The HPU Web site identifies
the University as one of the world’s most diverse,
with about 1,400 international students from more than 100
countries. It is not surprising that Japan is one of the
most represented countries at HPU, as Japan and Hawai‘i
share the same ocean. It is also not surprising that there
is a great number of students from Taiwan and South Korea.
What is remarkable is how many Europeans come to HPU. Germany
and Sweden are the top two European countries represented
at HPU.
“
Since I was a child, I have dreamed of going to Hawai‘i,” said
Andreas Hedlund-Bratt, a Swedish student who is here for one
year. “I saw HPU as a chance to make my big dream come
true,” he said.
According to Sweden’s national weather Web site, northern
Sweden has had an average of 2.5 sun hours per month during December
and January and the whole country has averaged about three feet
of snow each winter for the past 40 years. It snows an average
of 125 days each year. Perhaps it does make sense that some people
from a northern European country such as Sweden long to get away
to warmer latitudes.
Hedlund-Bratt’s dream might be a stereotypical Swedish
view of Hawai‘i, but it doesn’t explain why Swedes
believe they must travel to the other side of the world to catch
the sun.
“
It was not just the sun I had in mind when I chose Hawai‘i,” said
Alexandra Stromberg, another Swedish student. “It was also
the tropical climate, the plants, and animals that are such a
contrast to our own geography.”
Surf, climate, and wildlife are not the only reasons Swedes come
to HPU. The school offers educational opportunities and diversity
that appeal to many young Swedes who go abroad for studies, work,
or just adventure for at least one semester before finishing
their education. The Swedish National Board of Student Aid is
generous in its support of study abroad. For one year abroad,
a student can get U.S.$2,940 as a grant and about $19,300 as
a loan that they don’t have to start paying back until
they finish their studies and start to work.
HPU recruiters visit countries in Asia and Europe twice a year
to promote HPU. When Elfi Stephenson, who is the director of
the International Center at HPU, was asked why there are so many
Swedes and Germans at HPU, she said: “It may help that
all recruiters are bilingual and HPU alumni themselves.” In
Sweden, HPU is represented at many exhibitions, by several study
abroad organizations.
Sweden’s bilingual HPU recruiter Lilian Hallström
is a former student who now works as associate director of International
Admission. She lives in Gothenburg.
“
It is very good that Lilian speaks Swedish,” said Hedlund-Bratt. “I
had a lot of questions about teachers and student life when I
still was in Sweden, and when I met her in Stockholm she was
able to answer all my questions because she had her own experience
from studying here.”
