A large number of high school graduates and strong interest in pursuing higher education have driven application numbers to their highest in years at several universities this year. For example, applications to the Estonian Academy of Arts and Tallinn University are up by nearly 5 percent, the University of Tartu saw a 10 percent increase and the Tartu Health Care College received nearly 40 percent more applications than last year.

"The number of high school graduates will continue to rise for the next four or five years. That explains the increase at the bachelor's level. The rise in master's applications, I believe, can be attributed to adult learners. We've seen a steady increase in students aged 30 and over in our master's programs. This also means more applicants will be turned away. At the bachelor's level, there are about four applicants per place and in master's studies, about two," said Aune Valk, vice rector for academic affairs at the University of Tartu.

Some of the most popular programs are seeing significantly more applicants per available spot — particularly psychology, which nearly doubled in applications at the University of Tartu compared to last year, as well as programs related to medicine.

"There are currently as many as 17 applicants per study spot in the most competitive programs and 10 applicants per place has become the norm," said Helen Joost, head of academic affairs at Tallinn University.

"For physiotherapy, we're seeing 15 applicants per place and more than 18 for midwifery. We're opening bioanalytics and radiology technician groups in both Tartu and Tallinn. Radiology technician is especially popular — more than 18 applicants per place in Tartu," said Kersti Viitkar, vice rector for academic affairs at Tartu Health Care College.

Both the University of Tartu and Tallinn University have seen a marked increase in interest in teacher training programs in recent years and this trend has continued into this year.

"Given the ongoing societal focus on the topic, teacher training has been in the spotlight for several years now. This is also the third year that students in these programs can receive scholarships, which definitely influences their decisions. Applications for teacher training rose by another 10 percent this year. It's quite remarkable — previous years saw jumps of 20 and even 30 percent. We keep thinking it can't continue at that pace, but this year it still grew," said Valk.

"If we look only at teacher training programs — the ones that lead directly to a teaching qualification — then we can say that the number of applications has doubled over the past five years," Joost added.

While interest in Russian language and culture programs has declined at Tallinn University, the University of Tartu has seen a drop in applications to IT programs over the past couple of years. Meanwhile, interest from international students in studying in Tartu has once again increased.

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