Applications total 7,858, ERR's Novaator portal reported, with over 1,300 of these coming from overseas students. TLÜ plans to admit around 2,500 new students for the next academic year.

Priit Reiska, Vice-Rector for Studies at the university, said the recent coronavirus crisis was a factor in the upturn, as the last major economic crisis over a decade ago had also seen a surge in applications.

Breakdown of applicant number, courses

Around 80 percent of TLÜ students work at the same time as studying, Reiska said, noting an increasing number of curricula, particularly for master's degrees, were being offered as "sessioonõppe", where students only attend courses in three or four-day stints twice per month.

"It is a conscious choice of the university to offer more flexible study opportunities and thus support lifelong learning," the Reiska said.

TLÜ said of the 7,858 applications, 6,114 were for bachelor's degrees as well as applied higher education specialities, and 1,688 for master's degrees. An additional 56 applications were for doctoral studies.

More than 1,300 applications have been submitted by foreign students so far.

A total of 45 bachelor's courses and 57 master's degree courses were available to apply for, of which 81 are taught in Estonian and 21 in English. There were 14 doctoral.

Psychology (630 applications), pre-primary education ( sessioonõppe – see above) and business administration were the most popular courses.

Psychology as a full-time course also sees the fiercest competition for any course nationwide, with 15.75 applications per place, TLÜ said.

That the pandemic and its after-effects caused an increase in applications can also be seen more broadly and outside of Estonia, Reiska said, noting that Finland allocated an additional €124 million to higher education, creating nearly 5,000 extra study places in the process.

--

Download the ERR News app for Android and iOS now and never miss an update!