How to apply for a scholarship?
In order to apply for a scholarship, do the following:
1. Find a suitable scholarship competition
The applicant can find the announced and on-going scholarship competitions on the website of the University of Tartu Foundation in the “Scholarship Calendar” section. If you have found a suitable scholarship, fill in the scholarship application.
2. Make sure that you have all the materials necessary to apply for a scholarship
- Letter of recommendation
Most competitions require a letter of recommendation from a lecturer. For this, you can type the e-mail address of the recommender in the respective box of the application; after submission of the application, an automatic e-mail is sent to this address with a request to upload a letter of recommendation. It is a good idea to agree with the recommender in advance on writing a recommendation. If you want, you can add the letter of recommendation to the application as a file.
- Additional materials
If a scholarship requires submission of additional documents (an essay, a research summary, an abstract, a written confirmation of the admitting institute of higher education, etc.), then these can also be added to the scholarship application. Since the system allows only one additional document to be added, then in the case of more files, these must be compressed into one zip file and then added to the application.
3. Fill in the application form
The application form includes personal data, an overview of the professional and social activities of the applicant, reasons to be granted the scholarship, the plan on how to use the scholarship, and description of the applicant’s current financial situation.
4. Confirm the application
If all necessary information has been entered and the application has been confirmed, the system will notify that the application has been successfully submitted.
5. Apply for some other scholarship competition
You can apply for several scholarships during one semester. After the first submission of an application, the system will create a user for the applicant based on his/her personal identification code, and after that the applicant may log in using his/her ID-card or Mobile ID. Just log in and submit a new application with the same data or change, supplement your application and submit a new application.
The foundation has a real-time overview of how many applications have been submitted to a specific competition. If the scholarship applicant has doubts that his/her application has been lost for some reason (the page of the browser was closed during the loading process, the Internet connection was lost, etc.), then this can be checked by phone or e-mail, or by logging into the application submission system.
If you have further questions about scholarship competitions and applications, we will provide you with information and assistance to fill in the application, if necessary.
Frequently asked questions:
- Can I apply for several scholarships?
Yes, you can, but only one scholarship may be granted during one semester. When you apply for several scholarships, you cannot add preferences. The selection is made based on which scholarship committee makes the decision first.
- Can I apply for the scholarship again if the
given scholarship has been granted previously?
Yes. Unless otherwise provided in the statute, you can apply for a scholarship and a scholarship may be granted repeatedly to a scholar if the scholar has performed his/her obligations regarding the foundation.
- How to send additional documents which are
required in some scholarships?
If possible, you can add them to the electronic scholarship application (if there are multiple files, compress them in a zip file), send them as an attachment to an e-mail to tysiht@ut.ee or on paper to the postal address of the foundation or via intramail.
- May the application be on paper?
We prefer electronic applications, because it is easier to handle with the high number of applications.
- How precise must the budget in the application
be?
The budget is a prognosis and it needs to reflect the general plan of the student on how to use the scholarship. A report prepared one year after being granted the scholarship gives a more precise overview.
- Which date must I comply with if the statute has
a different date than announced?
Please comply with the announced date.
- Is a letter of recommendation necessary when
applying for a scholarship?
There are no direct instructions or requirements for the letter of recommendation, but the supervisor should give a brief overview of the applicant in the recommendation and write why the applicant is a suitable candidate for the scholarship and what his/her reasons are for substantiating this (study results, research results, social activities, financial situation, etc.).
- How can I be certain that my application was successfully
submitted?
If all necessary information has been entered and the application has been confirmed, the system will notify that the application has been successfully submitted. The foundation has a real-time overview of how many applications have been submitted to a specific competition. If the applicant of the scholarship has doubts that his/her application has been lost for some reason (the browser page was closed during the loading process, the Internet connection was lost, etc.), then this can be checked by phone or via e-mail.
- How are the scholarships granted?
- There are two periods to apply for a scholarship: the spring semester and the autumn semester. The competitions for the spring semester end on 1 June as a rule, and the competitions for the autumn semester on 1 November at the latest.
- The scholarship competitions are announced via the information channels of
the University of Tartu, on the website of the foundation, via the information
channels of the Student Council of the University of Tartu, as well as the
information channels of the fields. If necessary, we distribute the scholarship
information via the information channels of other public universities and
national daily newspapers.
- You can apply for the scholarships within one month as of the announcement of the competition.
- After the end of the competition, we collect the materials submitted by the applicant which comply with the requirements and forward these to the scholarship committees to determine the scholars. The committees select scholars based on the criteria specified in the statute of the scholarship.
- A contract of use for the scholarship is entered into
with the scholars and the scholar will submit a report on the use of the scholarship sum at
least one year after signature of the contract.
- The scholarships are handed over at a ceremonial reception at the end of the spring semester (in the middle of June) and in the course of the anniversary of the national university in the autumn semester.
- Do I have to pay taxes on the scholarship?
See also other financing possibilities and non-state scholarships: http://www.ut.ee/et/oppimine/uliopilasele/toetused
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to write to tysiht@ut.ee