Foreign student numbers grow

TALLINN -  At the beginning of the academic year of 2010/2011, 69,113 students were enrolled in higher education in Estonia, 128 students more than in the previous year, show data at Statistics Estonia, reports news agency LETA. 1,282 foreign students from 62 countries are studying in Estonian universities. The number of foreign students has increased by 388 students, compared to 2005.

Most foreign students are from Finland (570), Russia (108), Latvia (103) and China (70). In addition, ‘exotic’ countries like Cuba, Guatemala, Botswana, the Republic of South Africa, Indonesia and Trinidad and Tobago are represented.
233 foreign students study at the integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s level; 25 at the applied higher education level; 487 at the Bachelor’s level; 367 at the Master’s level and 170 at the Doctoral level. The most interesting fields of study for foreign students are the humanities, arts, business and management and law. 746 foreign students are studying in English, 41 in Russian and 495 in Estonian.

While the number of doctoral students has increased by 36 students in 2010, the number of admitted students to other higher educational level categories has decreased compared to the previous year. The number of graduates and students has increased at the Master’s and Doctorate level.

For many years now, business and management has been the most popular field of study among both men and women – 21 percent of Estonian students have chosen this field of study. As expected, men’s preferences also include engineering, computer science, architecture and construction. Women, however, are more interested in teacher training and education science, humanities and health. Likewise, more students study business and management at the Bachelor’s and Master’s level, whereas there are more doctoral students in the humanities, social and behavioral sciences and life sciences.

In the academic year of 2010/2011 the program “TULE” was implemented, which enabled the people who had once dropped out of university to continue their studies free of charge. Last autumn 457 people went back to school to finish their degree, in the framework of this program. The program “TULE” is carried out by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research and funded by the European Social Fund and the State of Estonia.