The quality of education and the competitiveness of graduates in the labour market are essential for Tallinn University of Technology. In 2020, when six top universities of technology set up a partnership, we knew it would be of significant importance to us. As a result of the collaboration carried out so far, a joint course catalogue has been drawn up, project- and problem-based learning have been promoted and 21 future engineering competencies have been defined. Many TalTech students have had the opportunity to improve their knowledge at partner universities or study together with foreign students.

Instead of the previous six universities, there are eight universities involved in the new project. The two new members are European top ranked universities of economics: IESE Business School in Barcelona and HEC in Paris. In addition to the universities, the partners involved include business giants such as Siemens, Total, BMW, GasNet and Škoda, with whom co-creation-based learning formats are designed that serve as a testing laboratory in addressing societal challenges.

What are the benefits of this 7-year partnership for all of us?

The overarching objective of EuroTeQ 2030 is to foster the competitiveness of European universities and higher education, to provide students the opportunity to acquire a broad-based education, to supply graduates with the skills and knowledge required to address multifaceted challenges and to be prepared to continuously pursue lifelong professional development. In today’s rapidly evolving world, it is crucial for professionals in every field to possess the agility and aptitude to swiftly adapt and, through co-creation with different disciplines, find tailored solutions that effectively address the challenges. However, cultivating such abilities and way of thinking requires a carefully designed environment that facilitates their development. This puts substantial demands on universities and study programmes. These challenges may turn out to be too big to be faced by one university alone, which is why it is reasonable to collaborate in order to tackle them collectively.

Our joint ambition is that at least 50 % of students move from one university to another and benefit from physical or virtual mobility. This means that TalTech graduates gain international experience from the leading universities of science and technology. Besides enhancing professional skills, it also expands our students’ opportunities for learning to collaborate in international teams.

For TalTech students, collaboration between partner universities means access to online courses offered by different universities. In the upcoming project phase, the digitization of the course catalogue will continue, which will connect the study information systems of the universities and will enhance the overall user experience when taking the courses.

Collaboration between universities enables a student to be enrolled in one university, while also participating in lectures, summer schools and student exchanges at other universities. Greater emphasis is put on creating formats for doctoral students and early stage researchers that foster collaboration, e.g. doctoral schools and internship opportunities.

EuroTeQ 2030 also focuses on lifelong learning. The universities are already offering the first micro-degrees, and in the future, a joint continuing education program (Executive Program for Senior Specialists) will be designed, the aim of which is to develop the abilities of middle managers and teach how to build a business.

Collaboration at the European level also requires world class teaching, incl. application of new and future-oriented learning and teaching methods. In collaboration with the leading universities, we will build a Collaboration Hub that allows our teaching staff and professors to participate in the webinars of partner universities and provides the opportunity to learn from each other. Moreover, the teaching staff have the opportunity to deliver and attend lectures in partner universities, researchers can benefit from mobility between the universities and shared research infrastructure and close collaboration is fostered in studies and research.

According to TalTech’s Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Hendrik Voll, interuniversity collaboration provides both current and future students with a guarantee of quality:

“By strengthening our common ground in the EuroTeQ Alliance, we can establish the conditions required to catalyse a qualitative leap forward in the fields of engineering, technology and economics and ultimately rank among the top universities in Europe and even on a global scale.”