Estonian study: foreign students satisfied with higher education

Most of the students who have come to Estonia from other countries are satisfied with the higher education provided in the country, it appears from a global students' iGraduate poll.

Photo: www.studyinestonia.eeMost of all the foreign students studying in Estonia are satisfied with the living environment, with 89 percent of those interviewed assessing it as positive and the average of the poll was 85 percent.

Security was assessed at the highest and the general opinion was that Estonia is generally a very good place to live. A large part of the satisfaction was from a reasonable price level and opportunities of spending free time. Dissatisfaction is mainly connected with opportunities of finding work side by side with studies and with career advice in wider terms.

The level of support services is also assessed at higher than the average level, 89 percent against the average 87. Estonia's biggest pluses are student organizations dealing with foreign students, good level work at giving advice to foreign students and assistance at higher schools. Compared with other countries, accommodation opportunities and financial support services were assessed at the highest. Room for development compared with the rest of Europe was mainly in the career advice and in the medical sphere.

Satisfaction with the quality of studies remained three percentage points lower than the average - 82 percent against 85 percent. The main concern compared with others were issues connected with further career opportunities, organization of research work and the foreign language level of members of the academic staff. There is satisfaction with the multicultural atmosphere and the study environment in general.

Mariann Lugus, head of foreign marketing of higher education at SA Archimedes, said that it was the world's most extensive students' opinion poll. "The study is carried out by the British company, International Insight Group, since 2005 and opinions of more than one million students have been asked. They want to know their opinion about the level of studies, of support services and of the living environment."

"Generally we are more or less at the same or slightly higher level compared with with a couple of years ago. If two years ago we compared us with Great Britain, the Netherlands and Belgium, then now our results have been compared with 15 European countries and such countries attractive to foreign students as the United States, Canada, New Zealand and even South Africa," Lugus said.

There are 1,600 foreign students in level studies, and besides there are nearly 800 Erasmus exchange students a year. Nearly 700 foreigners acquiring higher education in Estonia took part in the poll.

Participation in the poll of foreign students studying in Estonia was financed from the DoRa framework of the European Social Fund.

Baltic News Service