Estonia is a small nation in Northern Europe. Notwithstanding its size, a lot of space and opportunities are available for foreigners going to study in Estonia. On one hand, it is one of the greenest nations globally and has quite a low population density, which makes its living surroundings very health-friendly. Also, Estonia is the perfect place for connecting with the whole world, as it is an innovative digital nation.
Less is more
Forests cover over half of Estonia, which is quite uncommon in Europe and in the world. The nation also features remote islets, beautiful solitary beaches, and deep untouched forest regions. Wherever you are, you can get to the backwoods in less than 30 minutes.
Having a low population density and more space for each person does not translate to being lonely as a human being. In contrast, it allows Estonian universities to make use of a more personal approach to engage each scholar who come to study in Estonia in the study process. Thanks to its small population, Estonia also has lower bureaucracy in schools and in government in general.
Digital and start-up-prone
Living and engaging in study in Estonia is more convenient for students because Estonia is a highly digitalised society. It is very common to pay your taxes online (in 2 minutes), make bank transfers through mobile phone, or do your weekly grocery shopping without having to leave your home. Kids as young as 7 years are taught the principles and basics of coding; computer usage is very prevalent in all fields of life.
The Republic of Estonia is the first nation to provide e-Residency — a global digital identity available to anyone in the world with an interest in running a location-independent business online. This technology allows secure and convenient digital services that enable credibility and trust on the Internet. Estonia by now has thousands of e-residents, like Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany.
Estonia is also renowned for its start-ups – it takes only five minutes to sign up a company and, according to The Economist, the nation held the world record for the amount of start-ups per person in 2013 (many Estonian start-ups are now successful establishments that you may recognise, like Skype, Transferwise, GrabCAD, and others).
Based on success stories, Estonian higher academic institutions have developed new unique programs that concentrate on high-tech education (e.g. e-governance technologies and services, cybersecurity, digital learning games).
Affordable and sensible student destination
Estonia has a very cheap cost of living– The Business Insider has ranked Estonia as home to two of the cheapest European cities to reside in (Tartu and Tallinn). The same can be said about going to study in Estonia – there are many scholarship awards and tuition-free programs obtainable, particularly at the Master’s level.
Furthermore to being cheap, Estonia also has reasonable conditions for scholars to look for a job. Foreign students who study in Estonia are permitted to work full-time during their studies, on the condition that it does not interfere with their education. Taking up a job does not need a separate permit – if an international is permitted to study, it by default ensures the right to work.
Students who study in Estonia are also permitted to stay in the nation for six months after graduation to search for employment. It is not always easy to secure a job if you do not speak the local language; however, most Estonians do speak English language and the field for English-speaking roles is growing. There is a yearly work fair organised particularly for foreign students, which also assists in bringing together companies and students.
A recent discovery in the world of international higher education
Among foreign students, Estonia is still a rather recent discovery and the amount of foreign students who study in Estonia is growing by nearly 20% each year. The student body is quite diverse – there are students from nearby nations, like Finland, Russia, and Latvia, from other European nations, like Italy, Germany, UK etc., and from other nations all around the world, like the USA, India, Georgia, China, and so on – all together from 90 different nations. All of them can select between 140 degree programs taught completely in English.
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