The overall goal of "Student Voice" is to come together and discuss various areas of development that could be eloquent from a student's perspective. This is the third time for such an event to happen under the leadership of the Student Council. These meetings have enabled both parties to express their views, share ideas and find solutions together. The university management, represented this year by Rector Tiit Land, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Hendrik Voll and University Chancellor Tea Trahov, got a good understanding of the students' needs, expectations and concerns, while the students had the opportunity to receive direct feedback on TalTech policies and decisions and the opportunity to have a say in important issues.

This year, two major thematic blocks were discussed, which were the strategy of student life and student well-being and influencing factors, which in turn were divided into many smaller group topics. Group discussions lasted half an hour, but our talkative students always wanted more time, because due to the free format, the discussion between the university management and the students was very casual.

Student life strategy topic block

We discussed with various groups how the life of the student body could develop in the long term. Topics such as the unity of the TalTech student body, the development of student organizations, and the ways in which students should express their opinions and how to increase the prominence of the student body were discussed. 

Student welfare and influencing factors

In this thematic block, the members of the groups spoke on topics such as what could be the future developments of the campus, sports opportunities at the University, mental health during studies, and what the graduation ceremony could look like for students.

Student body unity discussion highlighted how the rector's cup has brought all students to participate enthusiastically and that similar activities are always very welcome. In addition, if we have similar values ​​to offer right from the start, the unity will come naturally, either by showing support at the home games or by raising the concerns of the students in unison. The sense of unity and the understanding of how the university functions also raises the general understanding of how to develop the representation of the students' voice, where the flow of information was pointed out as a problem, more precisely the fact that the average student is probably not aware of how the university functions, so you cannot expect him to be interested in the topics to communicate. 

Mental health discussion brought out that the topic is relevant and will remain so for a longer time. Improving the student mental health is a long-term process, which should be dealt continuously, by offering various mitigating activities and keeping the topic up so that people at the University dare to talk about it more.

Regarding sports opportunities, it was pointed out that the situation for our students is extremely good, because we have a sports hall, various sports fields and also an outdoor gym; yet again the flow of information was pointed out as a problem, i.e. it is not possible for students to understand what opportunities are available. Regarding the flow of information, a solution was brought to the table, which was discussed at the campus development group. They found that we need a unified user-friendly booking system. Such platform would also give a good overview of our possibilities; luckily it was discovered that such a project is currently in progress at the University.

Transcripts have been made of the summary of the group discussions, which provide good input for the TalTech Student Council on how to represent students. More positive note is that these development areas were already presented to the University's management and staff. In addition, the results of the discussions have provided good input to continue with the student life strategy. In conclusion, we would like to confirm that the concept of the student voice project is very necessary for the Student Council to promote student life, and we look forward to seeing you all again next year!