The U.S. Government sponsors various exchange program opportunities throughout the world. Those available to Estonian citizens, including high school students, university students, academics, and professionals, are listed below.
Youth Exchanges
The following opportunities are designed for students in upper secondary school between the ages of 15 and 18.
The Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) Program
The Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) Program provides scholarships for high school students (ages 15-17) from Europe and Eurasia to spend an academic year in the United States, living with a family and attending an American high school.
Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellows Summer Institute
The Benjamin Franklin Summer Institutes are intensive academic institutes hosted by a U.S. college or university for students from Europe between ages 16 and 18. These programs are academic in nature, and focus on global issues, in addition to leadership and community service.
Student Exchanges
The opportunities listed below are intended for undergraduate or graduate students, usually between the ages of 18 and 30.
Fulbright Graduate Student Program
The Fulbright Foreign Student Program enables graduate students, young professionals, and artists from abroad to research and study in the United States for one year or longer at U.S. universities or other appropriate institutions.
Study of the U.S. Institutes (SUSIs) for Student Leaders are five-to-six-week academic programs designed for foreign undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 25 to improve their understanding of the United States and to develop their leadership skills.
Professional Exchanges
The following exchanges are designed for various professionals, including entrepreneurs, researchers, scholars, and teachers. Age, education level, and professional experience requirements vary.
Professionals
The Fulbright Specialist Program is a field-driven initiative in which foreign host institutions conceptualize and design projects of interest within an eligible discipline that represent a priority for their respective organizations. These projects are then paired with a highly qualified U.S. academic or professional who shares their expertise and assists with strengthening linkages between U.S. and foreign host institutions.
Hubert Humphrey Fellowship Program
The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program is a Fulbright exchange that brings mid-career professionals with demonstrated leadership potential to the United States for one academic year of non-degree graduate-level study, leadership development, and substantive professional collaboration with U.S. counterparts in fields that are crucial to foreign policy goals.
Young Transatlantic Innovation Leaders Initiative (YTILI)
The YTILI Fellowship Program provides entrepreneurs between the ages of 25-35 with the opportunity to participate in an in-person and virtual Mini MBA Entrepreneurship Curriculum, a four-week fellowship placement in the U.S., and a Reciprocal Exchange as a means to implement positive and sustainable change in their communities through entrepreneurship and innovation.
Scholars
The Fulbright Scholar Program in Estonia offers research grants for scholars and researchers to conduct research at universities or special libraries/collections in the United States in all fields (except for medical studies involving direct patient contact). Candidates may be university teachers or researchers, or professionals whose expertise would be enhanced by further study or research in their field.
Study of the U.S. Institutes (SUSIs) for Scholars are six-week post-graduate level academic programs designed to provide foreign university faculty and other scholars the opportunity to deepen their understanding of U.S. society, culture, values, and institutions. The ultimate goal of these Institutes is to strengthen curricula and to enhance the quality of teaching about the United States in academic institutions abroad.
Teachers
Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program (TEA)
The Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program (TEA) provides outstanding secondary school teachers with the unique opportunity to develop expertise in their subject areas, enhance their teaching skills and increase their knowledge about the United States during a six-week academic program at a U.S. university graduate school of education.
SUSI Program for Secondary School Educators
The Study of the U.S. Institutes (SUSI) for Secondary Educators are intensive five-week post-graduate level academic programs designed to provide foreign secondary school educators and administrators the opportunity to deepen their understanding of U.S. society, culture, values, and institutions. The ultimate goal of the Institutes is to strengthen curricula and to enhance the quality of teaching about the United States in secondary schools and other academic institutions abroad.
Online Professional English Network Programs
The Online Professional English Network (OPEN) Program offers foreign English teaching professionals the opportunity to take innovative, online university-level classes and online professional development programming for teachers through FHI360.
