Scholarships

The University of Tartu Youth Academy programme (henceforth UTYA) is one of the longest running STEM promotion initiatives in Estiona (launched in 1965). The aim of UTYA is to create opportunities for the development of pupils who have already shown a deeper interest in science. The programme facilitates enriching a pupil´s knowledge beyond the usual school curriculum and also the resources to spend their leisure time meaningfully.

The UTYA organizes courses in three different levels and a range of subjects, including mathematics, physics, chemistry, life sciences, but also in linguistics, philosophy and other non-STEM areas. Some courses are correspondence courses conducted via ordinary mail and some are carried out using e-learning facilities. Pupils can participate either individually or as a group. There are no entrance requirements, although the programme requires pupils to be motivated and able to work independently.

The instructors of the courses are usually University of Tartu professors, researchers or students. Pupils get feedback on their work as well as after graduation from the course. Upon completion, participants receive a certificate from University of Tartu.

To enhance the pupils’ abilities and learning styles, the UTYA offers some testing facilities. Some of the tests can be taken online. In addition, for pupils who are interested in participating in different kinds of contests, the UTYA organizes national Olympiads in maths, physics, chemistry, informatics, biology, geography and other areas. When students perform well at national Olympiads they are given the opportunity to participate in international contests or Olympiads. Estonian teams have been taking part in such contests since 1992 and each year pupils have won several medals.

Through these activities as well as participation in other projects and events, the programme also contributes to popularising science and technology to the wider audience.

The main goal of the programme is to create opportunities for the development of pupils who have already shown a deeper interest in science. The programme does so by:

• offering optional science courses to pupils, mostly available online for students in grade 7 – 12
• providing financial grants to gifted students to promote studying in Estonia (instead of going abroad) through the ‘Talents to Targu’ sub-programme (since 2020)
• offering teaching resources to teachers that help organize individualized learning in classes and are useful for additional extracurricular activities
• offering teacher-training sessions to schools focused on gifted children's education and psychology.

The objectives of the programme are related to the Estonians' aim to build on a science-based economy and smart specialisation. In order to do that, there is a need to offer gifted pupil opportunities to develop themselves and have good opportunities in the country so that there would not be a need for gifted children to leave for the better opportunities.

The Informatics, Engineering, Agriculture and Science Training Scholarship Programme (hereinafter: the Scholarship Program) aims to contribute to a significant reduction in student drop-out rates by obtaining a higher education degree as soon as possible in the relevant fields of study. In the case of all fields of study, but especially in the case of science courses, another objective is to increase the number of students, who participate in master's programme, and to strengthen the supply of teachers and researchers. The programme aims to deliver both scholarships as well as 'catch-up programmes' to students in need. The objectives of the programme are aligned with broader (governmental) policies, in particular:

• Gear shifting in higher education medium-term policy strategy 2016: increase the number of students and graduates in mathematics, science, technology and informatics, significantly reduce drop-out rates, support student’s success in the distribution methodology of study-based scholarships and in the field of the training, increase the student’s performance, knowledge and thus the quality of training.
• Digital Education Strategy of Hungary (Action 10): In order to meet the labour demands of government programs for the development of the digital economy and the digital industry, the Hungarian Government is launching programs that go beyond traditional forms of training and reduce labour shortages that threaten the development of IT businesses and digital economy in a short term as well. Action plan point 10/11. : Additional funding must be provided for scholarships from 2018, to progressively increase the number of students in IT programmes.
• 1840/2017. (XI. 10.) Government Decree point 4 / c.: the Government requests the Minister of National Economy, the Minister of Human Resources and the Minister of Agriculture to develop a scholarship programme for students, who studying or applying for agricultural higher education and to make a proposal to the Government about the conditions for the introduction of the scholarship programme and the required amount of resources.
• Increasing the number of female students in IT training, in accordance with the EU's Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI index) should be supported as a horizontal objective.

The predecessor programme, National Excellence Programme, was funded from European Social Fund (ESF) resources. The New National Excellence Programme started in 2016 and was financed from the central budget of Hungary. The programme’s budget was HUF 2.2 billion (around 6 million euro) in 2016, HUF 4 billion (around 11 million euro) in 2017, HUF 4 billion in 2018, HUF 4 billion in 2019 and HUF 4 billion in 2020. The responsible organisations are the Ministry for Innovation and Technology and the coordinating entity managing the program: the National Research, Development and Innovation Office.