Ahead of the Curve: Why Indian’s Should look to Study in Estonia

Rahul Bhola, 29, is from Kanpur and works two jobs while he finishes his Masters in Mechatronics (Mechanical and Electronic Engineering) at Tallinn Technical University (TTU). He divides his time between ABB, a Swedish multinational company, and the university’s hub of innovation, the Mektory, where he is working on sending a Nanosatellite to outer space. “I found out about Estonia and TTU in 2015 at an education fair in New Delhi. I didn’t want a regular education and the university offered me something different,” Bhola told Hardnews. In 2016, he made his way to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, and fully immersed himself in the student life at the university, which offers him the freedom to find work along with the classes, “The course provides real-life experience and encourages us to work by ourselves,” he continued. After finishing his course, Rahul will be allowed to work for 9 months, and after those, he can apply for a (two year) five-year temporary resident permit.

Indians are coming from all regions – to be part of the digital moment that has transformed the country’s fortunes – to study all things digital from engineering, computer programming, cybersecurity, life sciences, semoitics and game design. In the early 2000s, the Baltic Country underwent a miracle, reams and reams of newsprint have been devoted to Estonia becoming world’s first fully digital society – 99% of all government services are digitised and almost the entire country has easy access to the internet. To the extent, citizens can file their taxes in a matter of minutes through their phones and this ease also extends to doing business.

Estonia is hungering for business and through it talent. It is fast becoming one of the largest hubs for start-ups all over the world. It is after all home to some of the most successful companies in the world, one can find the likes of Skype, Transferwise, Pipedrive and Jobbatical in Tallinn. These companies are some of the most exciting places to work anywhere in the world, with their inclusive hiring practices and willingness to innovate are attracting talent from all over the world. Moreover, ‘Work in Estonia’ a government-led initiative is trying to attract talent from all over the world to come to the country to work permanently. Now, Estonia hopes to attract Information, Communication and Technology related talent from India, both as students and workers.
As the Estonian Ambassador to India Riho Kruuv says, “Estonia is an innovative digital society that offers excellent opportunities for study at world-class universities at affordable prices. We look forward to see Indian students come to Estonia for study and work for trend-setting companies.”

Study in Estonia

Studying in Estonia is easily accessible and while the programmes are highly selective they are 150 English programmes across the 8 universities in the country. In total, there are six public and two private universities which provide education at costs which are far lower than other parts of Europe. Some of the best programmes such as Digital Learning Games have a fee of Euro 1250 a semester, which is as cheaper than some Indian private universities. In addition, most programmes in Estonia are ahead of the curve: all universities offer the unique opportunity to work alongside with their studies. Secondly, all their programmes are tailored for the future of work, all programmes have a ‘digital component’ across disciplines from business administration programmes to design, social sciences; and all technical programmes go above and beyond just teaching the students applied skills giving students a holistic approach to education. All of these courses are concerned with the future of work moulding the next generation of management, coders, analysts, designers, cybersecurity workers, designers and entrepreneurs.