Page 7 - TLÜ aastaaruanne 2014

Dear all
The year 2014 was a busy one for Tallinn University. Against the back- ground of maintaining our principal activities, the notable events of the year can be highlighted with the keywords of completion of the new development plan, initiating the organisation of the new aca- demic structure and passing the institutional accreditation.
The year commenced with the introduction of the project “Tal- linn University 2020”. We asked our members – both employees and students – to actively discuss the future of TU. We also developed a series of short videos entitled “What will Tallinn University be like in 2020?”. Professors and other members of the teaching and research staff of the various fields, as well as our partners and friends, all shared their thoughts on the topic and these mutual discussions cul- minated in a development conference held in September. As a result, a lot of good advice and information was received which proved use- ful in compiling the development plan.
In autumn 2014, a mutual agreement was reached in planning TU development for the following five years. Five large focus fields, which we wish to develop, crystallised. The key words of the new focus fields are research-based and interdisciplinary. Naturally, qual- ity and internationalisation continue to be our priorities as well.
Concordant with our future plans, we began preparations for organising the university´s new academic structure at the beginning of 2014. Our purpose is to create an academic structure that supports the development of new focus fields and also provides economic and academic sustainability. In autumn, the Senate adopted the basis, guided by the principles of five focus fields, according to which TU focuses the resources and activities for re-organising its academic structure.
In spring 2014, TU successfully passed institutional accreditation. The Estonian Higher Education Quality Agency (EKKA) decided, on the proposal of an international assessment committee, to accredit TU for a period of seven years and award the EKKA quality label to the university. In addition to acknowledging a number of our activ-
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ities and processes, the assessment committee recommended better focusing of our activities and concentring on reorganisation both the organisational and managerial structure.
With regard to the main activities of TU, it is gratifying to note the continued high number of research publications. In 2014, there was an average of 1.25 high-level research publications published per academic employee, which is equivalent to or higher than the corre- sponding indicators of other public universities. In the field of inter- nationalisation, the growing trend in the numbers of international students has continued, and the proportion of international teaching and research staff has also remained high.
The year 2014 was also good for sports and culture at TU: our women´s basketball team won the Estonian championship; TU cul- tural groups participated in the annual Song and Dance Festival and performed numerous concerts.
The Alumni Council was founded on the initiative of the Stu- dent Union and for the first time in 2014, an acknowledgement of the Most Outstanding Alumnus of TU was awarded. Also, another mem- orable event was the reopening of the TU Museum in autumn 2014.
Finally, the student evaluation to their studies at TU has remained high (4.57), which is an important proof of academic quality. I would therefore like to thank all the university members for their dedicated work and contribution!
Tiit Land
Rector, Tallinn University
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