BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

University of Tartu launches innovative social media hub

The University of Tartu's social media hub www.social.ut.ee is an innovation in Estonia as well as abroad as it allows following the university's events via its posts in social media, the University of Tartu said in a statement. Created on the example of U.S. universities MIT, Hamilton and Harvard, the environment currently brings together around 100 social media accounts linked to the university, informed BC press service of Tartu University.

"By implementing a social media hub, we make information more compact and accessible to some very important target groups of the university – current and future students and the university's collective who use social media on everyday basis and follow our news through these channels", said Illari Lään, Head of the UT's Communication Unit. According to Lään, an estimated 100 000 users currently follow the social media accounts of the university.

Estonia needs Russian-language secondary schools, says minister

Education Minister Jaak Aaviksoo said that despite a requirement that all upper secondary schools must teaches predominantly in Estonian, the nation has room for a few completely Russian-language schools.

In an interview with the Russian-language publication Den za Dnjom, Aaviksoo said that Estonia needs an upper secondary school where the Russian language, literature and culture are taught partially or completely in Russian, in a similar way that one school in Tallinn is teaching German.

The minister said that any such school could based on an agreement between Estonia and Russia.

Data show health linked to education

TALLINN - According to Statistics Estonia data of the 2011 Population and Housing Census (PHC 2011), 388,077 people or 30 percent of Estonian residents suffer from some long-term illness or health problem, reports LETA. People with a higher education suffer from long-term illnesses on average at half the level that people with a basic or lower education. The difference lies in coping with everyday life, where 15 percent of rural and nearly 13 percent of the urban population had serious limitations due to health problems.

Men experience long-term illnesses slightly more, until 30 years of age; women do so after 50 years of age. From the age of 30, men living in rural areas have more long-term illnesses than those at the same age in urban areas. In the case of children and young people, morbidity from long-term illnesses is relatively higher until the age of 10; thereafter morbidity decreases significantly.

About 29 percent of Estonians, 32 percent of Russians and even 38 percent of representatives of other nationalities have health problems. Education has an essential impact on people’s health; the risk for long-term illnesses is extremely high for persons with a basic education or lower. Persons aged 20–50 with higher education have on average half the long-term illnesses than persons with a basic or lower education of the same age.

Estonian students to be fined for poor academic performance

Estonia’s new academic year will start with new laws. The good news is that free higher education has been introduced, the bad news – that it will be available only to the children of the wealthy.

Helen Põllo – the representative for the Ministry of Education – announced that, from September 2013, higher education institutions receiving funding from the state will be forbidden from charging students studying full-time in the Estonian language.

These higher education reforms require certain criteria to be fulfilled on the part of students. In order to receive free education, students must study full-time, that is, they must attend all classes. This means that there will be no opportunity to earn extra money while studying.

According to the rector of the institute “Ecomen”, Hanon Barabaner; “Free education is, of course, a good thing. But what about food and clothing? Many talented people will not be able to study. Before, they were able to stretch themselves; combining study with work, but now people who have no money will not be able to study despite the fact that education will be free.”

Estonian court upholds ban on teaching in Russian at municipal schools

TALLINN - The Tallinn District Court has rejected an appeal from the Tallinn and Narva governments, upholding the Russian-language teaching ban, the court said on Tuesday.

The Estonian government earlier ordered 15 municipal high schools in the cities to discontinue teaching in the Russian language. The order concerns schools regulated by the local governments.

The court ruled that improving the knowledge of Estonian among Russian speakers promotes the nation's solidarity. Thus, the number of people fluent in Estonian needs to increase. The ruling can be appealed in a higher court within one month.

Russian-language high schools (10-12 grades) gradually started teaching in Estonian on Sep. 1, 2007. This year, they are expected to bring the ratio of subjects taught in Russian and Estonian at Russian schools to 40-60. Estonia has 63 Russian-language schools.

The municipal governments of Tallinn and Narva, which have large Russian-speaking populations, have petitioned the government to allow 15 high schools to continue teaching in Russian, citing the Basic School and Upper Secondary School Act. Their petition was rejected.

Representatives of the Russian community express doubts that teaching Russian-speaking children in a non-native language will provide them with sufficient knowledge and skills for their further education or successful employment.

Estonia sets EU record for education gender gap

Though figures show Estonia is ahead of the EU curve when it comes to the portion of its 30 to 34-year-olds holding a college degree, Eurostat has found that, among all member states, it has the widest gap between men and women who meet those criteria.

A report from the EU statistics agency released last week, based on numbers from 2012, found that 50.4 percent of Estonian women in that age group had completed tertiary education, contrasted with just 28.1 percent of men. The respective averages among the 27-member bloc were 31.6 percent and 40 percent.

Latvia and Slovenia had the next highest gender gaps for the age group.
When gender was taken out of the equation, the average portion of those 30 to 34 having completed higher education in the EU27 was 35.8 percent - a number Estonia surpasses with its 39.1 percent.

Ireland had the highest portion at 51.1 percent, followed closely by Cyprus (49.9 percent), Luxembourg (49.6 percent) and Lithuania (48.7 percent). Italy came out at the bottom of the list at 21.7 percent, with Romania (21.8 percent) and Malta (22.4 percent) doing only slightly better. The same Eurostat report found that 10.5 percent of Estonians aged 18-24 were "early leavers from education or training," meaning that they had no higher than basic school education and were not engaged in further study.

The figure comes in slightly better than the EU average of 12.5 percent and marks an improvement over the country's results from 2005 (13.4 percent) and 2010 (11.6 percent).
Again, however, a significant gender gap was evident in Estonia - for males the figure was 14 percent and for females, 7.1 percent.

The 2011 Population and Housing Census found that 34 percent of Estonian residents over the age of 20 had a higher education degree, an increase of 8 percent over the prior decade.

Estonian authorities accused of ruining education in Russian

Activists campaigning for the Russian-speaking community of Estonia have accused the authorities of trying to expel Russian from the country’s education system.

Writing in their Facebook account Saturday, they also complained about persecution, cited incidents of judicial frame-up of Russian-speaking educationalists and called attention to the fact that Education Minister Jaak Aaviksoo was responsible for the removal of a Soviet war memorial from central Tallinn in 2007.

At the time, Mr Aaviksoo was his country’s Defence Minister.

Proposed new sites for Art Academy focus on North side of Tallinn

Deterred so far in its bid for a city center high-rise location, the Academy of Arts has announced eight alternative sites for its new building.

The board approved the locations at its meeting yesterday and summoned backers of each to make their respective cases on September 25.

The locations are heavy on reclaimed former industrial areas that have seen an active artist community, such as near Telliskivi creative campus in north Tallinn, and the similar Culture Hub. Other sites include the Noblessner quarter and the former Balti Manufaktuur plant in Kopli district.

The construction of the Academy's new building on Tartu road bogged down due to a dispute with a residential neighbor. The Education Ministry subsequently implicated the academy in poor financial management and irregularities.

Estonia reprograms first graders as web coders

Public schools in Estonia will soon have a curriculum for teaching web and mobile application development to students as early as first grade.

According to an article published by UbuntuLife, the program begins this month with training for primary-school teachers. This will be followed by pilot programs. Eventually, the curriculum will be available to all public schools, with educational materials for all levels from grades 1 through 12.

Although nationwide standards for teaching programming in elementary schools is ambitious, there’s no indication that the courses will be mandatory.

According to UbuntuLife, the program was created because of the difficulty Estonian companies face in hiring programmers. Estonia has a burgeoning tech industry thanks in part to the success of Skype, which was developed in Estonia in 2003. Other Estonian tech companies include Erply and Fortumo.

This Estonian program isn’t the only one trying to reach kids with programming at a younger age. Educators have long sought to teach younger kids to program using tools like Scratch, but the code-literacy movement has been picking up steam in the past year. For example, the Mozilla Foundation has been sponsoring events dedicated to teaching web development to youth called Summer Code Party, as well as “Hack Jams” organized by youth.

Tallinn to appeal court's ruling on Russian-language schools

The City of Tallinn will appeal a ruling made by the Tallinn Administrative Court last Friday regarding Russian-language schools.

The decision threw out the city's complaint over the national government's mandate forbidding the upper secondary schools from using Russian as their primary language of study.

Tallinn Deputy Mayor Mihhail Kõlvart said the government's mandate is in violation of section 37 of the Constitution, which gives minority educational institutions the right to determine what language is used.

“Parents should have a decisive say in their children's education. In the given situation, parents have through representative councils demanded that some minority grade schools retain Russian as the language of study. Therefore, the city has a responsibility to honor the constitutionally-backed decisions made by the parents,” Kõlvart said in a press release.

The city's move is in response to the three-year transition to 60 percent Estonian-language curriculum imposed on Russian-language high schools starting this academic year, a change that has come under fire from the Centre Party-controlled Tallinn government.

In late December, the Cabinet rejected a plea by 15 upper secondary schools in Tallinn and Narva to be exempted from the transition.

In another effort to fight the change, the Tallinn City Council decided in February to establish a city-funded school where students can receive free primary and secondary education in Russian.

The Tallinna Vene Lütseum, which will be set up as a foundation, will also conduct continuing education courses, Delfi reported. Because the schools would technically be private, they would not be subject to the state's language requirements. Narva has made similar plans to set up a Russian-language school.

Ott Tammik

Tartu Students Days 2012

 

Wednesday 25 April --- Thursday 26 April --- Friday 27 April --- Saturday 28 April --- Sunday 29 April --- Monday 30 April --- Tuesday 01 May

 

6.15	Wake-up call!	Tartu dorms	Free
9.00 - 9.45	Taize prayer	St. Pauls church	Free
11.00 - 15.00	Donor day	Raatuse 22, lobby	Free
12.00 - 20.00	Russian Bustle	Jakobi 2	Free
13.00 - 16.00	Day club	Pirogov's park	Free
14.00 - 16.00	Workshop "Easy, tasty and healthy studentmeal"	Kalevi 17	3/6€
14.00	Healthy uphill-run	Pirogov park	Free

 

Tartu university's admission season starts

The admission season for the University of Tartu began yesterday, with English-language master's programs first to accept applications.

The deadline for submission of documents, which can be done online through the Admission Information System (SAIS), runs through April 16. The list of enrolled students for English-language groups will be published on June 1.

According to Ülle Tensing, specialist in international studies at the university, English-language master’s studies have increasingly gained popularity among Estonian students as well. "This is a great opportunity to obtain an international learning experience in Estonia together with a top notch education," said Tensing.

Applications can be submitted for eight English-language master's degree programs not taught anywhere else in the Baltics or Central Europe. This year the university offers 50 tuition free spots in English-language MSc studies in software engineering, for example. 

Ingrid Teesalu

Estonian student unions submit university reform proposals

The Federation of Estonian Student Unions (EÜL) has submitted six proposals to the Cultural Affairs Committee for amending the university reform, which was vetoed by the president on the first go-around, the Estonian news broadcasting corporation ERR reported.

Among the most important, the first one relates to the financial autonomy of universities. EÜL said the grounds and procedure for state funding should be specified more precisely, based on the existing concept of base-line cost, writes LETA.

It also said the condition for free tuition should be full-time study or completion of a cumulative 85% of the curriculum in the standard period of study.

Academic leave should remain up to the universities to decide, or academic load provisions should be the basis for regulating academic leave, the EÜL stated.

The conditions and procedure for reimbursement of tuition should be clearly specified for those who failed to complete a subject and those who exceed the mandated period of study, according to the Federation. And it said draft legislation on the reform and study allowances should be read by Parliament in parallel so that they can be adopted simultaneously, or study allowance provisions should be added to the draft reforms.

Russian-speaking students call for changes in Estonian teaching methods

Russian-speaking grade school students participating in forums in five Estonian cities said more conversational practice must be included in their studies for speakers of Estonian as a second language.

"It's above all students who previously lacked any experience learning in Estonian who have difficulties in upper secondary school, where studies take place as of this year mainly in Estonian," said Nadezhda Savtshuk, member of the Assembly of Student Governments. "The predominant majority of participants in our forums found that the transition should be started as early as possible - even starting in the first grade, with new subjects introduced one by one gradually rather than all at once in the 10th grade."

She said the situation varies from one region to the next. In Tartu, the Russian schoolchildren extolled the language immersion to a senior Education Ministry official, but their peers in northeastern Estonia were concerned that grammatical rules were being drummed into them for years. There was very little practical interaction that would help reinforce the language.

"Students in northeastern Estonia felt that art education, music, physical education or humanitarian studies could be taught in Estonian at basic school," said Savtshuk, adding that opportunities for extracurricular projects with Estonian-speaking peers were also desired.

The forums - held this week in Tallinn, Tartu, Jõhvi, Sillamäe and Narva - involved over 100 Russophone students. A policy document will be produced, to be presented to Education Minister Jaak Aaviksoo on February 16 at the plenary session of the Assembly of Student Governments.

Kristopher Rikken

Teachers’ Union preparing for strike

The estonian board of the nation’s Education Personnel Union decided on December 14 to begin preparations for a strike after hearing from lawmakers that no salary increase was in the offing, reported EER

“Today we received a letter from the chairman of the Parliament’s Finance Committee Sven Sester saying that there is no possibility [of a pay increase], that it will only come with the reorganization of the education system,” the head of the union Sven Rondik told Postimees. “That’s the same as nothing, because [reorganization] is a matter for the distant future.”

The strike may come as soon as late January or early February, said Rondik. The first steps in the process would be to apply to the State Conciliator’s office for the right to strike, then poll union members to see how many would take part. Support from other unions would also be sought, he said.

In late October teachers held a demonstration in front of the Parliament building where they demanded a 20 percent pay rise.

According to Rondik, the idea of a salary increase for teachers has the support of the public, but not of the government. “Recently it was said that salaries for soldiers would have to be raised, but soldiers get 630 euros [per month] and teachers get 608. An ordinary private gets more than a teacher who has a master’s degree,” he said.

Steve Roman

School bans cell phones to curb bullying

The Lähte Coeducational Secondary School in Tartu County has prohibited the use of mobile phones, both in class and during recess, due to a number of recent bullying incidents.

Some pupils, for example, used their phones to take nude pictures in gym class changing rooms and posted them on the internet, principle Üllar Loks told Päevaleht. "If the function of mobile phones these days were only calling, we would not have been forced to make this decision," Loks said.

The school's student representative body, comprised mostly of pupils from the upper secondary level, predicably opposes the decision and has started collecting signatures to overturn the restriction.

Triin Kahre, head of the Association of School Psychologists, said that she has not yet encountered a public school that has completely banned cell phones. "I cannot imagine how parents can accept the fact that they cannot reach their child during recess," she said.

The school, however, argues that parents can contact their children by calling the school if needed.

Ingrid Teesalu

Estonia ranked 29th in global IT competitiveness ranking

The most suitable environment for the development of the information-technologies (IT) sector is in the United States, Finland and Singapore, with Latvia dropping to 34th place in the latest global ranking, according to a report by the 'Economist Intelligence Unit' (EIU). Estonia has dropped six places in the global rankings to 29th, whilst Lithuania has dropped ten places to 41st.

Asian economies are closing the gap on the West in terms of their IT competitiveness, the study showed Tuesday, as they strengthen copyright protection and implement regulatory reforms .

While the West leads the world in terms of an attractive place for IT firms, more Asian nations are moving up the ladder, according to the EIU report.

The United States retained its position as the world's most competitive IT industry this year, followed by Finland and Singapore, writes LETA/AFP.

Europe dominated the top 20 places in a competitiveness index, which was based on criteria such as foreign investment policies, infrastructure, enrollment in higher IT education, patent registries, copyright protection and access to capital.

Compared to last year, Latvia has gone down one place in the global IT competitiveness rankings.

Nina Kolyako

Tallinn "Tech University" opens Silicon Valley office

Tallinn University of Technology is opening an office in Silicon Valley hoping to strengthen ties with the Stanford and Berkley universities, and with local information technology firms.

The new office will reside amongst many successful companies in the heart of California’s IT hub. “That’s what brought the university here. We are interested in large IT firms like Microsoft, Google, Adobe, Intel, IBM – companies that we have talked to, and with whom we want to work with,” tells Alar Kolk, University Vice President.

The office shares its building with Enterprise Estonia, the Estonian government’s support system for entrepreneurship. The two Estonian organisations will be working closely together. The focus of the program will be IT, biotechnology, and medicine. The university president said having a foreign office isn’t a cheap undertaking but the school is hoping for government support to cover expenses.

University officials also plan to open a Shanghai office in 6 months. “We hope to attract master’s and doctor’s students from the US and China. The university is rapidly internationalising – we already have 1 000 international students. And close to 100 professors and researches from abroad. This is the trend in today’s world, and we cannot afford to get left behind,” said Andres Keevallik, University President.

 

Russian-language schools jump in rankings list

This year, students finishing Russian-language secondary schools in both Tallinn and Ida-Viru County scored far higher in state exams compared to the class of 2010, boosting their schools significantly in the annually-conducted national rankings list.

For example, the Russian-language Tallinna Humanitaargümnaasium rose by six spots, landing in fifth place in this year's list, which was released August 24. According to the school's director Luule Kösler, students with strong motivation and a rarely-changing teaching staff are the secrets to the remarkable exam results, wrote Postimees.

The average exam score of the 18 graduates of the Russian-language Keila Gümnaasium pushed the school up by a staggering 112 places. "This year's graduates were really bright," said head teacher Nadezhda Lisovskaja, adding that five of them graduated with the maximum possible grades.

In 2011, the Kohtla-Järve Kesklinna Gümnaasium in Ida-Viru County rose 110 spots, bringing it from 147th to 37th place.

Ingrid Teesalu

Finns express skepticism over Estonian Business School

The Finnish Ministry of Education has its doubts over the Estonian Business School's aspiration to establish a branch in Helsinki because the institution is not locally accredited.

The Finns are less than thrilled about private colleges because the government only recognizes 16 higher education institutions that are specifically stipulated in the country's Universities Act, reported Helsingin Sanomat.

"The level of education might be quite all right, but college students need to understand that they will not receive a Finnish higher education degree from this type of institution," said ministry adviser Marjatta Linqvist.

Whether or not the student's degree is accepted by an employer after graduation depends on who's hiring, the official said.

The Estonian Business School began introducing its Helsinki program to students on June 17. It hopes to draw 25 students for this fall.