Admission to the study programmes is usually administered by the higher education institution.
The evaluation of foreign higher education qualifications and qualifications giving access to higher education is conducted by the Estonian National Academic Recognition Information Centre (Estonian ENIC/NARIC). Applicants should also prove their proficiency in the English language. The common requirement is an official result of TOEFL, IELTS or some other internationally accepted English proficiency tests.
Candidates should apply directly to the higher education institution for more detailed information on admissions and scholarship opportunities.
More information can be found at www.studyinestonia.ee
General Organisation
Higher education is free of charge in Estonia for those studying full-time and in Estonian.
New needs-based student support system was introduced at 2013/2014. Students from less privileged families can apply for study allowance (~ 150-440 EUR per month) when studying full-time and completing at least 75% of the curriculum.
Students can apply for special study loans from banks.
Overall, there are 19 educational institutions offering higher education in Estonia:
- 6 public universities
- 1 privately owned university
- 7 state professional higher education institutions
- 5 private professional higher education institutions
The description of Estonian higher education system
- Estonian higher education system, valid from 09/2019
a) for students admitted to studies before 01.09.2019
b) for students admitted to studies starting from 01.09.2019
Needs-based study allowance can be applied for by a student:
- who is a citizen of Estonia or resides in Estonia on the basis of a permanent or temporary residence permit;
- who is not on academic leave;
- whose period of study has not exceeded the standard period of the curriculum;
- who studies full-time and completes the curriculum’s requirements in 75% or studies full-time in the first semester;
- whose family’s monthly income per family member is below 756,38 euros.
Doctoral candidates are not eligible for needs-based study allowance, they can apply for the doctoral allowance.
Amounts of the needs-based study allowance are divided as follows: 150, 270 and 440. Being qualified to any of the amounts of the allowance depends on the average income of the student and their family members in the calendar year prior to the academic year of submitting an application for the study allowance. The family’s average income is calculated on the basis of the taxable income in the calendar year preceding the academic year of applying for the allowance.
- If the monthly income is up to 189,1 euros, you are eligible for a needs-based study allowance of 440 euros per month;
- if the monthly income is 189,11 to 378,19 euros, you are eligible for an allowance of 270 euros per month;
- and if the monthly income is 378,2 to 756,38 euros, you are eligible for an allowance of 150 euros per month.
You are not eligible for an allowance if the income per family member exceeds 756,38 euros.
A student is considered to belong to the same family as their parents until the age of 24 (incl.), unless the student is married, a parent or a guardian. In that case, the student is considered to be a separate family.
Needs-based study allowances are granted twice per academic year: for the autumn and spring semesters. To apply for the allowance, you have to submit an application in the portal edu.ee. You can submit the application during the entire semester.
The applicant must submit the following documents:
- A document concerning the composition of the family (NB! The document must have been no older than 6 months). The document must list the following family members:
- parents of a student up to 24 years of age if the student is not married or a parent or guardian of a child;
- minor sisters, brothers, half-sisters and half-brothers of a student up to 24 years of age if the student is not married or a parent or guardian of a child;
- those sisters, brothers, half-sisters and half-brothers (up to 24 years of age) of a student up to 24 years of age (who is not married or a parent or guardian of a child) who are obtaining general secondary education in stationary studies or vocational education in stationary studies or full-time or higher education full-time and have not exceeded the nominal period of studies according to the curriculum;
- the spouse of the student;
- the minor child whose parent or guardian the student is.
- A document that sets out the taxable income of the student and their family members in the calendar year preceding the academic year of applying for the needs-based study allowance (NB! The document must clearly set out the income in the period from 1 January to 31 December). If the applicant or their family member had no income in the calendar year preceding the academic year of applying for the needs-based study allowance, a corresponding certificate must be submitted. All income documents must have been issued by the tax authority of the applicant’s home country. Certificates issued by an employer and bank statements are not acceptable documents.
Tax residents do not have to add data on their income, the applicant must upload data on income of non-tax residents and non-tax resident family members when submitting the application.
If the applicant for a need-based study allowance is a non-resident or his or her family members include non-residents, the applicant needs to manually add data about his/her family members to the application (name, date of birth). As the average income of the student shall be calculated based on the incomes of the persons which are similar to the types of income specified in subsection (1) of § 5¹ of the Study Allowances and Study Loans Act, documents certifying such income need to be appended by the applicant as well. To convert your income into euros, please use Bloomberg currency converter.
When submitting the application, please upload all of the original documentation alongside their translation into Estonian or English (documentation needs to be translated by a translation bureau). They do not need to be affirmed by a notary.
The data on studies originate from the Estonian Education Information System. If a student finds that there is a mistake in the state portal in connection with the study volume completed by them or their study load, they must contact their educational establishment. If the study load and volume are not in compliance with the terms and conditions for applying, it will not be possible to file an application.
In the month of submission of the application, the allowance will be paid seven days after granting the application. Thereafter, the allowance will be paid within the first seven working days of each month. The allowance will be transferred to the student’s bank account indicated in the portal edu.ee.
Certification of the documents
A public document destined for use in Estonia needs to have its´ authenticity certified in a way that is acknowledged internationally. Therefore the document needs to be legalised or certified with an apostille certificate, if an international agreement does not foresee otherwise. A public document has to be legalised if it is intended to be used or it has been issued in a country that has not acceded to the Convention abolishing the requirement of legalisation for foreign public documents and if Estonia has not concluded a legal aid agreement with that country.
A public document of a foreign country destined for use in Estonia should be first legalised in the Foreign Ministry or Foreign Mission of the foreign country where the document has been issued, and thereafter in a Foreign Mission of the Republic of Estonia or in the consular department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia. Legalisation can be performed only in case of an original document, a notarised copy or a certified copy of an original, a print out or an extract of original document, which contains the signature, first name and surname as well as the position of the person who signed it, and also the original seal of the authority that has issued the document.
The procedural description and information of the submission of applications to legalise documentation
A public document does not need to be legalised but needs an apostille certificate if it is intended to be used or it has been issued in a country that has acceded to the Convention abolishing the requirement of legalisation for foreign public documents Apostille certification can usually be obtained from a notary.
Additional information:
- You can expect to receive feedback within 30 calendar days.
- An additional time of 15 working days shall be added to the procedure of an application for the need-based study allowance, starting from the moment when all of the necessary data has been obtained by the organiser of the allocation of the allowance.
Doctoral allowance
Doctoral students matriculating in the 2022/2023 academic year or after
From the 2022/2023 academic year, doctoral student places will mainly be offered as state-funded junior research fellow positions. If universities have suitable funding and willingness to supervise the student, it may also be possible to be admitted as a student (without the employment contract of a junior research fellow). More specific information may be found on the website of the university.
Doctoral students matriculated in the 2021/2022 academic year or before
Doctoral students matriculated in the 2021/2022 academic year or before have the status of a student. This enables to apply for different scholarships meant for students.
All doctoral students studying full-time are entitled to receive a doctoral allowance of 660 euros per month for the four years of the standard duration of the curriculum.
The terms and conditions of the doctoral allowance:
- The applicant is a citizen of Estonia or an Estonian resident on the basis of a long-term residence permit or a temporary residence permit or permanent or temporary right of residence.
- The studies of the applicant have not exceeded the nominal duration of the curriculum.
- Students on academic leave are not entitled to a study allowance.
State grants
Teacher training programme student scholarship
The purpose of the teacher training scholarship is to value learning as a teacher, to recognise the teacher's profession in Estonian society, and thereby to increase the number of candidates for teacher training and those who acquire the teacher's profession. Since 2023/2024 students studying full time in the teacher training or support specialist training programme may apply for the scholarship in amount 400 euros per month. Students who started their studies before 2023/2024 can apply for the teacher training scholarship in amount 160 euros per month. Both scholarships are funded by the Estonian Government. The application process takes place via the Education and Youth Board.
Special-needs student grant
The grant is available for the student with special needs from 60 to 510 euros. The amount of the grant depends on the type and severity of the disability. The application process takes place via the Education and Youth Board twice a year.
Grant for young people raised in a substitute home or family 160 euros
The application process takes place via the Education and Youth once a year.
In order to be granted the right to conduct studies at the higher education level (the so-called education license of the new generation), private, public and state institutions of higher education shall submit a request, attaching to it information on the quality, resources, and sustainability of studies to the Ministry of Education and Research. The request shall be processed through the Estonian Higher Education Quality Agency. In the event of a positive result, the right to conduct studies shall be approved by a regulation of the Government of the Republic in an Annex to the Standard of Higher Education.
External evaluation carried out by an independent accreditation agency (the Estonian Higher Education Quality Agency (EKKA) or, with its approval, a competent foreign quality assessment agency).
The institutional accreditation of a higher education institution is an external evaluation during which the internal quality assurance system of the educational institution and its functioning are assessed, including the fulfilment of tasks with which the educational institution has been entrusted and the conformity of its management, administration, study and research environment to the objectives and development plan of the educational institution.
The assessment of the quality of a study programme group consists of evaluation of the conformity of the study programmes belonging to the study programme group and the instruction provided on the basis thereof to legislation as well as to national and international standards, including the level of the corresponding theoretical and practical instruction, the research and pedagogical qualification of the teaching staff and research staff, as well as the sufficiency and sustainability of resources for the provision of instruction.
All institutions of higher education must request an education licence from the Government of the Republic in order to obtain the right to conduct studies in a specific study programme group and at a specific level of education. The education license received for the study programme group extends state recognition to all study programmes in that group.
There is no accreditation of a single study programme; assessment committees, comprised of international experts, give feedback to the entire study programme group at least once every seven years.
Institutional accreditation, or an external evaluation of the functioning of the organisation as a whole and its system of quality assurance, is going to be the main instrument for quality assurance.
The purpose of an external evaluation of higher education is feedback, not the application of sanctions.
For further information, please visit the website of Estonian Higher Education Quality Agency.
Last updated: 03.04.2025
