This week marks a major milestone in Estonian history, as celebrations on 100 years of its Independence take place. It also marks a major milestone in the history of the International Student Ambassadors of the University of Tartu, for we held our first Scholarship Fair.
With a total of 92 attendees hunting for information on funding opportunities and a strong organizing team, its success can be measured both in attendance and in enthusiasm. With three elaborate presentations and four manned booths, we reached many students and got to provide them with valuable knowledge.

The first presentation was held by Tuuli Vallisso, who gave a comprehensive explanation of the rules and regulations regarding national state allowances and stipends such as the needs-based and special needs-based allowances. As many degree-seeking students were asking about applying for stipends provided by the local government, her presentation was very worthwhile. She also explained shortly about the achievement stipend and the opportunities to receive doctoral allowances and stipends. For those who want to read through the PowerPoint slides, they are available here: state-allowances-and-stipends.ppt

Miss Vallisso’s presentation was followed by a presentation from Ülle Tensing, who is a representative of the Study Abroad Centre. Her presentation focused on funding opportunities for, you guessed it, studying abroad. She kindly immersed us into the world of Erasmus+ grants for both studying and traineeships, International Student Exchange Programmes, mobility programmes and more. To get a more detailed view of the precise matters discussed, we invite you to take a look at the presentation slides: Study-Abroad_-scholarship-fair.pdf

After a short break to catch our breath and let the heat escape the room, the representative from the Archimedes foundation, Kadri Orula, talked about Dora-Plus grants for short- and long-term mobility, as well as the Kristjan Jaak scholarship for studying abroad. Her presentation slides can be found here: Scholarships_for_students_UT_19022018_Kadri

The four booths were manned by the presenters and further exhibitors. One of these booths was dedicated to studying in the United States, manned by EducationUSA Tartu’s advisor Laura Suur. She was happy to help prospect transnationals get acquainted with the inner workings of the Fulbright Scholarship. The others were manned by the International Student Ambassadors, the Study Abroad Centre, and the Archimedes Foundation. After the presentations had ended, each booth got flooded with students longing for more advice on applying for scholarships, often within the context of their personal circumstances.

All in all, it was an exciting and educative event which inspired students to seek out funding for their degrees and further studies, be it in Tartu or abroad.

Written by:
Wouter Heemskerk
MA in International Relations and Regional Studies