"Right now is the best time to turn your life around and decide in favor of learning," said Hanno Tomberg, head of TalTech's open university. "Many people have to improve themselves to remain competitive: some have to make a career change because their employer is having difficulties, others simply wish to put themselves to the test in a new area," he added. Several companies also consider open learning the best way to train their workers.

According to the head of the open university, one can learn at their own pace at TalTech and even choose just one course for which to attend lectures. Tomberg emphasizes that many people use the open university as a launchpad to formal studies at TalTech, taking their acquired credits with them.

There were nearly two thousand students at TalTech's open university last year. The most popular subjects were programming and data processing in the School of IT, building entrepreneurship and sound isolation and room acoustics in the School of Engineering, microeconomics and marketing in the School of Business and Governance, and mathematics in the School of Science.

At least a high school education is required to continue studies in the open university. TalTech launched open learning 25 years ago and has brought people who had previously quit their studies or wished to relearn back to university. A student of the open university is on average 25-34 years old, and mostly more than two subjects are chosen per semester. The oldest student is currently 68 years old, the youngest are fresh high school graduates.

More information on admissions and participating in the open studies can be found at www.taltech.ee/en/open-studies, applications to start studying can be submitted to avatudope@taltech.ee.

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