The state supports the studies of expatriate Estonians in Estonia
The scholarship programme was launched to support the studies in Estonia of expatriate Estonians and their return to Estonia, as well as their participation in Estonian public life, cultural life and labour market. The programme is implemented by the Education and Youth Board and the target audience is young people of Estonian origin who have lived outside Estonia for the past 10 years.
The scholarships support to support the studies of expatriate Estonians in higher education institutions and vocational education institutions in Estonia in Estonian-language curricula. Applications are open to everyone with upper secondary or higher education who have not lived in Estonia permanently for the past 10 years, except in cases where they have returned to Estonia within one calendar year before their application. The scholarship is available only to full-time studies in a curriculum taught in the Estonian language.
In 2022, there was one call for applications that received 12 submissions. Funding was given for BA studies of 4 students (2) and MA students (2) in the University of Tartu (1), the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (1), Estonian Academy of Arts (1) and Tallinn University (1). The students were expatriate Estonians from Sweden, Canada, Russia and Ireland.
The language scholarship supports participating in an intensive Estonian language course for one year. The language studies scholarship is available to persons of Estonian origin residing abroad with a secondary and higher education and corresponding education, who have not resided permanently in Estonia for at least the past ten years and who attend the intensive Estonian language courses and complete at least the B1 level by the end of the scholarship period.
In 2022, one call for applications was held, receiving 4 applications. Applicants were born in Canada, Australia, Germany and Russia. Two applications received funding (Canada, Australia) for Estonian language studies at the University of Tartu.
STATISTICS
Citizens of the Republic of Estonia accepted into Estonian higher education institutions whose country of residence or secondary education is not Estonia when applying for a place:
2021/2022 academic year – 63 students; including 42 in the first level of higher education, 20 in master’s programmes, 1 in a doctoral programme.
2022/2023 academic year – 100 students, including 59 in the first level of higher education, 22 in master’s programmes and 8 in doctoral programmes.
The most popular specialty is political science, followed by technology, law, medicine and cybersecurity technologies.
In the 2022/2023 academic year, there were students from 24 countries, with the largest number coming from Russia, Finland, the UK and the USA.
Source: Estonian Education Information System
Authors: Kai Treier and Aire Koik, Senior Expert of Higher Education and Communication Adviser at the Ministry of Education and Research
