Rectors from the Baltic Sea region gather for roundtable

On Monday, 25 August, the rectors of the University of Tartu’s partner universities from the Baltic Sea region gather for a roundtable to exchange experience in funding reforms and the effect of reduced funding and increasing competition on the activity of and cooperation between universities.

Several European universities have undergone major leadership and structural reforms within the past few years. The University of Tartu invited the rectors of its partner universities from the Baltic Sea region, including Estonia, to participate in the roundtable to discuss the ways to maintain a balance between the funding of universities, leadership models, cooperation and competition, and the need for university reforms and focusing in a specialising world.

About 15 rectors and vice rectors of universities from Estonia and abroad and several leaders of Estonian higher education and the field of research are expected to take part in the roundtable, including Rector of the University of Turku Professor Kalervo Väänänen, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Uppsala University Professor Anders Malmberg, President of the University of Kiel Professor Lutz Kipp, Rector of the Ural Federal University Dr Victor Koksharov and Deputy Secretary General for Higher Education and Research of the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research Indrek Reimand.

The Rectors’ Roundtable can be followed on UTTV. The photos of the event are here.

The presentations from the rectors:

• „A strong multidisciplinary profile“, Rector of the University of Turku Professor Kalervo Väänänen
• „Research funding models and their structural effects”, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Uppsala University Professor Anders Malmberg
• „Higher education reform in Estonia: the first year“, Deputy Secretary General for Higher Education and Research of the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research Indrek Reimand

• "Internationalization of Russian Higher Education: Current Trends and Global Challenges", Rector of  Ural Federal University Viktor Koksharov,

Later, the rectors and visitors will attend the opening ceremony of Physicum and the science festival “There’s Physics in the Air” (watch the video of the opening ceremony here).

Most of the science festival’s programme is in Estonian, except for the opening section at 13:00-14:00, during which the activities of the University of Tartu’s Institute of Physics will be introduced by Professor Jaak Kikas (University of Tartu), Professor Mika Valden (University of Tampere) and Professor Nils Mårtensson (University of Uppsala) in English.

Additional information: Reesi Lepa, Head of International Cooperation at University of Tartu, phone: +372 737 6123, +372 504 4190, e-mail reesi.lepa@ut.ee.