Born in Stockholm, Sweden on October 6th 1996. I grew up in Högdalen, a working-class area in southern Stockholm famous for its A-team members, Ebba Grön and (basically) the place where Spotify founder Daniel Ek grew up (he grew up in Rågsved, the next stop on the subway line). After moving to Örby where my parents still live and completing my primary education at Sturebyskolan, I went on a one-year exchange in Shanghai, China. So from September 2012 to June 2013, I spent my days reading Wikipedia articles, Plato’s republic and memorising combinations of lines drawn in clever ways (i.e. I studied mandarin) at CaoYang No.2 high school. My year in China taught me to really appreciate how hard my Chinese peers had to work compared to my Swedish ones. Even the hard work required to do well in the sciences program (natur svenska sektionen) at Kungsholmens gymnasium in Stockholm was nothing compared to what the Chinese students had to struggle through. My time at ‘KG’ (as it is called) was great and I was a member of the debate society, the political association and the student newspaper KZINE as their webmaster (I successfully managed to not crash the website, yay).
I’ve always been more interested in people and society so the political science and economics program (politices kandidatprogram) at Lund University was a natural choice for me. It was far away from home, I loved the old architecture of the city and they had an exchange program with the University of California. I picked up competitive debating again whilst letting the dream of going on an exchange to UC Berkeley motivate me to work hard.
Fall 2017 came and I applied to the exchange. After a long strenuous process I got an email on April 12th. I was one out of a handful of students from Lund who were going to UC Berkeley for one year! It was a great year by all metrics. I got a research assistant position, then a scholarship and then I co-authored an op-ed with my professor – all of which were a result of being at the right place at the right time, a genuine passion for what I was working on and ample preparation. My mantra? If you want good things to happen in your life, then work hard to be in a position where you can be lucky.
Fast forward. It’s fall 2019. I’m back in Lund to study some mathematics while I write my bachelor’s thesis in economics and master’s program applications. This was the toughest year so far (academically). Never before had I studied 50-60 hours per week for extended periods. It was often easier to count the numbers that I did not study or write some application than the other way around. By January 2020, I was pretty exhausted and had begun experiencing some issues sleeping. I’ve been careful with balancing work and other things ever since. After all, what’s the endgame if not the life you have right now?
I applied to numerous universities but it was on March 25th that I received the offer that I really cared about. The first line said: “Thank you for your application for the Master of Philosophy in Economics which we have now considered.” Skip. “We are very pleased…” and so I was accepted to the MPhil in Economics at the University of Oxford.
What have I been up to at Oxford (apart from meeting boatloads of interesting people)? I’ve joined the Oxford University Table Tennis club, gotten a mentor from E3G as part of the sustainability mentorship programme and joined the Oxford Society for International Development.
After graduating with a masters in economics from Oxford in July 2022, I decided against going on the traditional 9-5 route in the City of London to move around money to make more money for people who already have plenty of money… Instead, I launched a charity
DirectEd Development Foundation is a charitable organisation whose purpose is to propel economic growth and develop and deliver evidence-based, highly scalable and cost-effective bootcamps designed for under-resourced high-potential students in Africa, preparing them for remote employment by equipping them with the most sought-after digital and soft skills on the market and thereby realise their potential as leaders of Africa’s digital transformation.
Great article! I’ll be writing up a similar post for DirectEd (https://directed.dev/ ) later this year and will be sure to reference and take inspiration from this excellently composed post.
I reacted to the claim “Many governments appear motivated to maintain and expand the number of higher education slots available for foreign students. Lobbying could enhance and accelerate these efforts.”
Anecdotally, Sweden only relatively recently shifted towards requesting (high) tuition for students coming from non-Eu countries, suggesting a different trend. I am not generally aware of the political sentiment towards international migration for higher education though but I’d be curious to see sources for this claim.
Having a charity in a similar space (digital migration for remote jobs for students in Kenya & Ethiopia), I am quite curious about your overhead costs. The 36%+ admin cost seems very high and I am wondering what you include in that. Whether assistance to take the exams and VISA are included for example?
Eurostat reports that, in 2021, overqualification rates amongst people with tertiary degree education who are non-EU was nearly 40%. Migrant integration statistics—over-qualification—Statistics Explained (europa.eu). This might cause some worry because it would suggest that using the average income within the country as the proxy may not be representative. Moreover, when looking at unemployment rates amongst foreign-born youth (15-29), the picture is not great. EU Citizens in their own country: 12.6%. Non-EU citizens: 20%.
The numbers may of course differ widely for this particular tertiary-educated sample of Malengo scholars, as they are selected for their merits etc.
Either way, looking forward to seeing the evidence speak for itself once the first two cohorts are out on the market!