Foresight webinar: Will the corona pandemic usher Estonia’s higher education onto the global market?

“The corona pandemic has significantly accelerated digitalisation in higher education. For Estonia’s higher education institutions this means an opportunity to reach a wider global community of students,” explained the expert of the Foresight Centre Uku Varblane. “At the same time, the increased readiness of people to study for a degree online has opened up our educational space to the global competition.”

The demands of competition force Estonia’s higher education institutions to apply new skills and operational models, so they could take advantage of the global digital developments. “We are already seeing the top universities around the world starting to offer full-scale programmes online,” he said. “Digitalisation will introduce long-term changes into higher education all around the world. In order to remain competitive, Estonia’s higher education institutions must adapt to this shift as quickly as they can.”

The webinar “Is higher education on the threshold of revolution?” takes place at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, 13 October. The focus will be on the main trends and opportunities affecting the future of the higher education.

There will be presentations by the Rector of the Estonian Business School Meelis Kitsing, Vice Rector for Academic Affairs of the University of Tartu Aune Valk, Member of the Riigikogu and Professor of the University of Tartu Aadu Must, and Managing Director of the Estonian Employers’ Confederation Arto Aas. The discussion is moderated by Uku Varblane, Expert of the Foresight Centre.

You can attend the webinar on Zoom (registration https://bit.ly/3mYmeDh).

In 2021/22, the Foresight Centre is doing a research into the Future of Higher Education in Estonia, to identify the development trends and opportunities in higher education over the next 15 years. 

The Foresight Centre is an advisory board at the Chancellery of the Riigikogu that analyses long-term developments in society and economy. The Centre conducts research projects to analyse the long-term developments in the Estonian society, and to identify new trends and development directions.