Country Profile – Sweden

Organisations

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Organization responsible for education	Role of the organization	Website
Ministry of Education and Research	Education system is highly decentralized with the overall responsibility of the central government through the Ministry (including the curriculum development, defining the national objectives and guidelines)	www.government.se/ government-of-sweden /ministry-of-education- and-research
Swedish National Agency for Education	supports and evaluates the work of the municipalities and schools creates national statistics coordinates the work of municipalities and schools with the work of the Ministry in determining the national goals and curriculum	www.skolverket.se/om- skolverket/andra-sprak- och-lattlast/in-english
Municipalities	The Municipalities are responsible for the schools. They do this either by running the schools themselves or by purchasing independent schools. The municipality is responsible for ensuring that the rules and laws that exist for the school are followed, in cases where there are independent schools, they are responsible for their activities. All schools receive their funding from the municipality
Swedish Schools Inspectorate	approves the establishment of new schools ensures that municipalities and schools follow the laws and regulations developed at the central level	https://www.skolins pektionen.se/en/ About-Skolinsp ektionen/About-the-Swedish-Schools-Inspectorate/
National Agency for Special Needs Education	Coordinates the efforts of the government regarding students with special educational needs	https://www.spsm. se/om-oss/english/
Swedish Association of Independent Schools	Independent schools belong under the authority of the respective school's organiser and these organisers work together in it. It is in charge of implementing educational activities organising and operating school services allocating resources ensuring that the national goals determined for education are met	www.friskola.se/in-english
Source: European Commission / EACEA National Policies Platform / Eurydice / Sweden Overview: https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/eurydice/content/sweden_en

Funding of education

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All schools in Sweden are funded and governed through the Municipalities.

There is no privately funded school, schools are financed mainly from municipal taxes and approximately 15% of the budget is allocated from central financial sources. Independent schools also receive funding from the municipality of the student’s hometown. The funding is based on the number of students enrolled.

Schools at all levels (pre-primary, primary, secondary) are financed through the mechanism described above. Municipalities have the autonomy to decide the allocation of funding between different schools, thus schools from a worse socioeconomic territory can receive more financing. After the funding is allocated, the schools have got the right to divide this funding into the different expenditure categories in order to ensure that the needs of the students are met.

Source:
European Commission / EACEA National Policies Platform / Eurydice / Sweden Overview:
https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/eurydice/content/sweden_en

Expenditure on educational institutions ISCED (2011) (Million EUR)

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Year	Expenditure	Primary education	Lower secondary education	Upper secondary education	Total
2012	Current expenditure	6 655,1	3 251,7	4 612,4	14 519,2
	Capital expenditure	470,3	229,0	393,2	1 092,5
	Total	7 125,4	3 480,7	5 005,6	15 611,7
	Share of capital expenditure (%)	6,6	6,6	7,9	7,0
2013	Current expenditure	7 079,2	3 338,5	4 612,6	15 030,3
	Capital expenditure	447,3	209,8	354,8	1 011,9
	Total	7 526,4	3 548,2	4 967,4	16 042,0
	Share of capital expenditure (%)	5,9	5,9	7,1	6,3
2014	Current expenditure	7 138,4	3 305,7	4 392,2	14 836,3
	Capital expenditure	432,8	199,9	363,6	996,3
	Total	7 571,2	3 505,6	4 755,8	15 832,6
	Share of capital expenditure (%)	5,7	5,7	7,6	6,3
2015	Current expenditure	7 475,0	3 444,8	4 376,2	15 296,0
	Capital expenditure	440,1	202,6	337,7	980,4
	Total	7 915,1	3 647,4	4 713,9	16 276,4
	Share of capital expenditure (%)	5,6	5,6	7,2	6,0
2016	Current expenditure	8 133,8	3 785,9	4 621,7	16 541,1
	Capital expenditure	429,4	200,3	323,5	953,2
	Total	8 563,2	3 986,2	4 945,2	17 494,6
	Share of capital expenditure (%)	5,0	5,0	6,5	5,4
Source: Eurostat (online data code: educ_uoe_fini01)

Procurement Procedure

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Swedish Competition Authority (KKV): operates within the Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation (MoE) and is a supervisory body.

entitled to overview public procurement processes in terms of compliance with the law and efficiency
can forward the found irregularities to the administrative courts for investigation
provides administrative and methodological help to contracting authorities and economic operators

National Agency for Public Procurement (UHM): belongs to the Ministry of Finance

develops and maintains support functions to public procurement
promotes sustainable procurement from the social and environmental point of view and the innovative public procurement procedures.

Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth (SAERG) (within the Ministry of Industry):

promotes sustainable development and regional growth
provides help for enterprises to become more competitive through knowledge, networking and financing.

National Audit Office (NAO): main oversight body

performs external audits
its findings are forwarded directly to the Parliament together with recommendations for the better and more efficient use of the public funds

Administrative Courts of First Instance: entitled to issue sanctions. Against its decision appeal can be issued to the Administrative Court of Appeal, so decisions may be reviewed by the Supreme Administrative Court.

NPS (under the Ministry of Finance): the central purchasing body for state administrations and state-owned entities.

Swedish National Financial Management Authority: manages framework agreements for administrative systems and associated services.

Educational institutes have a purchasing council, where the management together with teachers gather and discuss common needs. In case of coordinated procurement, the decision is delegated to the Municipal Director, CFO or Procurement Officer. In each administration, the decision of the procurement will be made by the administration manager or the political board depending on the value. Teachers and other employees are involved and play an important role in the requirement process, as they formulate demands on suppliers. Teachers are also involved in the evaluation activities.

Primary/secondary schools have the right to make decisions about educational technology procurement. There are some tools the schools are obliged to use as a standard, and they do not have any right to change them.

Source:
European Commission / EACEA National Policies Platform / Eurydice / Sweden Overview:
https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/eurydice/content/sweden_en
Public procurement – Study on administrative capacity in the EU Sweden Country Profile:
https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/policy/how/improving-investment/public-procurement/study/country_profile/se.pdf

The example of Halmstad for the steps of purchasing ICT tools

Number of schools K-12	Number of teachers K-12	Number of students K-12	Number of computers per student K-12
7.300 (2019/2020)	209.000 (2019/2020)	1.567000 (2019/2020)	1,3 per student in primary school and 1 to 1 in secondary school (school year 2018/2019)

Year	Primary education	Lower secondary education	Upper secondary education	Total
2012	7125,4	3553,1	5789,1	16467,6
2013	7526,4	3621,2	5759,4	16907,0
2014	7571,2	3584,6	5548,7	16704,5
2015	7915,1	3723,5	5468,2	17106,8
2016	8563,2	4059,8	5670,5	18293,4
Source: Eurostat (online data codes: educ_uoe_fine01)

Country Profile - Sweden

Education Procurement in Sweden

Numbers

Legislation of Education

Organisations

Funding of education

Public expenditure on education ISCED (2011) (million EUR)

Expenditure on educational institutions ISCED (2011) (Million EUR)

Investment plan for education / ICT in education

Procurement Procedure

Other Important Information

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