📋 Tender Overview
In order to link education and the labour market more closely and to guide young people's learning choices, an engineering academy will be created with the support of the European Union Structural Funds, which is a cooperation initiative of the Estonian state, educational institutions, companies and professional associations in the field of engineering to increase the quality of education and ensure the succession of engineers. Minister Kristina Kallas will present the Engineering Academy at a press conference on November 15 at 2 p.m. at the Tallinn Secondary School of Science.
Hendrik Voll, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs at TalTech, and Liis Koser, representative of TalTech's partner HK Unicorn Squad, will also speak at the press conference.
The Academy of Engineering is similar to the current IT Academy and its activities aim to increase the interest of young people to start studying in the field of engineering, reduce the number of interruptions and increase the satisfaction of both students and employers with the content of what they have learned. Five partner universities participate in the Academy of Engineering: Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn University of Applied Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, University of Tartu and Estonian Aviation Academy. The implementation of the activities is coordinated by the Education and Youth Board, associations and professional associations bringing together entrepreneurs are involved in promoting the field.
Unicorn Squad is a girls-only technology school in Estonia, which since 2018 strives to increase girls' interest in engineering, robotics and natural sciences. More than 3000 girls aged 8-14 have participated in the program. As part of the Academy of Engineering, TalTech and the Unicorn Squad are also developing courses for high school level girls. The first study group will start now, in the spring of 2024 there will be an opportunity to join study groups all over Estonia.
On 9 November, the Minister of Education and Research approved the conditions for granting support for the implementation of the higher education activities of the Academy of Engineering and the IT Academy: to update formal education in the fields of engineering and ICT in cooperation with employers and to increase the popularity of the fields. In the case of both academies, special attention is paid to the target group of girls and female students. The volume of activities in higher education in 2023-2029 is 34 million euros, of which 21.5 million euros are intended for the activities of the Academy of Engineering and 12.5 million euros for the activities of the IT Academy.
At the latest at the beginning of 2024, the Engineering Academy will expand, the conditions for granting support for the activities of the Engineering Academy and the IT Academy in vocational, general and hobby education are being completed.
