Estonia

Basic Information about Estonia

Estonia is the smallest of the three Baltic Countries. Situated on the north eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, Estonia borders on Latvia in the south and on the Russian Federation in the east and has strong cultural and linguistic ties with Finland. The capital of the country is Tallinn and is only about 85 km south of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Sweden is Estonia's nearest western neighbour across the Baltic Sea. The country has a population of about 1.3 million people.

The Higher Education System

In Estonia, the higher education system is binary consisting of two branches - an academic branch and a professional higher education and two types of institutions operate, universities and professional higher education institutions. Recent trends in higher education implemented in accordance with the objective to create a European higher education area, have lead to the adoption of a higher education system based on two main cycles - undergraduate and graduate.

The academic branch of Estonian higher education follows the Bachelors-Masters model. The length is usually three years (180 ECTS).

Professional higher education institutions offer non-academic first cycle higher education aimed at providing skills and knowledge required to work in a certain profession or continue studies at a master's level. The length is 3-4 years (180-240 ECTS).

The master's level qualification lasts normally 2 years (120 ECTS) and is a prerequisite for the commencement of doctoral studies. The length of doctoral studies is 3-4 years.

Further information and a list of higher education institutions are available at www.smartestonia.ee .

Scholarships

Since January 1, 2005 the Archimedes Foundation is responsible for technical coordination of scholarships/ internships offered to Estonian students and researchers by our foreign partners and for scholarships offered by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research to foreign students and researches.

Archimedes Foundation participates in the selection process of the candidates, distributes information about scholarship and placement opportunities to Estonian and foreign students, provides consultations for all interested parties and organises communication between Estonian and foreign institutions.

For more information: www.archimedes.ee

Where can I find more information?

Consulate of the Republic of Estonia, New South Wales
40 Nicholson St
Balmain East NSW 2041
Tel : (02) 8014 8999
Fax : (02) 8079 6886
Email : sydney@estonianconsul.org

Consulate of the Republic of Estonia, Queensland

11 Gawalla Street
The Gap Qld 4061
Tel : (07) 3300 6969
Fax : (07) 3300 6968
Email  :  eesti@tpg.com.au

Consulate of the Republic of Estonia, Western Australia

11 Langsford Street
Claremont   WA  6010
Tel : (08) 9384 2757
Fax : (08) 9384 2757
Email  :  consul@estonia.com.au
Ministry of Education and Research: www.hm.ee
Website for foreign students: www.smartestonia.ee

Archimedes Foundation: www.archimedes.ee - a national body that is responsible for implementing international cooperation and exchanges in higher education, also EU programmes and projects

The Estonian Institute: www.einst.ee

Estonian Science Foundation: www.etf.ee