A student has the right to apply for academic leave on the following conditions:
- Health reasons – for a maximum period of two years. When applying for academic leave for health reasons, the student shall provide a medical certificate containing a doctor’s recommendation for the necessity of academic leave and its length. The same principle applies when taking academic leave for pregnancy.
- Service in the Estonian Defence Forces – for a maximum period of one year. When requesting academic leave for service in the Defence Forces, the student shall attach the Defence Forces service notice to the academic leave application.
- Parental leave – until the child reaches three years of age.
When requesting academic leave to care for a child, the student shall attach a copy of the child’s birth certificate to his/her application.
- Other reasons (difficult financial situation, family problems, working abroad, etc) – for a maximum period of one year.
Application forms:
Applying for academic leave for other reasons is limited as follows:
- first semester students cannot apply for academic leave for other reasons;
- academic leave for other reasons can be taken only once at every level of study for a maximum period of one year.
Academic leave is not included in the standard period of study. This means that after returning from academic leave the standard study period shall continue from where it was stopped when the student requested academic leave.
Academic leave lasts at least until the end of a semester. Therefore, if a student requests academic leave in the middle of a semester, it cannot be terminated before the end of the semester, even when the circumstances for taking academic leave have changed in the meantime.
An application for academic leave must also contain the end semester. The academic leave will automatically be ended by the study department at the preliminary week of the semester following the semester indicated in the student’s application as the last semester of academic leave.