INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS SAY ESTONIA IS THE BEST COUNTRY FOR STAY

Estonia ranked 1st in the ESN Survey 2010 regarding the average satisfaction level for stay in the hosting country institution. ESN Survey is one of the biggest international student surveys in Europe and it received answers from more than 8400 students who had studied at least one semester abroad.

ESN Survey 2010 explores the benefits of an academic exchange. Additionally the survey investigates the economical situation of exchange students while studying abroad as well as their opinion about the quality of studies at home and host university. Besides that the survey ranks the top countries regarding the highest satisfaction with the stay abroad and with the studies abroad.

Estonia became 1st in ESN Survey 2010 regarding the average satisfaction level for stay with the score 4,74. Estonia was followed in the 5-point scale by Portugal (4,62), Austria (4,61), Sweden (4,58) and Hungary (4,56).

International students with Gustav Ernesaks monument in Tallinn Song Festival Ground. Photo: ESN Tallinn 2011
„The 1st position is the result of a continuous work for many years – universities have opened new study programmes in English, the support structures of the universities function well, the good work of student organizations is just amazing and of course, Estonia´s highly developed infrastructure supports the students´ stay in the country as well,“ commented Eero Loonurm from Archimedes Foundation.

„This ESN Survey result is a great piece of information. As some of the most known rankings never allow smaller universities to be in the top100, then now we have got valuable data that Estonia is actually the most enjoyed study destination in Europe. It means that when international students choose Estonia, they choose the best country for stay,“ added Loonurm.

Estonia ranked 10th (4,15) regarding the average satisfaction level for studies. The best five countries were the USA (4,32), Denmark (4,28), Switzerland (4,26), Ireland (4,23) and Sweden (4,22). The average result is 4,06. Estonia has better results than Finland, Norway, United Kingdom and Belgium, and also beats the Mediterranean countries and all countries in the Eastern Europe.

„There are lots of rankings in the world that assess the institutions, but the most authentic comments will always come from students who can compare different universities and can assess the quality level in both of them,“ added University of Tartu master´s degree student and ESN Survey 2010 Team member Marge Taivere.
„Estonia has got a really good result in both levels. Student organizations (like ESN Tallinn and ESN Tartu) are top class in Europe; they have been organizing the social life of international students for more than 10 years. Our universities take very good care of international students. Estonia´s low living costs is also an important factor and besides that Estonian students tend to speak foreign languages. All these factors make international students feel themselves very good in Estonia,“ commented Taivere.

International Student Barometer is the world´s biggest survey that analyzes the experience of international students and has also shown positive statistics for Estonia. ISB says that international students in Estonia are more satisfied with the overall satisfaction level for stay than their counterparts in Europe.

ESN Survey is a project that was initiated in 2005. Every year, ESN International launches a survey that explores the current issues connected to academic and non-academic mobility. ESN passes all the results to the main stakeholders in higher education and mobility programmes: European Commission, National Agencies of Erasmus Programme, higher education institutions and all associations concerned with the topic.

5 Sept 2012