TalTech School of Business and Governance International Business in the Digital Era (MA) — Estonia | EUR 5,000 per year for EU/EEA and non-EU citizens alike — EUR 10,000 over the two years, on TalTech's 2026/2027 rate and the latest it publishes (no 2027/2028 schedule yet). Plus a EUR 100 application fee

Key facts

The International Business in the Digital Era (MA) at TalTech School of Business and Governance runs Two years full-time (120 ECTS, one autumn intake a year) in Tallinn, Estonia, with tuition of EUR 5,000 per year for EU/EEA and non-EU citizens alike — EUR 10,000 over the two years, on TalTech's 2026/2027 rate and the latest it publishes (no 2027/2028 schedule yet). Plus a EUR 100 application fee. A GMAT or GRE is required.

Location: Tallinn, Estonia
Length: Two years full-time (120 ECTS, one autumn intake a year)
Credits: 120 ECTS
Tuition: EUR 5,000 per year for EU/EEA and non-EU citizens alike — EUR 10,000 over the two years, on TalTech's 2026/2027 rate and the latest it publishes (no 2027/2028 schedule yet). Plus a EUR 100 application fee
Test policy: GMAT/GRE required
Taught in: English

What this programme is

International Business in the Digital Era is the TalTech School of Business and Governance’s English-taught two-year, 120-ECTS MA, based in Tallinn and admitting once a year for the autumn semester.¹ It is the first Estonian programme in this catalogue and the first from the Baltics at all, so the useful thing this page can do is not rank it — it appears in no Financial Times table — but tell you precisely what it is and who it suits.

The structure is stated plainly on the school’s own page: General Studies 6 ECTS (Entrepreneurship and Business Planning), core studies 36 ECTS (Business Performance Management and Analysis, International Business, Methods of Analysis in Business Research, International Marketing, Strategic and Financial Management, Management and Leadership), special-studies compulsory courses 30 ECTS (Supply Chain Management, Development Trends in Business Environment, Digital Transformations, Digitalisation of Marketing, Master Thesis Seminar), 18 ECTS of special electives, 6 ECTS of free choice, and a 24-ECTS graduation thesis in the fourth semester.¹ Two-thirds of the taught content is general management with a digital-economy slant, which is what makes it a management master rather than a marketing or analytics one — but note that it is not a conversion degree. Entry requires a bachelor’s in economics or business, or a bachelor’s in any field carrying at least 36 ECTS of business courses, so it sits on the opposite side of the line from the conversion masters at St Andrews and Cambridge.¹

The school itself is mid-sized and genuinely international without being a global brand: 2,140 students, 13.7% of them international from 58+ countries, 204 faculty, 57% of them holding a PhD and 34% international, and about 30,000 alumni across 87 countries, inside a university founded in 1918 with more than 9,000 students.⁶

Three things that make this worth reading

1. Everybody pays the same, and that is the interesting part

Most affordable European options are affordable because a government pays. Estonia’s does too — but not here. TalTech’s fee-rate page states that “Citizens of the European Union are exempt from tuition fees, except for the programmes of the School of Business and Governance”, and this degree is one of them.³ So the programme quotes one number for everyone: ***“€5000 per year for EU/EEA and non-EU citizens.”***¹

That symmetry is rare in this catalogue. At the Swedish publics the EU student pays nothing and the non-EU student pays SEK 160,000 at Lund, SEK 180,000 at Stockholm and SEK 228,000 at Uppsala; at the Dutch publics the statutory EUR 2,694 and the institutional rate are two different prices for the same seat. Here they are the same figure, and EUR 10,000 for a two-year master’s places TalTech in the cheapest fifth of the programmes on this site — cheaper than Nova SBE or Prague, dearer than the German publics, and roughly level with SGH Warsaw. The full price picture is in how much a MiM in Europe costs and the tuition-free and low-cost options.

Read EUR 10,000 as a floor, not a quote. The programme page attaches no academic year to its EUR 5,000; the University’s regulation does — “Tuition fee rates … in the academic year 2026/2027” — and it reserves a right most schools never print in public: *“The university has the right to increase the tuition fee rates for current students by ten percent each academic year compared to the previous academic year.”*³ On a two-year degree that clause is worth up to EUR 500 in year two, and it is the kind of thing you should hear from us rather than discover from an invoice.

2. The test you cannot fail — and the passport rule that decides whether you sit it

TalTech asks every master’s applicant for a GRE General Test score. For this programme it then declines to set a bar: *“The test has to be completed but there is no threshold score required for this programme.”*¹ The central admissions page makes the split explicit — Verbal 145, Quantitative 150 and Analytical Writing 3.0 apply elsewhere in the university, and *“For School of Business and Governance programmes, the test must be completed but no thresholds have been set.”*²

Then the waiver, which is where the rule stops being a curiosity and starts costing money: applicants holding a full bachelor’s or higher degree from an EU, EFTA or OECD member state are waived from the GRE entirely.² Two conditions ride on it and both are stated: “you must have resided in the above-listed member state while doing your higher education studies”, and *“A degree completed at an international branch campus outside the member states does not waive the GRE General Test requirement.”*²

The practical effect deserves stating plainly, because our readers sit on both sides of it. A graduate of a Mexican, Turkish, Japanese, Korean, Colombian or Chilean university — all OECD — sits nothing at all. A graduate of an Indian, Nigerian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi one books, pays for and sits a GRE that cannot disqualify them on score, purely to have a report to upload. That is a real cost and a real scheduling risk: the score has to be verified through ETS to DI code 5019 before the file progresses, and TalTech warns that test dates *“may get fully booked quickly.”*²

So what actually decides admission is the file. Three components share one ten-point scale — the online application read as a CV, the two-page minimum motivation letter, and a roughly 15-minute online interview — and *“an applicant who receives the minimum of 5 points is admitted.”*¹ The interview is scored on whether you can justify the programme choice, discuss a plausible thesis direction, and connect the degree to a career model; non-attendance scores zero.¹ One warning is printed in unusually blunt terms: AI-generated text in the motivation letter “is not acceptable” and *“will result in the disqualification of your application.”*¹ Our approach to writing that letter honestly is in the toolkit.

3. Classes run 16:00 to 21:00, in a country that lets you work

Buried in the programme page, in one sentence, is a delivery decision most schools would put in a headline: *“The school usually starts at 16:00 and ends at 21:00.”*¹ That is an evening timetable, and it changes what the degree is for. Estonia’s national study portal states that international students “do not need an additional working permit to work while studying full time”, with no weekly hour cap, provided the work does not interfere with studies — defined as carrying a full load of around 30 ECTS a semester and finishing in the nominal time.⁹

And the exit is unusually clean for a non-EU graduate. Estonia grants nine months after graduation to look for work, and “upon finding a job after graduation, they can use this time to apply for a temporary residence permit for work”, with processing taking about a month.⁹ Graduates of Estonian degrees are exempted from the salary criterion and from the Unemployment Insurance Fund approval that a work permit otherwise requires — a genuinely material carve-out, and a shorter path than the one described in post-study work visas in Europe.

One practical catch in the other direction: TalTech’s own page states that free public transport in Tallinn requires registering as a Tallinn resident and holding an Estonian ID card, and is “not available for students who are coming to Estonia with visa”.⁵

What this programme does not have

A profile that only listed the good parts would be useless. Three things are missing, and each is a reason a reader might rightly choose elsewhere.

Accreditation. The School of Business and Governance’s own page claims exactly one international accreditation — “The MBA programme has AMBA accreditation” — and it belongs to the MBA, not to this MA.⁷ No AACSB and no EQUIS is claimed anywhere on it. Its natural comparators in Central and Eastern Europe — Kozminski, SGH and Ljubljana — hold the triple crown at similar fees, and Prague holds EQUIS plus AACSB. If accreditation is what your target recruiters screen on, that comparison is not close.

A ranking. TalTech does not appear in the Financial Times Masters in Management table, so this profile assigns it no rank rather than borrowing one from a university-wide league table measuring something else. How to read the tables that do exist is on our rankings page.

Outcome data. Neither the programme page nor the school’s 2026 factsheet publishes a graduate employment rate, a median salary or a class size, so this profile publishes none.¹ ⁶ That is a real gap next to the schools on this site that report FT-audited three-year salaries, and it means the honest case for TalTech rests on cost, city and flexibility rather than on a number.

Who this is actually for

Three readers, we think. The OECD-passport applicant who wants a two-year English-taught master’s for EUR 10,000, sits no admissions test at all, and treats Tallinn as a low-cost base in a digital economy. The applicant who wants to work through the degree — the 16:00–21:00 timetable, the uncapped work rights and the nine-month job-search window line up better than almost anything in our two-year cohort. And the applicant building a realistic list, for whom TalTech is a genuinely affordable, genuinely English-taught option to sit beneath the triple-crown CEE flagships rather than instead of them.

It is not for the reader optimising for brand, for consulting and banking recruiting pipelines, or for a published salary outcome. Those readers should start from the rankings and the shortlist builder, and use this page as the floor of their budget rather than the top of their list.

Frequently asked questions

Does the TalTech MA in International Business require the GMAT or GRE?

It requires the GRE General Test, and it is the most unusual test rule in this catalogue: you have to sit it, but there is no score you can fail. TalTech's programme page states that 'the test has to be completed but there is no threshold score required for this programme', and the central admissions page confirms that School of Business and Governance programmes set no thresholds where the rest of TalTech asks for Verbal 145, Quantitative 150 and Analytical Writing 3.0. The GMAT is not accepted in its place. The waiver matters more than the test: applicants holding a full degree from an EU, EFTA or OECD member state are exempt, provided they resided in that country while studying — and a degree from an international branch campus outside those states does not count. So the test is a real cost and a real scheduling problem for applicants from South Asia and most of Africa, and a non-event for applicants from the OECD.

How much does the TalTech MA in International Business cost?

EUR 5,000 a year, quoted by the programme page as the same figure 'for EU/EEA and non-EU citizens' — EUR 10,000 across the two years. That single price is a consequence of an unusual rule: TalTech exempts EU citizens from tuition everywhere except the School of Business and Governance, which is where this degree sits, so nobody on this programme studies free and everybody pays the same. Two caveats belong on the number. The programme page attaches no academic year to it; the regulation behind it is the 2026/2027 fee-rate act, and the University reserves the right to raise rates for continuing students by up to 10% a year, so treat EUR 10,000 as a floor for a two-year degree. And non-EU candidates are asked to pay the first year before studies begin. A separate EUR 100 application fee, which covers two programme choices, is payable before the application can be submitted at all.

When are the TalTech application deadlines?

TalTech admits once a year for the autumn semester, and the deadline depends on your citizenship. For the 2026/2027 cycle — the last one it has published — all four windows opened on 1 February and closed on 1 April for non-EU citizens, 1 May for citizens of OECD states, Georgia and Ukraine and for non-EU applicants legally resident in Estonia, 1 June for EU/EEA and Swiss citizens, and 1 August for Finnish, Latvian and Lithuanian citizens applying to the School of Business and Governance. The 2027/2028 calendar had not been published when this profile was written, so the dates shown here repeat that pattern and are marked indicative. TalTech sets the calendar by a Senate decision each year, so confirm on its own page before you plan around one.

Will my English-taught degree waive the TalTech English test?

Only if you studied in one of the countries TalTech names, and only if you lived there while studying. The waiver applies to an on-site secondary, bachelor's or master's degree 'taught fully in English' in an EU/EEA member state, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland or the United Kingdom, and TalTech adds that 'you must have resided in the mentioned country while doing your studies' and that the transcript must record that studies were conducted fully in English. An English-taught degree from India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh or Ghana does not waive it — which is the same country condition most of the schools on this site attach and one many applicants read past. Otherwise you need IELTS Academic 6.0 (5.5 per component), TOEFL iBT 75, Cambridge 165, PTE Academic 59 or TalTech's own B2 test, and the score must be valid, not merely obtained.

Can I work while studying at TalTech, and can I stay in Estonia afterwards?

Yes to both, and the programme's timetable is built around the first one — TalTech states that 'the school usually starts at 16:00 and ends at 21:00'. Estonia's national study portal states that international students 'do not need an additional working permit to work while studying full time', with no weekly hour cap, on the condition that it does not interfere with studies — defined as passing a full load of around 30 ECTS a semester and finishing in the nominal time. After graduation, non-EU students may stay a further nine months to look for a job and use that time to apply for a temporary residence permit for work; graduates of Estonian degrees are exempted from the salary criterion and the Unemployment Insurance Fund approval that otherwise apply. One practical catch for non-EU readers: TalTech's own page states that free public transport in Tallinn requires registering as a resident and holding an Estonian ID card, and is 'not available for students who are coming to Estonia with visa'.

Is TalTech's business school internationally accredited?

Not in the way its Central European peers are, and it is worth being straight about it. The School of Business and Governance's own page states one international accreditation — 'The MBA programme has AMBA accreditation' — and that is scoped to the MBA, not to this MA. No AACSB and no EQUIS accreditation is claimed anywhere on the school's page, and TalTech does not appear in the Financial Times Masters in Management table, so this profile assigns it no rank. Set against Prague, Ljubljana, Kozminski and SGH — all of which hold triple-crown or dual accreditation at comparable fees — that is the clearest argument against choosing TalTech on signalling grounds, and it is the reason to choose it on cost, city and flexibility instead.

What does it cost to live in Tallinn as a student?

TalTech publishes one breakdown, from a survey of autumn 2023 students, and it is worth reading as bands rather than a budget: 47% spent EUR 250–350 a month on accommodation and 37% spent EUR 350–500; 61% spent EUR 150–250 on food and 37% spent EUR 250–400; and 68% spent EUR 50–250 on social life, with a further 8% spending under EUR 50. Adding the low ends gives roughly EUR 450 a month, or about EUR 5,400 a year; adding the high ends gives about EUR 1,150 a month, or EUR 13,800 a year. Two cautions: the page sits in TalTech's exchange-student section, so it describes exchange students rather than degree students, and it separately notes that a private flat runs EUR 500–750 or more with winter utilities adding EUR 120–350 a month.

Sources

TalTech — International Business in the Digital Era (MA), programme page. ENGLISH EVIDENCE CHECKED 2026-09-05 (the rule is on the central How to apply page, not here). SELECTION CHECKED 2026-09-05: 'Students for this study programme are admitted based on the admission threshold. The maximum combined score for the online application (=CV), motivation letter and interview is 10 points. An applicant who receives the minimum of 5 points is admitted.' Key features: 'Degree: Master's (MA)', 'Duration: 2 years', 'Faculty: School of Business and Governance', 'Study Load: 120 ECTS', 'Mode of Study: Full-time study', 'Language: English', 'Tuition Fee: €5000 per year for EU/EEA and non-EU citizens'. Entry: 'Bachelor's degree or equivalent in economics/business or Bachelor's degree in any field with at least 36 ECTS in business courses'; 'In order to qualify for the studies in Tallinn University of Technology an applicant has to have at least 60% of the highest possible CGPA'; the sub-60% route 'can be implemented only if the CGPA of your Bachelor's degree does not fall under 50%'. GRE: 'The test has to be completed but there is no threshold score required for this programme'; 'Candidates who have obtained a full Bachelor's degree (or subsequent higher education degree) in EU, EFTA or OECD member state are waived from the GRE requirement'. Motivation letter 'must be at least 2 pages long'; 'AI-generated text is not acceptable' and 'will result in the disqualification of your application'. Interview: 'Duration of the interview is approximately 15 minutes', 'Evaluation scale is 0 to 10 points', 'Positive result is 5.0 to 10.0 points', 'Non-attendance in an interview gives 0 points'. Delivery: 'The school usually starts at 16:00 and ends at 21:00.' Curriculum (120 ECTS): General Studies 6, Core studies 36, Special Studies Compulsory Courses 30, Special studies elective courses 18, Free choice courses 6, Graduation thesis 24. The page publishes no employment rate, salary, class size or ranking taltech.ee ↗ — Tallinn University of Technology (retrieved Sept 2026)
TalTech — How to apply? (central admissions page for international applicants). ENGLISH EVIDENCE CHECKED 2026-09-05: the waiver is country-conditioned and residence-conditioned — proof of English 'may only be waived if a candidate ... has completed on-site secondary education, Bachelor's or Master's degree taught fully in English in one of the following countries: EU/EEA member states, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, United Kingdom. You must have resided in the mentioned country while doing your studies', and 'the transcript of record must include that studies were conducted fully in English'. Accepted tests: IELTS Academic overall 6.0 with at least 5.5 in each component; TOEFL iBT total 75 (reading 18, listening 17, speaking 20, writing 17); Cambridge English First/Advanced/Proficiency overall 165 with 160 per component; PTE Academic overall 59 with 59 in each Communicative Skills component; plus the TalTech English Test at B2 and named national school-leaving exams. Test scores are 'valid for 2 years only'. GRE thresholds elsewhere in TalTech are 'Verbal Reasoning at least 145, Quantitative Reasoning at least 150, Analytical Writing at least 3.0', and 'For School of Business and Governance programmes, the test must be completed but no thresholds have been set'; scores must be ordered from ETS to 'GRE Designated Institution (DI) Code 5019' and the GRE 'is valid for five years'. GRE waiver: EU, EFTA and OECD member states, with 'you must have resided in the above-listed member state while doing your higher education studies' and 'A degree completed at an international branch campus outside the member states does not waive the GRE General Test requirement'. SCOPE CHECKED 2026-09-05: the deadlines here are university-wide and set by citizenship, with one School-of-Business-and-Governance-specific row — '2026 application period and deadlines: 1 February – 1 April 2026 non-EU citizens; 1 February – 1 May 2026 OECD member states, Georgia, Ukraine, and other non-EU candidates who are residing in Estonia on a legal basis; 1 February – 1 June 2026 EU/EEA countries and Switzerland; 1 February – 1 August 2026 Finnish, Latvian, and Lithuanian citizens applying for programmes of the School of Business and Governance; 31 August 2026 Beginning of the autumn semester and studies' — and 'TalTech has intake only once a year – for the autumn semester.' Application fee: '100 EUR per applicant, which enables you to apply for 2 programmes', non-refundable, payable 'no later than by the application deadline', waived for TalTech graduates and current students. No 2027/2028 dates are published on this page taltech.ee ↗ — Tallinn University of Technology (retrieved Sept 2026)
TalTech — Tuition fee rates. 'Citizens of the European Union are exempt from tuition fees, except for the programmes of the School of Business and Governance.' 'Students from outside the European Union are required to pay tuition fees.' 'Candidates outside of the European Union are requested to pay the first year tuition fee prior to the beginning of studies.' The page carries no figures itself — it points to the programme page for the amount — and links the regulation 'Tuition fee rates for I and II level students in degree study and external students in the academic year 2026/2027', which is what dates the EUR 5,000. 'University establish the tuition fee rates and conditions by a decision of the Senate of Tallinn University of Technology for each academic year at least four months before the beginning of the academic year. The university has the right to increase the tuition fee rates for current students by ten percent each academic year compared to the previous academic year' taltech.ee ↗ — Tallinn University of Technology (retrieved Sept 2026)
TalTech — Establishment of the admission calendar for I and II level studies in the academic year 2026/2027 (the University's own legal act, and the instrument behind the dates on the How to apply page). For foreign nationals applying through DreamApply it establishes four windows all opening 1 February and closing 1 April, 1 May, 1 June and 1 August by citizenship group, study-place offers made across '1 February – 15 August' and a 'deadline for confirming the study place for international applicants who have applied via DreamApply' of 20 August. The equivalent 2027/2028 act had not been published when this profile was written, which is why this profile's dates are marked indicative oigusaktid.taltech.ee ↗ — Tallinn University of Technology (retrieved Sept 2026)
TalTech — Cost of Living in Tallinn. SCOPE NOTE 2026-09-05: this page sits under Exchange Studies → Incoming → Practical Information, so its survey describes exchange students rather than degree students; it is the only cost breakdown TalTech publishes and is used here as an indication, not a budget. 'Autumn Semester 2023 students spent in Tallinn per month (based on their feedback): Accommodation: 250-350 euros 47% of students, 350-500 euros 37% of students, 500-... euros 16% of students. Food: 150-250 euros 61% of students, 250-400 euros 37% of students, 400 - ... 2% of students. Social life: 0-50 euros - 8% of students, 50-250 euros - 68% of students, 250 - ... euros - 24% of students.' Also: private flats 'range from 500-750 EUR or more', winter utilities 'around 120-350 EUR per month', 'Daily specials in cafeterias and cafes: 3,00-7,00 EUR', and — the line that matters most to a non-EU reader — 'Public transport is free of charge in Tallinn for all EU students. You have to register yourself as Tallinn resident to have free public transportation and apply for Estonian ID-card. Not available for students who are coming to Estonia with visa' taltech.ee ↗ — Tallinn University of Technology (retrieved Sept 2026)
TalTech School of Business and Governance — SBG Factsheet 2026 (PDF, 4 pages, sha256:6481924cd297fb28, read with npm run pdf:text on 2026-09-05). 'SBG IN NUMBERS: 2140 students; 13.7% international students from 58+ countries; 85 doctoral students; ~30,000 alumni across 87 countries; 204 faculty members (175 FTE) 57% of whom hold a PhD; 58% of faculty members are women; 34% international faculty members from 30 countries'. 'The TalTech School of Business and Governance (SBG) has a rich 85-year history as part of Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia's second-largest university. Today, SBG boasts the largest international student community, with approximately 50% of its study programs offered in English.' The master's list names 'International Business in the Digital Era (ENG) — Areas of specialisation: international business administration' alongside the Entrepreneurial Management MBA, Law, Public Sector Innovation and eGovernance, Technology Governance and Sustainability and Sustainability Management. 'Founded in 1918, Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) is the largest university in the capital with more than 9,000 students.' The factsheet publishes no graduate employment rate and no salary figure haldus.taltech.ee ↗ — Tallinn University of Technology (retrieved Sept 2026)
TalTech — School of Business and Governance. ACCREDITATION CHECKED 2026-09-05: the only international accreditation the school states is AMBA, and it is scoped to the MBA — 'The MBA programme has AMBA accreditation.' No AACSB and no EQUIS claim appears anywhere on the page, and none is claimed for the MA in International Business in the Digital Era taltech.ee ↗ — Tallinn University of Technology (retrieved Sept 2026)
TalTech — Success scholarship (performance scholarship) and Development Fund scholarships. STACKING CHECKED 2026-09-05, and the answer is that both pages are SILENT: the success scholarship is stated at '200 euros per month' for 'students with excellent academic performance', with 'Applications for the scholarship can be submitted through the study information system (SIS) during February and September', and the page states no rule about holding it alongside another award. The Development Fund page describes an annual competition — spring 2026 ran 'February 22 - March 16' with awards announced by 21 April — publishes no per-award amount, and likewise states no combination rule. Neither page states eligibility for international fee-paying master's students either way. Silence is recorded here as silence, not as permission taltech.ee ↗ — Tallinn University of Technology (retrieved Sept 2026)
Study in Estonia (the national study portal, run by the Education and Youth Board) — Working. On working during studies: international students 'do not need an additional working permit to work while studying full time' and are 'allowed to work on the condition that it does not interfere with their studies', which the page defines as passing 'a full load of courses' — 'around 30 ECTS credit points each semester' — and finishing 'within the nominal time'; no weekly hour cap is stated. After graduation: non-EU students 'can also stay to Estonia for additional 9 months after their graduation to look for a job in Estonia', and 'Upon finding a job after graduation, they can use this time to apply for a temporary residence permit for work', with processing taking 'about a month'. Graduates of Estonian bachelor's, master's or doctoral programmes are exempted from the salary criterion and from the Unemployment Insurance Fund permit requirement that otherwise apply to a work residence permit studyinestonia.ee ↗ — Study in Estonia / Education and Youth Board (retrieved Sept 2026)