Estonian Human Development Report

pared to master’s studies. The share of the humanities has
almost doubled (compared to master’s studies), while the
engineering field have remained the same, and all other
specialties have declined, including the health field. Actually,
the number of doctoral degree awarded is the highest
in the natural science field: almost a third of all those
who have been awarded doctoral degrees during the last
eight years have done so in the field of natural sciences. On
the other hand, in the engineering sciences the number
of doctoral degrees has declined in comparison to the
number of students. Doctoral studies have also been effective
in the health field, where more than an eighth of all
doctoral degrees were awarded. Since the number of those
being awarded doctoral degrees in Estonia is quite small, it
is not possible to track the dynamics by speciality.
Do the specialities of those acquiring higher education
correspond to Estonia’s needs? Unfortunately they
do not. Although more young people than ever are currently
studying at higher education schools in Estonia, the
number of students majoring in technical subjects – on
average a sixth of all students – is insufficient for the innovative
development of the economy. Obviously, the roots
lie in the specialization choices made in secondary school
– since scientific subjects, including mathematics, are not
popular, insufficient competence in these subjects closes
the door for talented students to continue their studies in
these fields. However, there is no sense blaming the young
people, who mostly finance their own studies in the “soft”
specialities – higher education in these subjects is also useful
for the development of the students and the society as a
whole. It must be recognized that the abilities and propensity
of all secondary school graduates is not suited to the
acquisition of engineering and scientific specialities.
As far as scientific education is concerned, there continues
to be serious problems with the effectiveness of
doctoral studies. This is demonstrated by the ratio of those
who have studied in doctoral programs in 2000–2003 and
those who defended their doctoral theses in 2004–2007:
5,194:570 = 9.1, i.e. on average every ninth student was
awarded their doctoral degree during the normal period.
The meagre productivity of doctoral studies is harmful
to the sustainability of science and of higher education
itself. On the whole, it also hinders the development
of the entire country in its aspiration to become a knowledge-based
society. It would be natural that, similar to the
United States, Japan and the countries at the top of the
European economies, we would start to have more people
with doctoral degrees among Estonia’s top civil servants,
as well as among company managers and top specialists.
References
1. Barber, M. & Mourshed, M. (2007) How the World’s Best-Performing
School Systems Come Out On Top (Understanding
and using the OECD comparative PISA study of learning success.)
McKinsey & Company.
2. Ministry of Education and Research (2007). Rahvusvaheliste
haridusalaste uuringute tutvustus – PISA. http://www.ekk.edu.
ee/valdkonnad/uldharidusvalishindamine/pisa
3. OECD (2005). First Results from PISA 2003. Executive Summary.
4. OECD (2005). School Factors related to Quality and Equity.
Results from PISA 2000.
5. OECD (2006) Assessing Scientific, Reading and Mathematical
Literacy: A Framework for PISA 2006
Figure 1.3.4. Representation of various specialties
(%) at higher education levels (2000–2007 levels)
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0 Humanities,
Arts
Social &
Behavioural
Sciences
Natural
Sciences Engineering
Health
Other
* Includes bachelor’s, diploma and applied higher education levels
Source: SE
The career study of those with doctoral degrees (Estonian
Study, 2008) proved that the most successful were the students
in strong schools with intensive foreign relations
– most specialized in natural sciences and the humanities.
In many fields a generation of younger scientists is
developing who, unlike their older colleagues, are more
strongly oriented towards international cooperation and
collective research and who prefer to publish their work
in high-quality publications. Unfortunately, there are few
such strong scientific schools in the field of engineering,
including information technology, which should be one of
Estonia’s main priorities.
6. OECD (2007) PISA 2006 Science Competencies for Tomorrow’s
World.
7. The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study
TIMSS 2003 (2006). Compiler K. Mere. Ministry of Education
and Research.
8. http://www.undp.org/publications/annualreport2008/
9. Statistics Estonia website, http://pub.stat.ee/px-web.2001/Database/Sotsiaalelu/databasetree.asp
10. Estonian Survey on Careers of Doctorate Holders. Transition
Facility 2005, Agreement number 19100.2006.002-2006.640,
Final Report. Statistics Estonia 2008
Achieved
doctoral
degrees
Doctoral
studies
Master’s
studies
First-level
higher education*
Figure 1.3.5. The number of students studying on
different levels of higher education and defending
their doctoral theses in different years compared to
the average level for the period (%)
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Source: SE
First-level
higher education
Master’s
studies
Doctoral
studies
Defending
one’s
doctoral
thesis
25 |