Public universities and the Ministry of Education and Research are concluding new administrative agreements, and it is hoped they will be finalized before summer.

Chairman of the Council of Rectors and rector of TalTech, Tiit Land, told ERR that individual negotiations between universities and the Ministry of Education have ended, and discussions about study places have now begun.

Approximately 15,000 students are expected to enter higher education over the next four years.

"Understandably, this is associated with costs for universities, as more students mean larger groups, especially in technical fields, medical studies, and veterinary medicine, which require additional funding," Land said.

Minister of Education and Research Kristina Kallas (Eesti 200) said the main discussions have also focused on how many additional study places need to be commissioned over the next four years and in which fields and curricula.

"Universities calculated and analyzed their capacity — how many additional study places they can realistically create at such a rapid pace across different fields. Since we created a long-term plan extending to 2035, this planning process was behind it," she said.

Land said that universities have the capacity to educate more people, but this also requires additional funding from the state.

"Over four years, the total is €146 million, of which just over €100 million is for first-level bachelor's and applied higher education studies, and €39 million is for master's studies, though these are distributed somewhat differently across the years," Land explained.

The issue has already been discussed in the government cabinet, and a plan is in place.

"Securing the funding will move into state budget negotiations, but to even discuss money at the negotiating table, we first had to agree on what we are requesting funding for. Thirty percent of these new study places are in engineering, technology, and production, and the remaining 70 percent is divided among IT, medicine, healthcare, education, transport, logistics, agriculture, veterinary science, as well as national defense and internal security," said Kallas.

Land confirmed that there is consensus on the distribution of new study places:

"Universities that have more fields that are not currently prioritized will certainly also need an increase in their operating funding, because they too will have more students," Land said.

Universities expect the administrative agreements to be signed before summer, and according to Kallas, this will be the case.

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