Educational institutions case studies

Study in Estonia: How international student numbers in Estonia increased by more than 135%

Nov 18, 2018 | Case studies

Study in Estonia is one of the first and most essential systems DreamApply has built.

The system is used by almost all Estonian universities for international student application management, making it a de facto national admission system for international students. The system has been used since 2012 and is considered one of the cornerstones of the successful internationalization of Estonian higher education. A consortium of Estonian universities and the Information Technology Foundation for Education manages the system.

How were things done before DreamApply?

Before DreamApply, international student applications were managed differently in universities – some used paper, some e-mail, and some had their in-house built application management systems. This led to inefficiency and the inability to grow the international community due to uncomfortable application processes and low awareness of Estonia as a study destination.

Results from DreamApply

With a centralized system built by DreamApply, it became possible to improve application processes significantly.

  • Student candidates could apply to several courses and universities with one application.
  • Centralized data collection made it possible to analyze information on the national level and make coordinated policy decisions.
  • Cooperation among universities allowed them to pool resources to improve the system and order new developments, improving application management and higher education marketing aspects.

Based on results and data from DreamApply, Estonia rebuilt its national higher education marketing system to focus more on personal references and online marketing as the main channels to recruit international students for Estonian universities.

See Study in Estonia live: https://estonia.dreamapply.com

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