Estonian e-University

(mainly sourced from: Estonian e-University and The UNIVe Project)

The Estonian e-University was officially founded in February 2003. The EeU is a consortium of universities and applied universities and it consists of (as of 2012):

• Estonian Ministry of Education and Research
• Estonian Information Technology Foundation
• University of Tartu
• Tallinn University of Technology
• Tallinn University
• Estonian University of Life Sciences
• Estonian Business School
• Estonian Information Technology College
• Estonian Academy of Arts

Other Estonian HEIs can also apply for the e-University membership. All decisions (including questions of membership, strategy, budget, allocating of tasks to board) are done by the e-University council that consists of representatives of all members. The board of e-University is the body that fulfils the tasks set up by the e-University council.

The Estonian e-University is a member of EIfEL, EFQUEL, and EDEN. Its main functions are:

• increasing the availability of quality education for students and other people willing to learn, for example adults, handicapped people, Estonians abroad and foreign students,
• educating lecturers of universities to compile and practice quality and efficient e-courses,
• providing lecturers with necessary technical equipment, as well as improving the reputation of university education in Estonia and creating contacts for cooperation between foreign universities and business circles.

The history of Estonian e-University dates back to the beginning of 1990s when first enthusiastic people in universities started using email and web-pages as the first e-learning initiatives. Videoconferences over ISDN and web-based courses in a specially designed environment followed in 1998. However, there can be seen three main reasons for the actual establishment of Estonian e-University. Firstly, e-learning had been rather widely used in Estonian universities, but in most cases it was a low financed and not well coordinated initiative of a few enthusiastic people in a few faculties and open universities. Secondly, need for coordinated and institutionalized interuniversity cooperation in the field of open and distance learning had been perceived and discussed for years. And thirdly, similar initiatives in neighboring countries (Finland and Sweden) a few years earlier had given good examples.

The cooperation between universities needs, perhaps, an explanation on a slightly wider background. Estonian universities are very independent institutions, and there are very few initiatives or procedures in the area of HE coordinated by the state. The limited state control and liberal rules in HE resulted in the emergence of numerous private universities and applied HEIs in the 1990s when also the student numbers increased rapidly. The rapid growth in student numbers was by large due to the increasing number of adult students.

There were several reasons for vastly increasing interest for HE among adults. The reasons could simply be classified into two groups. Firstly, great need for new skills arising from enormous changes in the labor market and society – many people did not manage with ‘an old education’ obtained in the 1960 – 1980s in ‘the new society’. The second group of reasons why more adult students came to universities was most likely related to opportunities, i.e., increasing openness of the HE system and curricula. Besides the increased number of different HE providers, public universities adopted a third mission of providing services to the society – they considerably diversified their forms of tuition, opened numerous new (mainly master-level) curricula oriented to adult students, made major efforts in regional development by opening colleges in regions far distant from the two biggest cities Tallinn and Tartu.

Thus, rather than relying on state-coordinated program to bring in more adults to the universities, universities themselves independently and also slightly differently responded to the needs of the changing society and introduced flexible, part-time adult education curricula for training and retraining of adults. Many of them did it under the name of open university that included all kind of university level Lifelong Learning activities ranging from special initiatives and courses for secondary school students, university continuing education, summer schools, part-time degree education or degree education given in the form of distance learning, public lectures, regional development initiatives, etc. As a rule, the open universities were also responsible for the development of ICT-based teaching in universities.

First open universities were launched in 1996, and in 1998, the first project tackling the need for interuniversity cooperation in this field initiated (Tempus project for ‘Developing Open University Infrastructure in Estonia’ 1998 – 2001) with three biggest public universities as partners. Another cooperation initiative started by the universities was the establishment of the Estonian Network for University Continuing Education (ENUCE) in January 2001. Several seminars discussing different open university models culminated in January 2002 where conference titled ‘Estonian Open University – interuniversity cooperation for the development of open distance learning in Estonia’ was held with representatives from seven universities and the Ministry of Education and Research. This conference decided to make a concrete action plan for further development of the idea.

In summer 2002, Rectors’ Council approved the general idea, already called Estonian e-University at that time. In autumn 2002, the Minister of Education and Research summoned a working group for agreeing on activities and financing principles of the e-University. The process culminated in February 2003 when the Estonian e-University was officially launched by signing the Protocol of Good Will by the rectors of six universities, the Minister of Education and Research and the chair of the board of the Estonian Information Technology Foundation. By that time, plenty of work had already been done including e.g. submitting the first international project of Estonian e-University (the UNIVe) to Socrates Minerva program.

The target groups of Estonian e-University can be identified at different levels:

Students

The final target group for all activities is, of course, the current and potential students and learners of the universities of e-university members, both full-time and part-time students, learners at retraining programs and shorter continuing education courses. However, as widening access to high quality education is one of the main aims, the main target group among all students is adult students who live outside of bigger centers or who due to work obligations cannot participate in ordinary university studies. E-university also aims its activities at disadvantaged groups, including people with disabilities, for whom e-learning can make higher education more accessible. E-university also aims its activities at foreign students, thus, supporting the strategic aim of internationalization of several universities. Most e-University activities are not directly aimed at students but rather at teachers and universities. An e-course database is directly aimed at students that should become (1) a gateway to Estonian universities e-learning opportunities.

Universities

Although students are the final target group of the e-University activities, the latter does not offer tuition itself. Therefore, its activities are mainly aimed at helping universities, i.e. supporting and facilitating them in e-learning initiatives. This said, it does not mean that the e-University has a passive role in relation to universities. E-university is, and aims also to be in the future, the initiator and developer of e-learning initiatives taking into account the interests of the state, universities and students. Initiating and supporting interuniversity cooperation in e-learning initiatives is one of the strategic aims of e-University. From the HEIs’ perspective, e-University is (2) the developer and provider of a necessary technological environment needed for e-learning:

• portal (including a database for courses and learning objects),
• learning environment,
• exchange system for courses,
• necessary infrastructure for e-learning (incl. regional centers);

(3) support and development centre for e-learning:

• initiation of research,
• innovation and development activities,
• initiation and management of projects,
• financial etc. support for realising e-learning initiatives,
• international marketer of e-courses/curricula in the future.

Academic staff

Besides developing infrastructure and procedures, plenty of e-University activities are directly or via support to universities aimed at academic staff support and development. From the university teachers’ point of view, e-University is primarily (4) an e-learning support centre:

• information and training to conduct e-courses,
• database for learning objects,
• contests and grants for developing e-learning.

State

NB! Up to date state of the art and the latest figures and facts can be found at the Estonian e-Learning Development Centre page.

Better usage of limited financial and intellectual HE resources, better and more equal access to higher education, better cooperation between universities, clear and unified trademark of Estonian higher e-education initiatives at international arena, competence when realizing state initiatives in e-learning etc. are, of course, of value for each particular university, but these can firstly be seen as the benefits of e-University for the state and society.

The Estonian e-University is financed by the membership fees, projects, and direct funding. The budget for the first year was nearly 4.5 million EEK (€ 300,000), whereas the budget for year 2010 was over 32 million EEK (over € 2 000 000). Every member covers its costs related to e-University initiatives within its own university by itself. Membership fee is divided to fixed and proportional parts. The last is calculated on the basis of full-time equivalent student numbers.