Higher education
Estonia
has a number of universities for as little as 1.4 million citizens. In
the school
year 2006/2007 the number was one of the lowest in recent years - 35.
There are
three kinds of institutions providing higher education: universities,
applied
schools and vocational schools. Estonia
joined the Bologna Declaration in 1999, and this establishes
common ground for higher education in Europe,
including a 3+2 study system. The language of study in universities is
mostly
Estonian, but many universities have curricula in English while some
private
universities teach in English or other foreign languages and are popular
among
foreign students. Additionally, a number of international study programs
provide courses in other languages.
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| Tartu University main building / Andres Tennus |
Six Estonian universities are state funded and all of them
provide courses in philosophy and ethics. The largest and oldest of
them, the
University
of Tartu (founded in 1632), is a classical academy with faculties of
theology,
law, medicine, philosophy, education, exercise and sport sciences,
science and
technology, economics and business administration, mathematics and
computer
science, and social science. It is located in
Tartu,
the second largest town in
Estonia.
Ethics courses in the University
of Tartu vary from bioethics
to the
ethics of law, from ethical theory to educational ethics. Ethics is
taught in
most faculties and all professions.
 |
| Tallinn University / Margo Engel |
Tallinn
University
was formed in 2002 when three universities in Tallinn
decided to establish a new, fast growing university. The university
mainly
focuses on the humanities, social sciences, and teacher training, but
there are
also considerable programs in the natural and exact sciences. For
international
courses and cooperation at Tallinn
University,
see the web page.
Ethics in Tallinn University
is taught in various fields. These include media ethics, environmental
ethics,
ethics and law in the new media, pedagogical ethics and philosophical
ethics.
 |
| The campus of Tallinn Technical University |
Tallinn
Technical
University’s
predecessor school,
Special Engineering Courses, was founded in 1918, the year when Estonia
first gained independence. In 1919, the school became the private
Tallinn
College of Engineering. In 1936, the school was granted the status of a
university
and named Tallinn Technical Institute. And in 1938, it became Tallinn
Technical University.
The university focuses mainly on technical subjects such as
chemical and materials technology, civil engineering, information
technology,
mechanical engineering, power engineering and science. However,
humanities and
economics and business administration are also taught.
The teaching of ethics is mostly related to professional
ethics like the ethics of civil service, officials’ professional ethics,
the
ethics of engineering, medical ethics, business ethics, and so on.
More information about Estonian education is available at
the web page of the Ministry
of Education and Science.
