When you arrive at an Estonian university for the first day of your orientation week as an international student, the very first thing you come to contact with is a Study in Estonia welcome bag filled with all kinds of goodies. My personal favorite was the black Study in Estonia hat and gloves with special material on their fingertips allowing you to type on your phone and still care for your fingers in the freezing Estonian windy winter. Very tech friendly. Such as Estonia.
The truth is if you study in Estonia as an Erasmus exchange student or a full time degree student, sooner or later you will come across this organization. And if you don’t, well, you might miss out. Study in Estonia is a national promotion agency targeting international students from all over the world to come study in Estonia. Under their umbrella of activities, besides marketing and promotional activities, falls quality assurance, academic recognition and student scholarships under the Archimedes Foundation, the umbrella organization of Study in Estonia. In the last decade, Estonian universities with the national initiative "Study in Estonia" have managed to increase the number of international students more than five times. Currently, there are 5 500 international students in Estonia, making up 12% of the entire student population.
Are there any differences in the experience of international students in Estonia?
The positive developments of the last decade and efforts of organisations such as Study in Estonia are threatened by recent changes in the so-called “Alien Act”. Recently, an additional bill to this act has been passed by the Estonian Ministry of Interior almost exclusively targeting the non-EU students. According to news.err.ee, this bill aims to restrict working hours of international students to 16 hours a week, and limiting the possibility of students’ families to come live with them in Estonia, making it really challenging for the non-EU students to settle down and work in Estonia. This new policy-making might be grounded in a conviction that poorly integrated international students end up doing unskilled work and bringing in families who also do not speak the language and are therefore not able to interact and function within the Estonian context. News.rr.ee also said that none of the government’s reasoning is based in any studies, analyses or other evidence. The route taken by the current government in regards to the international education policy seems to be a one of problem prevention, rather than addressing the problem head on, establishing a strong integration policy.
Eero Loonurm, the Head of International Marketing at Study in Estonia, sees the contribution of international students in a bit more broader terms. In a conversation with FEMCE, Eero shared his vision of an ideal international student experience according to the three types of international students in Estonia. The first one - the Erasmus exchange student - who’s come here to make the most out of his semester abroad by building connections, making friends and in a best case scenario, eventually coming back and possibly doing business or having diplomatic relations with Estonia one day. The second type of an international student is the full-time degree student who came here to stay here - to conduct some fantastic research and potentially continue to stay and work in Estonia. The third type is a student who is a degree student, but chooses to return back home after his studies, perhaps bringing a bit of the Estonian experience along with him or her and using it in some way. In Mr Loonurm’s ideal vision of an international student graduate is someone who merges the global and the Estonian world together - employed by an Estonian company working either in their home country or the wider world and thus continuing to spread the Estonian message across the globe.
This vision doesn’t seem too far from the reality of those working for the Tallinn-based tech companies and start ups such as Veriff or TransferWise with their offices in London and Barcelona, and all over the world. But aren’t these jobs only for the TalTech graduates? Eero Loonurm debunks this myth by claiming that many of the Estonian tech companies are looking for graduates of the so-called “soft” fields, who they can train and possibly use their unique international experience. However, he does acknowledge that learning the local language should become an inherent part of the international student experience and that graduates of those soft fields might have an easier time getting a job if they speak Estonian.
Even though the current politics and cultural mood seem not to be in favor of those who came here from abroad (especially from the non-EU countries) in a promise of starting their careers in the up-and-coming Estonia, there is still hope and things that international students can do to increase their chances. First of all, immerse yourself in the culture and learn the local language. Make it your priority. Secondly, search for companies who are interested in the international perspective - your perspective and your willingness to learn. And finally, learn from those who already walked the path before you, other foreigners now working and living in Estonia. For starters, you can start here and read a few of the inspirational stories of international students from various professional and cultural backgrounds making their way through the Estonian job market.