Hendrik Voll, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs, is happy about the change in the feedback of students over the last three years, as he explained in his speech at the Teachers’ Day assembly of TalTech.
A while ago, Vice-Rector Voll had the opportunity to talk to the students of EuroTeQ partner universities. He took advantage of this to ask which episodes they remembered the most from their time at the university. ‘How people study and teach at the university,’ most students replied. ‘Yes, a lot was required from us; however, the university did everything in its power to provide the students with an excellent level of knowledge, and also the feeling that the time spent studying has been the best time of their lives.’
Conversely, Professor Voll experiences a very different set of emotions regarding his time spent as a student at TalTech. ‘What do I remember the most?’ he asked himself. He answered that he primarily recalled his good friends – the closest ones from the time he was still a student at the Tallinn Secondary School of Science, with whom he remains in touch.
Professor Voll has worked at TalTech for 13 years. He has often asked the students about their greatest experiences. For the first ten years, the answers included friends and student life. ‘Three years ago, however, I heard for the first time that the best experience was studying and the lecturers,’ Voll stated. ‘This made me really happy. I have to admit that we have progressed in leaps and bounds compared to my time as a student here.’
According to the Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs, there is still a long way to go, and if the university continues with the same momentum, it should complete this journey in no time. ‘We have established didactics centres for all schools, and we have ten associate professors of educational pathways. By the end of the year, their number will increase to 15, and next year, it will likely exceed 20,’ Professor Voll said. ‘We believe that the associate professors of educational pathways are the ones to lead the entire field of pedagogy at TalTech in the future.’
The university has plenty of ideas for developing this domain, but many have not been implemented due to a lack of funds. In his Teachers’ Day speech, Professor Voll expressed his hope that the operating subsidies for higher education, which should contribute an additional 30 million euros to the broad group of studies of TalTech over the next five years, will help implement its excellent ideas, truly reach the lecturers, and create competition for fulfilling lecturer positions.