Exchanges
Clinical and research exchanges through the IFMSA network — over 90 countries and more than 17,000 students a year.
Coming to Estonia? This page is about Estonian students going abroad. If you are an incoming IFMSA student, see IFMSA Exchange in Estonia.
What is an exchange?
Student exchanges have been organised by IFMSA (International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations), the umbrella organisation of EAÜS, since its founding in 1951. SCOPE (the Standing Committee on Professional Exchange) is IFMSA’s largest working group: more than 90 countries take active part and each year over 17,000 students worldwide do a placement abroad through the programme.
At national level the exchange working group is led by the NEO (National Exchange Officer), whose job is to sign exchange contracts at the August IFMSA General Assembly and to exchange applications and other documents with representatives of other countries at the March General Assembly. Our NEO also arranges placements, liaises with doctors and keeps contact persons motivated. The NEO is not alone — at local level the LEO (Local Exchange Officer) helps coordinate exchanges.
There is work all year round, most of all in summer. Anyone is welcome who wants to spend the summer in international company, practise languages and make new friends.
Applying
To go on a clinical exchange you must have completed at least the third year; a research exchange is open already after the first year. To apply, fill in the application form when the call opens in autumn. Details of the conditions and dates are sent to the EAÜS mailing list.
On the form you state your preferred destination countries and write briefly but clearly why you want to go to that country in particular. Before choosing, it is worth reviewing the receiving country’s exchange conditions.
Activity points and ranking
What a student has done and knows carries a lot of weight, and the ranking of applicants is built on it. Points can be earned in several ways: exchange contact persons who worked in Tartu over the summer and people active in the exchange working group do well. Those who have organised one of the major EAÜS projects, or taken an active part in organising a working group’s activities, do not do badly either. Points can also be earned for all kinds of other extracurricular activity.
Do not be put off if your total is modest — experience shows that in some years you do not need a sky-high activity score to reach the country of your dreams. Send your application in. EAÜS can guarantee the country, but unfortunately not the city (in the second stage of the application you choose your three preferred cities).
Being a contact person
In summer 50–60 students arrive in Estonia from around the world and each of them needs a contact person. A contact person meets the student at the bus station and shows them the city, shows them the hospital and the department, organises fun events and answers questions.
Being a contact person earns activity points and language practice, international contacts, and makes it easier to settle in when you go on exchange yourself.
Contacts
Elis Riin Tars-Hurt and Estin Rand — heads of the exchange working group — neo@eays.ee
Exchange coordinators — leo@eays.ee:
- Anastasiia Sakhno (March 2025, Tartu)
- Sander Šašlov (July 2025, Tallinn)
- Karl Richard Herem (August 2025, Tallinn)
- Eliise Peržinski (July 2025, Tartu)
- Birgit Reintam (August 2025, Tartu)