02 - Estonia - Ongoing debates and future developments
The most important courses of action in the higher education policy are
connected with the supervision of the application of the new two-staged
curricula and the evaluation of the efficiency of the financing and
administration schemes of educational institutions. Riigikogu approved
on 8 November 2006 the Estonian Higher Education Strategy for the years
2006-2015. Prioritised paths of development comprise linking higher
education to the needs of the Estonian society and the expectations of
the labour market, strengthening quality insurance, curriculum
development, internationalisation and renewing the financing system. On
2 August 2007, the Government of the Republic approved the
implementation plan of the Higher Education Strategy, based on which
the Minister of Education and Research convoked a working group on
preparation of legislative amendments to the Universities Act, the
Private Schools Act and the Institutions of Professional Higher
Education Act.
Discussions over the application of the Bologna
process continue. In particular, the questions of wording the outputs
of curricula and the application of credit points of the European
Credit Transfer System (ECTS) are being addressed. The regulation of
issuing joint degrees and the promotion of the academic mobility of
students and professors have similarly important roles in the
development of the policy of higher education. In order to increase
academic mobility, including also the share of foreign students in the
Master’s study and Doctoral study, the Estonian Higher Education
Internationalisation Strategy for the years 2006-2015 was completed in
2006. The measures are mainly focused on supporting the academic
mobility of the candidates for a Doctor’s degree and of the teaching
staff, and on bringing top specialists to Estonia.
Domestic
discussions primarily concentrate on the issues of quality, efficiency
and access. To present more clearly the peculiarities of the objectives
and the acquired qualifications of the academic and professional study
branches, and to describe the relations with vocational education, in
2007, the expected study outcomes of steps of higher education levels
were spelled out in the higher education standard. The objective is to
develop the Estonian qualification framework in a way that would allow
to better describe the relations between the objectives of curricula
and professional qualifications. In order to strengthen quality
insurance, an initiative has been launched to pay more attention to
internal quality assessment. A cross-university quality agreement has
been signed and a quality handbook has been prepared. Institutions of
professional higher education initiated a similar cooperation in 2006.
Due
to the decrease of population and the limited nature of state
resources, discussions have been launched on ways for achieving the
most effective cooperation and division of labour between universities,
and on increasing the amount of private capital in providing
internationally competitive higher education. At the same time, issues
related to the rights and equality of students demand more draw
attention to be paid to the development of the private sector, as the
share of private higher education is large in Estonia. In 2007, the
question to what extent the existing system of study allowances is
fulfilling its goals and whether higher education is equally accessible
to all social groups became more topical. The Minister of Education and
Research convoked a working group that analyses the existing study
allowances and study loans system, with a view to implement from the
year 2009 an already renewed necessity-based model of study allowances.
Eurydice - the information network on education in Europe
Date: 2009
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