Brittingham / Wisconsin Alumni Association Viking Scholarship

You are a Swedish citizen, studying at a college or university in Sweden. You are a person with high values, integrity, energy and a strong sense of responsibility. You have an excellent academic record and fluent communication skills in English and Swedish. You have an interest in international relations as well as in a variety of areas outside your academic field. You can prove commitment through extracurricular activities or community involvement.

This scholarship emphasizes interaction abilities, thus you have excellent social skills and an open personality. In total, you have the necessary leadership qualities required to become a proud representative of our country and Swedish society within the Brittingham Viking Organization. When receiving the scholarship, you embrace the opportunity to become a lifelong member of our organization, committed to the continued success of our program after your return from the US.

In 1953 Thomas Brittingham Jr, a philanthropist and investor, initiated a scholarship program by bringing two students from each of the four Nordic countries to his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin, for a one-year period. Tom believed that international understanding can be achieved only by building personal relationships between people. His great interest in the Nordic countries was deepened when he reinvented the investment strategy for the Nobel Foundation, greatly increasing the value of the funds and obtaining an extensive network in the Nordic countries. While in the Nordic countries, he personally interviewed and selected scholars with leadership skills that could continue to deepen the contact between the Nordic region and the US. The recipients of the scholarship, the Vikings, have formed a body called the Brittingham Viking Organization (BVO), which constitutes a close network. Today’s Vikings, comprising over 200 former scholars, can be found in top positions in business, education, politics and government in the Nordic countries as well as in the US.

Every year, the Vikings meet at an annual convention, recently for the 55th anniversary convention in Madison, Wisconsin. In addition to gatherings for the annual conventions, you, if selected, will meet the American Vikings while traveling around in the US during your scholarship summer, making life-long friends within the organization.

We are now offering one scholarship for the summer of 2011. The scholarship covers travel to and from the US, tuition, accommodation and basic living expenses at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The total amount is USD 10,000. You can choose freely what subjects you want to study.

The city of Madison is the capital of Wisconsin and it has about 200,000 inhabitants. It is dominated by the university and its more than 40,000 students. The University of Wisconsin, Madison, has an excellent reputation in a number of academic fields, including law, engineering, political science, medicine, sociology et cetera. In the field of business,
University of Madison, Wisconsin tied with Harvard University for first place in educating the most Chief Executive Officers of companies included in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (Bloomberg CEO Survey, July 30th, 2004.).

The scholar will be chosen based on her or his written application and on interviews, which are planned to take place in Stockholm in February, 2011. The application should contain 1) a personal letter (max. one page, in English) explaining why you should become the next scholar 2) your CV (max. one page, in English) and 3) grade transcripts from college or university.

The fee for applying is SEK 100 and should be transferred to the Plusgiro account of the BVO: 20 85 54-6 with the notification: “Brittingham Scholarship” and your name. Deadline for payment is February 11, 2011.

The application should be mailed in an envelope marked “Brittingham Scholarship” to Sverige-Amerika Stiftelsen, Box 5280, 102 46 Stockholm, postmarked no later than the deadline date. Also, e-mail a copy of your personal letter, CV and grade transcripts to brittinghamviking@gmail.com.

For further information please contact:
Henrik Pettersson, email: henrik.pettersson@gmail.com
Anders Borg, e-mail: borganders@gmail.com
Or visit the BVO homepage

Information about the university can be found at wisc.edu.

We welcome your application!