There is a huge shortage of engineers in Estonia, which is why it is necessary to keep engineering in focus at the university for at least the next five years. The rector candidates´ met with the management of School of Engineering to introduce their vision of the coming years. During the two separate meetings, both of the candidates were given 10 minutes to present their platform and then the management had an opportunity ask them questions.

The current Rector Professor Tiit Land thanked for inviting him to the meeting and mentioned that the School of Engineering was the first to invite him to meet him as a candidate. As a result of his first term in office, Professor Land highlighted the ground-breaking developments in education and research. In his introduction he also mentioned people as a key factor - the staff and the investment in academic staff. 

The leaders of the School of Engineering outlined 5 main themes on which the meeting focused. Tiit Land replied of the themes as follows:

• Engineering education: as one of the focuses for the next term of office, Professor Land highlighted the need to increase funding for engineering education, i.e. to create an endowment for engineering education. He said that simply reallocate existing money is not enough, but that additional funding had to be gathered. He also sees a need to more cooperate with primary schools to increase young people's interest in engineering. There is no single magic bean to alleviate the engineering drought and work needs to be done in several directions in parallel.  
• Education: Rector Land stressed that the university curricula should be more flexible, i.e. curricula need to be more interdisciplinary. This means that there could be fewer curricula than at currently and the system could be more flexible. He also highlighted the need to increase internationalisation, for example by developing a strategy to attract new international students.
• The role of Colleges at the University: According to Professor Land the work for the next university's next development has started. With this a working group will be set up to find the best solutions for the future of the Colleges. The directors of all the Colleges will be involved in the working group. 
• Infrastructure fund and renovation of buildings: A plan for the renovation of the buildings has been launched, and according to Professor Land the creation of an infrastructure fund is also planned to help harmonize infrastructure costs.
• Financing and governance models: Updates of the financial regulations were discussed, including possibility to reduce fees related to business cooperation and changes related to tuition.

The aim of the meeting with Academic Tarmo Soomere was to better understand his plans as the next Rector. In his introduction, Academic Soomere stressed the importance of the three major objectives of the university - education, research and serving the society. According to Soomere, Tallinn University of Technology has done a remarkable job in education and research but there is still room for improvement in cutting-edge science and serving the society. The university's governance has been good but societal debates and issues should be led by the smartest people. He underlined that he considers Tiit Land's inclusive leadership to be very positive and plans to continue with this as a rector. 

Among the issues raised by the management the following emerged: 

• Engineering education: according to Tarmo Soomere it is clear that the shortage of engineers is holding back Estonia's development. In his opinion, the role of promoting engineering should be the lead by the  Vice-Rector for Entrepreneurship. 
• School of Engineering: The difference between the School of Engineering and EMERA is tenfold, which is not a logical split. In addition, the university has more non-academic staff than academic staff, which is not logical according to Academic Soomere. There are certain changes that need to be done in the structure of the university. 
• The role of Colleges iat the University: according to Tarmo Soomere the role of Colleges has changed over time and their future needs a clear vision. However, he pointed out that it is not the rector who makes decisions about colleges. He said that the desicions about Colleges should be initiated by the colleges themselves, the Rector can only approve the decisions taken by the Schools of Engineering.  
• Funding and governance models: Academic Soomere's main concern is the goal of serving the society and with that Tallinn University of Technology still has a long way to go. He stressed that this does not mean that the university has been mismanaged but that he would focus more on the value of the University of Technology in Estonian society and development. According to Soomere the current financial regulations of the university are overly detailed and the Rector's Reserve Fund should only be used in unforeseen cases. 

Meeting participants from the School of Engineering were Dean Fjodor Sergejev, Vice Dean for Research Argo Rosin, Vice Dean for Academic Affairs Ivar Annus, Institute Directors Alar Konist, Kristo Karjust, Jarek Kurnitski, Mart Landsberg and Maarja Grossberg-Kuusk, College Directors Aime Ruus and Mare Roosileht, Head of Dean's Office Aime Piht and Development Manager of the Engineering Academy Triin Ploompuu.

On 9 May, the Council of Tallinn University of Technology will elect a new Rector for a four-year term.