The number of foreign students has increased by nearly 50% in five years

According to Statistics Estonia, 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. 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 South African Republic, Indonesia and Trinidad and Tobago are represented. 233 foreign students study at integrated Bachelor's/Master's level, 25 at applied higher education level, 487 at Bachelor's level, 367 at Master’s level and 170 Doctoral level. 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.

Foreign students in Estonia
	2005	2010
Countries of Africa	4	30
Countries of Asia	136	202
Countries of Europe (except Estonia)	742	990
Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean area	2	26
Countries of Northern America	10	32
Countries of Australia and Oceania	0	1
Undetermined territories		1
TOTAL	894	1282

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 Master and Doctorate level.

Admittance, enrolment and graduates by educational level categories
Educational level category	Admittance		Enrolment		Graduates
Educational level category	2009	2010	2009	2010	2009	2010
Applied higher education^a	5 812	5 463	22 544	21 970	4136	3 895
Bachelor courses	7 842	7 518	27 531	27 461	4533	4 368
Integrated bachelor and master courses	796	755	4 160	4 122	393	469
Master courses	4 179	4 094	12 097	12 632	2 267	2 543
Doctor courses	538	574	2 653	2 928	160	175
TOTAL	19 167	18 404	68 985	69 113	11 489	11 450

^a Incl. diploma and professional higher education courses (no admittance any more since 2003).

^*In the case of graduates, the year stands for the end of the academic year, in other cases – the beginning of the academic year.

For many years now, business and management has been the most popular field of study among both, men and women – 21% 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 Bachelor’s and Master’s level, whereas there are more doctoral students in the humanities, social and behavioural sciences and life sciences.

In the academic year of 2010/2011 a programme “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 in the framework of this programme. The programme “TULE“ is carried out by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research and funded by the European Social Fund and the State of Estonia.

The data are based on the Estonian Education Information System administered by the Ministry of Education and Research.

For further information:

Karolin Kõrreveski
Analyst
Population and Social Statistics Department
Statistics Estonia
Tel +372 625 9165

More detailed data have been published in the Statistical Database.