The shortage or sufficiency of engineers, IT and economic specialists and the correspondence of their skills to the needs of the labor market are best perceived by companies and their representatives in business and professional associations, who constantly monitor the big picture. It is significant that professional and business associations have presented an exceptionally strong group of candidates who are ready to support TalTech development.

To be precise, the new period of the university's highest governing body, the University Board, is about to start. The Minister of Education and Research appoints five members to the Board from the representatives of entrepreneurs or professional and vocational associations of production. In addition, the University itself elects five members and one is elected by the Estonian Academy of Sciences.

Representatives of professional and vocational associations outside the University are expected to have a strong vision of the economy and the labor market, which is why their role in shaping the University's strategy is extremely important.

Opted for heavy artillery

This time the Minister has someone to choose from. The representatives of professional and vocational associations who are ready to contribute to the development of TalTech are well-known names to the public: Veljo Konnimois, Miina Karafin, Otto Pukk, Hando Sutter, Jukka Partikainen, Ants Sild, Ahti Asmann, Andrus Durejiko, Enn Veskimägi.

Behind the submitted candidates is a long list of various associations and over 2,000 companies with a total of over 250,000 employees. The high-level representation of engineering and production, as well as construction and energy stands out, which to some extent second to the banking majority of the current Board.

All the candidates presented by professional and vocational associations are also new, which shows a certain expectation of change. I do not want to criticize today's Board, which has done a commendable job and has also tracked down several factors that hinder development. However, new steps and directions are necessary. TalTech is well aware of the analysis of the Estonian education system made by Academician Jaak Aaviksoo, where it is recognized that TalTech development in recent years has been more in the direction of a classical university, and not as a subjective assessment but based on data.

Tartu and Tallinn

This is not a good trend, because it makes no sense to compete with Tartu and Tallinn University in their core competencies. Using the scarce resources of higher education, it is certainly more expedient for TalTech to follow the technical path. The training of engineers is characterized by the multiplicity and cost of study programmes, and relatively narrow specializations are also inevitably necessary when listening to the needs of the labor market. Because of this, there are a number of study programmes with a small number of students, and it does not make sense to hold them in several universities.

There is probably no doubt that it is worthwhile to train engineers nowhere else than at TalTech. And it must be done at the highest level.

TalTech should focus more on its central areas of responsibility and demand similar behavior from other universities. If the same major is taught in more than two universities under Estonian conditions, it is a waste of taxpayers' money. The need for specialists in many narrow specialties in the Estonian market is so small that even the competitive situation of two universities does not make sense in practice, it is better when one university takes responsibility.

At the same time, there are many majors that are offered in relatively similar form at four universities in Tallinn and Tartu.

Given that a good overview of labor market needs has emerged in recent years based on OSKA reports, there are certainly opportunities for better coordination of the division of labor between universities, which is a broader issue than one university can solve. In any case, TalTech must show the direction in its own segment, the "engine of the economy", which can be defined by the core competencies of engineering, IT and entrepreneurship.

There are also good supportive education programmes along the way. The IT Academy has already produced results, and the large-scale and long-term Engineering Academy is gathering momentum and giving the university the means to make a leap forward in the technical field. So there are many things that TalTech can do on its own.

In a revolutionary period, the support of professional and vocational associations is extremely necessary in order to take steps in the right direction, and the expectations for the new Board of TalTech are high. It is important that there are people from production, construction, energy, IT and economics who have the will, time and ability to contribute to the development of the University and thus the entire Estonian economy.