It would not be an exaggeration to say that Lars Strannegård dropped a minor bomb when last spring he made a powerful statement against grade inflation in Swedish secondary schools.
The rector of the School of Economics warned in a debate article in DN that meritocratic principles and the school’s compensatory mission were threatened by the fact that students at many high schools received high grades, without possessing the required knowledge.
It was a review by the School Inspectorate, which made Lars Strannegård see red. Students at high-status schools, such as Lundsberg’s school, Campus Manilla and Östra Real, received grades that were not covered in their results on the national exams.
It was extra poignant that the School of Business and Economics receives a large number of applicants from precisely these designated upper secondary schools.
In his debate article, Strannegård opened up that those at the School of Economics could be forced to abandon the national admissions system for universities and colleges and introduce a completely separate admission.
Lars Strannegård thinks it “feels uncomfortable” not knowing whether the students really deserve their place at the School of Economics. Photo: Eva Tedesjö
– It has felt uncomfortable, we have been affected by a feeling of unease which is about whether we can trust that it is the right students who are admitted here or not. Have they de facto earned the grades they’ve received or is there a crowding out effect, those who are more deserving of getting in, but don’t? says Lars Strannegård.
There will now be no separate admissions system at the School of Economics, but the requirements for applicants will be tightened. In order to counteract the effects of grade inflation, the School of Economics will in the future require that applicants have written the university entrance examination, with a result of at least 1.25 out of 2.0 – regardless of how high the applicant’s grades are.
– We do it as a control inspection of the grades, says Lars Strannegård.
The new requirement applies from now on admission in autumn 2025.
The number 1.25 may seem arbitrary, but it is based on an average of the results of the last four university examinations. Only 14.2 percent of those who wrote the exams got a result of 1.25 or better.
One effect that Lars Strannegård hopes for is that fewer students will drop out of education if they are properly qualified from the start. Photo: Eva Tedesjö
– For us, it is a very clear signal that we are looking for students who have knowledge and not grades. It is a signal to schools that they should not focus on numbers, but on knowledge, says Lars Strannegård.
The Stockholm School of Economics is one of the higher education programs in Sweden that is the most difficult to get into. The school admits only 300 new students each year, and the most recent admission to the School of Economics’ most popular program, Business and economics, required a high school grade of 19.58 out of a maximum of 20, as the school does not accept credit points.
In the group that applied for the university entrance exam, the minimum score to be admitted was 1.85 out of 2.0. It should be noted here that the School of Economics requires the applicant to have at least a 1.7 grade from high school.
The School of Economics admits smaller groups of students through alternative admissions procedures, but by far the largest group of students at the bachelor’s level apply with their high school grades as a basis.
– We will see how the outcome turns out and it is possible that we will adjust the requirement to 1.25, says Lars Strannegård.
However, he expects that the new requirement will be felt among the students.
– I think we will see more who complete the training and fewer drop out. We noticed that when we introduced grade requirements for those applying with the university entrance examination, he says.
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