a concert hall, an art collection, guest housing for Swedish scientists, courses in Swedish and a Swedish café – Café Suédois.

Exchange and Development Projects

The Swedish Institute promotes international exchange within the areas of culture, education, research and society, as well as areas regarding international experiences and media.  Their programs aim to develop active and lasting networks and mutual learning processes through meetings, education and cultural experiences. Collectively, the goal of these programs is to strengthen openness and democratic structures.

The institute’s exchange and development programs largely focus on the areas of gender equality, sustainability, democracy, children’s rights and freedom of expression, with programs such as:

Creative Force

This program emphasizes the importance of culture and creativity for a country’s development, for strengthening democracy and for the right to express oneself freely.

Management Program

The Swedish Institute Management Program aims to establish a strong global network of leaders from China, India and Northern Europe. The program is directed at managers in senior positions and focuses on successful and sustainable businesses with a corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda.

She Entrepreneurs

She Entrepreneurs is a leadership program for young emerging women social entrepreneurs in the Middle East, North Africa and Sweden. The program aims to give the participants innovative tools for sustainable change while seeking to create an active network of women change-makers.

Young Leaders Visitors Program

The Swedish Institute’s Young Leaders Visitors Program (YLVP) is an intercultural leadership program that aims to lay a foundation for dialogue and knowledge sharing among young leaders from the Middle East, North Africa and Sweden. 

Urban Development Program

The Swedish Institute’s Urban Development Program offers a range of high-quality lectures, workshops and field-trips for urban developers, designers, and architects from China who wish to see a sustainable change in the country’s rapidly growing cities.

Young Connectors of the Future Program

Finally, the Young Connectors of the Future Program (YCF) is a leadership program inviting young leaders from selected countries in South Asia who are actively working for social change in their respective contexts. The program combines intercultural leadership training with theory and practice in the fields of transparency, democracy and human rights.

• Philology, Languages, Literature
  • Language Courses
  • Language Courses and Cultural Immersion Programs

P.O. Box 7434, Stockholm, Sweden, 10391

SI is a government agency