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The Estonian educational system covers pre-school education, basic education, upper secondary or vocational education, and post-secondary education at universities and at other post-secondary institutions. Some schools are funded by private capital, although the majority of schools are funded by state or local government budgets

The education system is divided into three parts:

• Primary education
• Secondary education
• Post-secondary education

The principal objective of Estonia’s educational system is to develop Estonian society into an open learning environment, where every person can be considered as a life long learner.

The Education Act, adopted in 1992, states the following as the general goals of education: to promote the development of personality, family and the Estonian nation; to promote the development of national minorities, the Estonian economic, political and cultural life and the preservation of nature in the global economic and cultural context; to teach the values of citizenship; and to set up the prerequisites for creating a tradition of life long learning nation-wide.

The most relevant trend in recent years, mainly as a result of the development of private universities and post-secondary institutions, is the continuous growth in the number of students pursuing post-secondary education. The enrolment of public universities has also increased.