Rector Toomas Asser: addressing problems requires intelligent people and the ability to synthesise and take the long view

Speech by Professor Toomas Asser, Rector of the University of Tartu, at the opening ceremony of the academic year on 2 September 2024.  

Toomas Asser: 

Dear students, dear colleagues! 

Happy new academic year to all members of the university family! 

Today, 2,075 first-year bachelor’s students start university studies at the University of Tartu. Welcome to the University of Tartu! I hope you will settle in smoothly – why not start getting to know the university, for example, by visiting the main building already today after this event. 

We have more than 15,000 students altogether studying at all levels of higher education. I wish you all a dynamic and meaningful continuation of your studies! Your choice to continue your journey at the university shows you want to look deeper than the surface of the daily information flow, where the dominant topics are not necessarily the most important ones in the world. At the university, you will have the opportunity to learn what issues really matter, what needs attention and what is worth worrying about. Rather than simple solutions, addressing these problems requires intelligent people and the ability to synthesise and take the long view. 

In addition to more profound knowledge, the university offers you the chance to discuss a thousand different topics with fellow students and lecturers, helping you understand various perspectives and uncomfortable truths. Your willingness to go beyond the surface layer gives Estonia hope that in the future, we will not be faced with a drought-parched and divided field where sparrows, who have no deeper thoughts than a short tweet, aimlessly wander. 

Dear bachelor’s students! Think of your university studies as a marathon, not a sprint to catch a bus. During the three years at the university, you will learn to view the world broadly and diversely. However, it is during your master’s studies that you will delve deeper into your specialisation, gain the ability to keep up with changes, manage change, and be an expert in a world we cannot yet imagine today. Hopefully, you will also be able to lead Estonia forward in uncertain times so that the only solution is not cutbacks but creating new value. 

On the anniversary of Estonia’s restoration of independence, attempts were made to formulate the things that make Estonia an excellent place to live. It’s true – there is no better place than Estonia. No matter which direction you look, you will find such misery, evil, stupidity, or natural disasters from which we here at the top of the world have been spared. We must understand, however, that this good life has a price. All the good things that we take for granted – our excellent and free education, solidary health care system, security, or even nature conservation – are something that we, the country’s citizens, pay for. Even in the case of university education, it is no longer possible to avoid an agreement on who should bear the actual costs of higher education: whether society as a whole, with joint responsibility or the student and the state sharing the responsibility. I encourage all students also this year to stand up for their rights to ensure the necessary funding to maintain the quality of higher education and the social support that enables them to devote themselves to their studies. But it must be agreed upon how the costs are shared. 

Dear university members, I believe that you are inspired to act within the university walls by the desire to live in a beautiful and safe world full of hope. An essential part of such a world is undoubtedly a shared space of values: what we consider important and how we accept the values important to others. We can speak about values for the sake of talking, but we recognise what is truly important when something really shakes us, makes us think and speak up, and creates a desire to do something to make things better. This summer, we saw how important it is for the staff, students, and alumni of the University of Tartu that the university would be a safe place upholding modern values where one can study and work. I am sincerely grateful for so many contributors, constructive criticism, and meaningful suggestions. Last Friday, we agreed with the university senate on the following steps to better ensure equal treatment. I have been reassured that we share the same values. To maintain and strengthen this common space of values, I call on all of you to recognise, notice, and respond to injustice and inequality. I ask that no member of the university turn their head away or try to downplay problems in case of unequal treatment. Every person needs to feel good at the University of Tartu. 

In keeping with good practice, I will now introduce my team. The members of the university’s Rector’s Office are: 

Vivat academia!