Foundation Hails Success of Student Language Project
The Integration and Migration Foundation Our People has announced the success of a project that provided Estonian language training for over 600 students of higher education institutions in the 2007 to 2010 period.
Under the project, which was aimed at helping non-native speakers expand their knowledge of Estonian, the educational institutions themselves submitted proposals for language improvement activities. The 49 proposals implemented included specialized courses in professional language, short intensive courses, study tours, seasonal schools and language camps.
The foundation's head of programs for lifelong education Eduard Odinets said that the project's achievements had well exceeded expectations. "Initially we set ourselves the goal [...] of helping 240 students whose native language was not Estonian improve their knowledge of the Estonian language. We fulfilled more than double that goal – in the framework of the project more than 600 students were able to improve their knowledge of the language," he said.
The 261,000 euro project was paid for by the European Social Fund.