Understanding the Character Limits
SI's motivation section has two separate questions, not one. This catches a lot of applicants off guard — they prepare a single unified statement and then realize at the portal that they need to fill two distinct fields with different character limits.
Question 1 allows 1,000 characters, which works out to roughly 150–170 words depending on how long your words are. Question 2 allows 800 characters, around 120–140 words. These are character counts, not word counts. Every space, every comma, every full stop counts toward the total.
The portal enforces the limits at submission — you cannot go over. What this means practically: write in a plain text editor (Notepad, TextEdit, or any tool that shows character counts) and check your count before pasting. Do not draft directly in the portal. If you lose your session or the page times out, you lose your work.
Plain text only — formatting doesn't survive
No bullet points, no bold text, no headers, no line breaks that create structure — none of it will survive the paste into the SI portal. Write in flowing prose. Structure your points through sentence construction, not visual formatting.
1,000 characters
Approximately 150–170 words. Focus on your professional present: your role, the sector challenge you've worked on, and why this program connects to it.
800 characters
Approximately 120–140 words. This is your forward-looking statement: your specific post-graduation plan, who you'll serve, and the concrete contribution you intend to make.
What SI Is Actually Asking
The motivation questions aren't an open invitation to write about yourself generally. Based on SI's official guidance, the questions orbit around three specific themes that evaluators are trained to look for.
What are you currently doing?
Your professional present. Your title, your sector, what you've actually been working on. Not your entire career history — what you're doing now and what problem you're working on.
What do you want to do after your studies?
A specific, grounded goal — not "contribute to development" but what you'll actually do, for whom, and through what institution or initiative.
How does a Swedish master's connect your present to that goal?
The logical bridge. Why this program, at this institution, in Sweden specifically? What knowledge or skills are you missing now that this degree will give you?
What evaluators are explicitly looking for:
- ✓ A specific professional contribution you plan to make in your home country — not an aspiration, a plan
- ✓ Evidence this isn't generic — your goal is grounded in your actual work experience and sector knowledge
- ✓ A coherent logical chain: past work → observed gap → chosen program → specific future role
What a Strong Response Looks Like
This is a guide for what to aim for, not a template to copy. A strong response reads like a specific person with a specific situation — not like something built from a blog post or a shared Google Doc.
Strong Question 1 response — 1,000 characters
Strong Question 2 response — 800 characters
The Mistakes That Sink Good Applications
These are not theoretical mistakes. They appear in large numbers every cycle, including in applications from well-qualified candidates who spent weeks preparing everything else.
Describing your past and forgetting your future
Many applicants write a detailed account of their career and run out of characters before explaining what they'll do after graduating. Evaluators care most about the forward-looking part. If you're spending 80% of your characters on autobiography, rebalance.
Generic sustainable development language
"I want to contribute to sustainable development in my country" tells evaluators nothing. What specifically? In what sector? Through what mechanism? What do you already know how to do that makes this credible? If your statement could have been written by anyone in any of the 34 eligible countries, it's not specific enough.
Copying from examples found online
If you found a sample motivation statement on a blog, thousands of other applicants found it too. Evaluators read thousands of statements every cycle. Formulaic language — the same sentence structures, the same phrases about "bridging the gap" and "leveraging my expertise" — is immediately recognizable. Write in your own voice, about your own situation.
Not connecting the Swedish degree specifically
Why Sweden? Why this program specifically? Not "because it's fully funded" — that's obvious to everyone. Because of something specific to the curriculum, the research approach, the faculty, or the Swedish way of handling your field. If your answer could work for any fully-funded scholarship anywhere, you haven't answered the question.
Over-relying on adjectives
"I am a passionate, dedicated, and results-driven professional" wastes characters and tells evaluators nothing they can verify. "I managed a team of 12 across three districts" is concrete and says far more about who you are. Show; don't describe.
Treating it as a formality
Some applicants spend weeks assembling documents and then rush the motivation statement in an afternoon. This is the wrong allocation of effort. For candidates who are otherwise comparable on paper — and many of them are — the motivation statement is often what distinguishes the selected from the rejected. It deserves the same attention as the rest of your application combined.
Planning Your Statements
Before you write a single word of the actual statement, answer these four questions for yourself — in full sentences, on paper or in a document, not just in your head.
Four questions to answer before drafting
What specific problem have you seen or worked on in your sector in your country? Not a general issue — a particular situation you encountered directly.
What is your master's program's actual, specific connection to that problem? Look at the curriculum. What modules, methods, or research areas are directly relevant?
What specifically will you do differently after graduating that you can't do now? What knowledge or capability are you missing that the degree will give you?
Who will you do it for, and through what institution or initiative? Name it if it exists. If it doesn't yet, describe it specifically enough that it's real.
Once you have clear answers to all four, draft with those answers in front of you. You have about 150–170 words for Question 1. Use them precisely. Every sentence needs to earn its place.
The Drafting Process
Write a first draft that's too long. Then cut. This is the correct order of operations. If you try to write to the character limit from the start, you'll end up with sentences that have been compressed until they've lost their meaning.
Every sentence earns its place
If removing a sentence changes nothing about your meaning, remove it. Test every sentence this way.
Read it aloud
If it sounds like a corporate brochure, rewrite it. You should sound like yourself, not like a press release.
Have a non-expert read it
Someone from a completely different field. If they understand what you're trying to do and why, you've succeeded. If they're confused, your statement isn't clear enough.
Leave it and come back
Write a draft, leave it for a full day, then reread it. You'll find things to improve. Distance helps you see what you've assumed rather than stated.
Do multiple rounds — successful applicants often write 10–15 drafts
The first draft is for getting ideas down. The fifth draft is for cutting. The tenth draft is for precision. Don't submit until the statement reads like something you're genuinely proud of.
What the Best Applications Have in Common
Based on accounts from scholarship recipients who've shared their experience publicly, the applications that succeed share a recognizable set of qualities — not in format, but in substance.
The narrative is personal
It references a specific experience or observation that clearly shaped the applicant's professional direction. Not "I have always been interested in public health" but a concrete encounter or discovery that made the path feel necessary.
The goal is concrete
Not "improve public health" but "support implementation of community health worker programs in rural areas of [country] through the Ministry of Health." The more specific the goal, the more credible it is.
The program choice is credible
The applicant clearly researched the program and can explain how it specifically prepares them for their stated goal. The connection is tight — not "this program covers sustainability and I care about sustainability."
The tone is confident but not boastful
The applicant knows what they're good at and is honest about why they need this degree to go further. They're not claiming to be exceptional — they're explaining clearly what they want to do and why they're ready for it.
One more thing
The motivation statement doesn't need to be perfect literature. It needs to be honest, specific, and well-reasoned. Evaluators aren't grading your prose — they're trying to determine whether your goals are real and whether this scholarship will actually help you achieve them. Write like you mean it.
Ready to apply?
Review what documents you'll need to gather alongside your motivation statement.