Estonian Preparation Year

NB! Due to the changes in the language requirements of the University of Tartu's admission conditions, we will not open the Estonian Preparation Year Program starting from the academic year 2023/24.

You want to apply for a degree programme taught in Estonian at the University of Tartu but you don't have the required language skills? The Estonian preparation year is a great place to start learning. Learn about our Estonian-taught programmes here.

These are the things you should know if you want to take the Estonian language preparation year at the University of Tartu:

• if you haven't studied Estonian before, you need to pass the preparation year for the value of 60 ECTS;
• you can take the Estonian preparation year courses only as a continuing education learner;
• learners attending the preparation year or semester are not registered as degree pursuing students, which means no student benefits can be applied (incl. a student card, dormitory place or the like), there could be exceptions made to the Ukrainian citizens, whose university studies have been disrupted due to the war;
• coming from non-EU countries, you need to apply for a long term (D-type) visa;
• the University of Tartu sends confirmation letters which can be used when applying for a D-type visa to those learners only, who sign up and pay for at least 24 ECTS per semester;
• the application period is from 15^th of April to 1^st of June 2022;
• the tuition fee for the Estonian preparation year is 2700€ (the Ukrainian citizens do not need to pay the tuition fee);
• the invoices will be sent to you in the beginning of July 2022 via e-mail, the acceptance letter will be sent out only after the University of Tartu has received the tuition fee payment;
• in order to apply, you need to fill the online application form in the Dream Apply system, upload a motivation letter and prove that you have at least a B2 level in English (please check the accepted English tests and result in here);
• in your motivation letter, we are expecting you to tell us about your hopes and expectations on studying at the University of Tartu and doing that in Estonian;

Please note that we assess applicants’ documents, motivation and interest in learning the language and speciality at the University of Tartu. The university has the right to decline requests to study Estonian.

Preparation Year courses in the autumn semester of 2022/2023 start from 29th of August 2022:

Preparation Year courses in the spring semester of 2022/2023:

The schedule of the spring semester courses is the same as in autumn semester.