Half studying abroad won’t return

  • 2011-05-04
  • From wire reports

TALLINN - Just half of the young people who plan to study abroad intend to definitely return to Estonia after graduating, while 32 percent consider it very unlikely that they would return to Estonia, reports Postimees Online. The non-profit organization Dream Foundation, which offers possibilities for studying abroad, conducted a poll among 1,216 young people from October 2010 to March 2011 to map the opinions of high school and vocational school students about studying abroad.

Forty-six percent of the respondents indicate that they intend to come back to Estonia after graduation; nearly 32 percent consider it highly unlikely. Twenty percent of the respondents do not have a firm opinion in the matter yet.
The poll indicated that over 60 percent of respondents would like to study at a foreign university while just 10 percent are certain that the Estonian university landscape offers them what they need.

Sixty-one percent of the polled say that the main obstacle for studying abroad is finding financing for the studies, and 46 percent consider studying and communicating in a foreign language a problem.
The main reasons for studying abroad were getting new and interesting experiences and broadening one’s mind. Just 28 percent of the respondents said that studying in a foreign university guarantees them better quality education and an advantage in the Estonian labor market.