Going abroad either for studies or for practical training diversifies the worldview and provides a good opportunity to achieve international experience. Later in your life, experience of that kind would rather likely improve your position on the labour market, since various companies and organizations prefer to recruit an employee of international networking background with members from different nationalities.
You venture to assert having travelled the world… Indeed this may be true, yet the tourist’s angle does not always amount to experience gained by studying and living in a foreign country. By means of student mobility between partner universities, you will acquire several competences immediately related to your selected specialty and some of these aspects may partially remain unexamined in the courses you have attended here at the University of Tartu. However, besides learning you may also choose to undergo traineeship abroad.
Every student of the School of Economics and Business Administration has the opportunity to spend 1-2 semesters studying abroad and there exists a special measure in the curriculum for such a study track – the mobility window. During the studies in an exchange program, students must collect the minimum of 15 ECTS for each semester. Our recommendation for you is to seek and attend such courses that best match the learning outcomes of the compulsory or elective courses in your curriculum. By doing so you will be able to decrease the expected study load after coming back. Note that in bachelor’s studies the most suitable semesters for studying abroad are the 3rd, 4th and 5th semester. When you are already in master’s level studies, a fair option would be the 2nd and 3rd semester. Eventually, the decision is up to you.
Whenever you gather 15 ECTS per one semester at the host university, you are entitled to an extension semester at your home university as you return. This does not necessarily mean that you are now required to postpone graduation. As long as you manage to complete the curriculum in the nominal period of 3 or 2 years, you will be able to graduate in time (i.e. together with fellow students).
Note that when you collect less than 15 ECTS during an exchange semester, you will not be entitled to extend the studies based on that period abroad. The study information system will still count the semester when you lived and studied abroad down from your nominal study period and you run the risk of having to reimburse the missing credit point volume. There is also the slightly worse scenario that you will continue in part time (fee-paying) studies when the academic year ends. Therefore, please make sure that you safely return with the volume of at least 15 ECTS collected at the host university.
This depends on the chosen exchange program for realizing your studies abroad.
• The most popular choice is the Erasmus+ program of the European Union (you can apply for study mobility starting from the 2nd semester and the scholarship is 470…520 euros monthly, travel expenses are covered). More info: https://www.ut.ee/en/studies/studyabroad/erasmus/erasmus-student-exchange
• Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility (scholarship 700 euros monthly, plus travel expenses)
• Scholarship for traineeship abroad (scholarship 670…720 euros monthly, plus travel expenses; students must individually search for a traineeship place!). This scholarship is available also for recent graduates, duration 4 months. https://www.ut.ee/en/studies/studyabroad/erasmus/erasmus-traineeship-grant
• ISEP program (International Student Exchange Program) – 320 universities worldwide, financial support for studies, accommodation in the dormitory, meals; travel expenses are not covered.
• Find out where the School of Economics and Business Administration has mobility partners. Here and here you can browse the list of partner universities.
• Ask for advice from the program director of your curriculum, and consult the specialist for International Studies Kristi Liivamägi.
• Follow the applications timeline. HERE you can browse information about the ongoing contests.
• Take time to look into the financial support possibilities.
• Complete the application form and be ready for a positive response.
Students experiences:
While in Tartu, I had the chance to create meaningful relationships with numerous Erasmus students and seeing them enjoying so much this experience, getting out of their comfort zone and going on exploring new lands and cultures, made me craving for a semester abroad.
So it was. Belgium -> Brussels -> KU Leuven -> Van Orley. That's the sequence of my great journey filled with amazing people with whom I keep in touch up until now and get together with every occasion.
And still, is it worth going on an exchange abroad? Personally, it is one of the best decisions during my studies and I encourage you to create your own list and memories as an exchange student. :) One of the advantages of going on an exchange abroad is having the opportunity to compare two different study systems and take the best out of both of them.
That semester surely improved my self-awareness and it was good preparation for the future working life. Many prominent companies have their offices in Brussels, which means that we could enjoy guest lectures and presentations from representatives of the biggest names in the business such as Decathlon, Deloitte, KPMG etc.
For instance, at KU Leuven there was a not so large number of foreign languages that you could study as elective courses, compared to more than 20 different languages at UT. As a result, once I came back, one of the first things I did was to register in a foreign language course.
Both universities are great in preparing good specialists in their fields, but as you can see, they have different approaches while doing it. Further on, it is up to personal preferences which approach suits you better and having the chance to experience them both, I concluded which one suits me.
What did I learn? Acceptance of the things I have never thought to accept and understand. The thing I noticed that people in Australia are confident in their future and they know what to do in any situation. Keeping calm and relaxed - just a thing that I learned, people there are slower than in Estonia. Studying is a hard and demanding process; teachers there are strict but helpful.Why go to Australia? It is one of the most beautiful and unique places I have ever been to. If you get a chance (and you will), travel as much as possible, see places and meet new people. Believe me, you never saw so many different cultures that are peacefully living together in one place. Nature is mind-blowing and you will see animals that you cannot find anywhere else. The list is countless, still in doubt just PM me on Facebook. I will be happy to answer all your questions and help as much as I can.
If you are an international student, you may think that as you are already studying abroad, the exchange semester is useless, but I assure you that it going to be one of the most memorable periods in your life and it definitely worth it.
In my case, the process of arranging a semester abroad started almost a year before my first lecture at the host university. The first and most important step is to find the right university, for that you need to clearly define your goals, what you really want from the exchange and the university itself.
With this list, I ended up in Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany.
Furthermore, as the final grade was based only on the exam mark, we were expected to do a lot of independent studies (no team-works, no projects or mid-term tests). Also, in Germany, there is a clear distinction between lecture-courses and seminar-courses, where the first ones end up with the exam, and second ones with the research paper. I found this German approach also working because I got very strong knowledge from all of the courses that I took, even though the exam time was much more stressful than at UT.
The social part of the exchange is also worth mentioning because we had a lot of parties, trips and different events organized for exchange students by the university as well as the dormitory.
I would definitely recommend you go for an exchange semester! Extend your academic background, experience a new culture, meet new people!
Partner universities
Haute Ecole Libre Mosane (HELMo)
University of Zagreb
Mendel University in BrnoSilesian University in OpavaUniversity of PardubiceAnglo-American University
University of Eastern Finland
University of Tampere
University of Vaasa
University of Bordeaux
University of BurgundyUniversité Catholique de Lille
Universite MontpellierUniversite Paris-Est Creteil XII - val de Marne
Y Schools
Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences
Johan Wolfgang Goethe-Universität
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Universität Greifswald
Universität Koblenz-Landau
Universität Leipzig
Hochschule Ravensburg-Weingarten
Universität Vechta
Bergische Universität Wuppertal
Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
University of Macedonia
Corvinus University of Budapest
University og Szeged
Universita di Bologna
Universita degli Studi di Perugia
Ventspils University College
Vilniaus Universitetas
Norwegian School of Economics
University of Lodz
University of Szczecin
Warsaw School of Economics
Instituto Superior de Gestao
Universidade Lusofona de Humanidades e Tecnologias
University of Economics in Bratislava
Technical University of Košice
Universidad Miquel Hernandez de Elche
Universidad de Huelva
Universidade da Coruña
Högskolan i Kristianstad
Universiteit Groningen
Akdeniz Univeristesi
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