Educational Sciences

The graduate:

• is able to ground the solutions to problems in Educational Sciences from the broader point of view of Social Sciences
• is familiar with the modern approaches to the methodology of research
• is able to plan a study and use research methods and data analysis methods
• is able to effectively work with scientific texts and to create these themselves
• is ready for scientific communication and cooperation with other researchers

Detailed study programme information can be found here. 

What are the career options after the studies?

Graduates are able to follow a number of career options depending on their personal interests. For example they can work as researchers, university lecturers or experts in the field. In any case they are very well equipped to develop a sound professional career based on visionary thinking and critical knowledge of the field.

Admission Deadlines

Autumn 2024 Additional Admission deadlines:

October 7th till October 20th 2024 – submission of applications in SAIS or DreamApply.
November 5th 2024 – admission exam (the exact time will be sent to each candidate individually).
January 27th 2025 – beginning of the studies.

Summer 2025 Admission Deadlines:

May 20th till July 1st 2025 at 15:00 – submission of applications in SAIS or DreamApply.
July 2nd till July 11th 2025 – admission exam (the exact time will be sent to each candidate individually).
August 26th 2025 – beginning of the studies.

Required Documents

• CV
• Proposal for the Doctoral Thesis signed by the prospective supervisor needs to be added while applying to the programme. Please contact prospective supervisors by sending them a draft of your proposal. This should be done several months before the deadline of submitting your application, as writing a good proposal takes time.
• Recommendation letter from a future supervisor.

Need to be sent by post after filling in the online application form:

• Application cover printed from the online application system.
• Copy of a bachelor’s degree certificate or equivalent + transcript of records (translations are requested if documents are not in English); both copies and translations must be attested by a notary.
• Copy of a master’s degree certificate or equivalent + transcript of records (translations are requested if documents are not in English); both copies and translations must be attested by a notary.
• Proof of English Proficiency
• Copy of the identification page of passport.

Admission exam (interview) is based on the proposal for the doctoral thesis that is agreed with and is approved by the prospective supervisor. Exam points are formed as a result of the points given by all committee members.

You can also find general admission information here. 

Additional Autumn admission is open for one doctoral student position without a contract. It is possible to apply with your own preferred topic after getting approval from one of our supervisors.

In order for you to be able to find a supervisor, please look at our supervisors' fields of research in ETIS and our Study Areas.
If the field of research matches your personal research interests, please contact that potential supervisor by sending your draft of the proposal for the doctoral thesis. Please send your draft at least a couple of months before the admission deadline. You can submit your application only with an approved plan.

Doctoral Student – Junior Research Fellow positions (are open for Summer Admission):

• The doctoral student will sign a Junior Research Fellow contract (fulltime workload with a salary of 1700 euros per month and will become an employee of the School of Educational Sciences.
• The period of the studies is 4 years.

Doctoral Student without a contract:

• The doctoral student does not have an employment-related contractual obligation linked to doctoral studies. 
• The period of the studies is 4 till 8 years according to the individual study and research plan.

The Estonian Doctoral School supports cooperation between universities to improve the quality and attractiveness of doctoral studies. The school enables Estonian doctoral students to make interdisciplinary and international research contacts and use self-development opportunities. A separate series of events aims to support the development of supervision skills.

The doctoral school events are open to all doctoral students and their supervisors at Estonian universities who are interested. Within the doctoral school, cross-disciplinary knowledge is shared, and future skills are developed with the support of external experts. Among other things, the doctoral school allows doctoral students to broaden their research horizons and expand their professional network and collaboration opportunities.

Doctoral School events can be found here.

Specific questions regarding the programme should be directed to the School of Educational Sciences: Elina van der Toorn, elinba@tlu.ee, Doctoral Studies Coordinator.