Student blogs

Who doesn’t like student discounts? To get advantage of the discounts offered by restaurants, shops and Stockholm’s public transport you’ll need to have a Mercenat student card which proves that you are a student currently enrolled in a program. I was used to have just one student card which I could use for discounts, library access… but it’s not the same in KI. Keep reading this post to save yourself from quite some confussion about how and where to get the Mercenat card.

One university…Multiple cards

Forget about the one university – one card idea that is common in many countries. In KI you’ll have at least two very useful cards:

1. KI Library card: This is the card you’ll use for library book loan, printing and accessing buildings on campus.
2. Mercenat card: The mercenat card proves that you are an enrolled student in an university. It is super important that you have this card because it is the one needed for the SL student discount to be applicable.

Differences between KI card and Mercenat student card. Image: Tetiana Poliakova

You might also get extra cards! (E.g. I had a Bioclinicum card to access my internship lab).

How to get the KI library card

You can get this card once you arrive on campus for the introduction days. Here you can find more information about when a where to get it.

How to get the Mercenat card

You can have two types of Mercenat cards: one for being a KI student and another one for being a MF member. They are mostly equivalent, being the difference between them that the Mercenat MF card proves that you are a student union member.

Mercenat card for all KI students (Left, source: SL) vs. Mercenat card for MF members (Right, source: MF)

You can receive the Mercenat card either by post or digitally by downloading the Mercenat app. I’d recommend downloading the app as soon as possible, because it can take the physical card around two weeks to arrive by post.

If you want to become a member of MF – which I would really recommend so that you can queue for SSSB housing!- you just need to go to the MF building and pay the membership for either a semester or a whole academic year. Once you do it, Mercenat will get your data and a couple of days after paying you’ll receive an email with instructions on installing the app and getting your digital card. Once you get your card on the app you’re ready to go!

Pay attention to this little detail…

Make sure that both your digital and physical Mercenat cards have the SL logo on them (see picture above, bottom-right corner of the cards). They should have it automatically, but if there is any problem and the symbol is not appearing on your card contact Mercenat ASAP so they can fix it. This is very important because only student cards with a SL symbol can use the public transport student prices.

Note for the Molecular Techniques in Life Science students

Since the Molecular Techniques in Life Science Joint Master Programme students are members of three universities they will receive Mercenat cards from both KI and KTH (Stockholm University has a different system of student cards, but you can also get it!). All of them are equivalent regarding the SL discount, and you can decide to become member of just one or more student unions. Also, you can decide to change your student union membership every semester so that it matches the university you’re currently having classes in – it’s a world of possibilities!

Just as a heads up… you might receive a ton of Mercenat cards if you become member of the student union in all three universities.

I hope this post was helpful for you to understand what the different student cards mean and how to get them. Drop me an email if you have any other questions!

\Inés

email: ines.rivero.garcia@stud.ki.se

LinkedIn: Inés Rivero García (link)