Organisation of Studies while Studying Abroad

General rules:

• If you go to study abroad, you must complete at least 15 ECTS of courses (except PhD students) at the foreign university per semester and apply for credit transfer so that the courses are taken into account upon completing your curriculum.
• As of January 1st 2016, all the grades acquired at the foreign university will be transferred as non-differentiated (pass).
• Before going to study abroad, you have to draw up a study plan and sign a learning agreement. Once you have completed your studies at the foreign university, you will have to complete the second part of the study plan on the basis of a transcript of records.
• Ask the foreign university to issue your transcript of records as soon as possible after the results of examinations are out to make sure that the results can be submitted to the academic unit (institute/college/school) on time.

Extension of nominal period of study:

• The nominal period of study at UT will be extended by the number of semesters spent abroad, provided that at least 15 ECTS of courses completed abroad are taken into account upon completing the UT curriculum. It will no longer be required to spend at least 3 months abroad to get an extension, completing the courses for the value of 15 ECTS will be the only requirement for an extension.
• The nominal period of study will be extended at the beginning of the semester following your studies abroad (after the end of the period of studying abroad specified in the Study Information System).
• You do not need to submit a separate application for the extension of the nominal period of study, but you have to make sure that the transcript of records reaches the UT as soon as possible. Submit the study results and/or training records within eight weeks after the end of the period of studying abroad. If you fail to obtain the records from the foreign university or place of traineeship within eight weeks, contact the respective academic unit to explain the situation.
• The extension of the nominal period of study will be cancelled if you completed less than 15 ECTS of courses per semester at the foreign university.

Applying for national allowances/stipends:

• When applying for the national study allowances or stipends, there are two aspects, in terms of timing, to be kept in mind:
  1) Autumn semester’s study results from abroad (transcript of records) must reach UT (respective academic unit) and be inserted to SIS by February 27 at the latest, and those of spring semester by September 29, at the latest.
  2) A recognition confirmation date of the courses taken abroad (sc Recognition of Prior Learning decision taken at UT after study abroad is fully completed and all results have reached UT) must be earlier than the first day of the UT semester when you apply to any allowances/stipends indicated above. Follow the UT's academic calendar, to assure that you know the dates when a semester begins. Keep in mind that the dates above are the latest possible. Do your best by facilitating information exchange as fast as possible.

Academic leave and extended period of studies:

• If you take academic leave in the semester following the semester abroad, the nominal period of study will not be automatically extended by the period of studying abroad and you need to submit a separate application for that.
• If you study abroad during the extended period of study, your nominal study period will not be extended any longer by the time spent studying abroad. Note, there are two types of extension: 1) extension given for study abroad (right after a study abroad semester) and 2) regular extension (at the end of studies). If you study abroad during either of the two extensions, further extensions of studies will not be granted. Furthermore, it is not advisable to go to study abroad in the last semester, as the study results from the foreign university might not reach the UT on time, which would mean that your graduation has to be postponed.
• If you study abroad on the last semester of your nominal period of studies, with the intent to extend the studies, the extension of the nominal period will be granted only if there is some time left until the nominal period of studies. Like stated above, the extension will be given at the start of the next semester. E.g. if the nominal period (seen in Study Information System) ends July 20th, you will not get the extension, since the nominal period of studies ends before the new semester begins in September.
• Since students can take courses during academic leave, they can also study abroad during their academic leave. Still, the standard period of study at UT will not be extended by the semesters studied abroad during academic leave because academic leave is not a part of the standard period of study.

Tuition fee:

Tuition-waiver scholarship holders or students enrolled at Estonian-taught programmes
You do not have to pay tuition fee at UT for the time to be spent studying abroad. Yet, please note what follows after studies abroad:

• If you studied at a foreign university  and could transfer at least 15 ECTS of courses to your UT curriculum, you get an extra semester (extension) to complete your studies. At the end of the semester following the study abroad semester (that is at the end of the extension semester), the university checks study progress and if there are more than 6 credits missing from the required workload, you are expected to pay for the missing credits. In the case of missing credits, you are invoiced at the beginning of the second semester following the study abroad semester.
• If you studied two semesters at a foreign university and could transfer at least 30 ECTS of courses to your UT curriculum (15 ECTS for each semester), you get two extra semesters (extensions) to complete your studies. At the end of the second semester following the study abroad (that is at the end of the second extension semester), the university checks study progress and if there are more than 6 credits missing from the required workload, you are expected to pay for the missing credits. In the case of missing credits, you are invoiced at the beginning of the third semester following the study abroad semester.

Thus, if it is not possible to use the courses completed at a foreign university to complete the UT curriculum to the presumed extent (15 ECTS and more), it will be necessary to complete more courses in the semester following the studies abroad in order to avoid the need to pay the tuition fee in the following semesters.

Students enrolled in English-taught programmes without a tuition-waiver scholarship or enrolled part time at Estonian-taught programmes (excluding PhD students)
Generally, you do not have to pay tuition fee at UT, yet you need to pay 30-% of each credit point price you transfer from abroad to UT. You do not have to pay 30% of the tuition at UT, if you had to pay the tuition fee at the foreign university.
If you study at UT during the period when you are registered as a study abroad student (that is - take courses both from UT and a higher education institution abroad) then, in addition to the fee to be paid for the courses completed abroad, you are required to pay for UT courses (full price of credit points). Please see full regulation here: Conditions of Reimbursement of Study Costs in Degree Study.

What happens if I fail to perform my obligations?

• If you have received a scholarship from the UT for your studies abroad, but fail to complete the required number of courses, you may be required to repay the scholarship. Make sure to check the rules of the particular student exchange programme.
• The extension of the nominal period of study will be cancelled if you completed less than 15 ECTS of courses per semester at the foreign university.

Various structural units attend to matters and documentation regarding studies at the university. To get a quick overview, see whom to contact.

Legislation and further guidelines on studies abroad:

Study Regulations
Study Plan and Learning Agreement
Double scholarships - what to keep in mind