Siim Sukles: Tallinn University Deserves Their Own Law!

Siim Sukles, head of the Tallinn University Advisory Board claims that focusing the University of five Focus Fields and changing the structure was a logical step forward, and getting our own law is equally important.

Siim Sukles: The strength of an organisation is displayed through their willingness to change. If the leaders do not perceive that the internal and external environment are in constant change, and keep a firm grip on current traditions and manners, the organisation will not prosper nor exist for a longer period.

I see the focusing of the University to five Focus Fields and rearranging the structure as a perfectly logical step to keep up with the competition in higher education. This not only in Estonia, but in the Nordic education sphere, as well.

Tallinn University has given our education and identity more than we dare to think at first. Most of Estonia’s teachers come from our university, our cultural history has been researched and carried with by our students. They have also thought about the state and its future options.

A university with such content has many bright visionaries, whose experience is something an organisation cannot afford to dispense with. The new Statute has given the academic society within the University a bigger chance to have a say at leading the University, and I think this is vital. Many organisations keep the academic and administrative parts separated, resembling the old paradigm, where there was this one and only person who knew all and decided all, and an impersonal staff, who did all the work.

The University was until now too divided between too many institutes, there was not enough collaboration between different fields to help us move forward. By lowering the number of institutes, we offer a chance to bring the focus back to achieving the common goals of the University instead of pondering about the life cycle of a single unit.

Any sort of change brings along nervousness and conflicts. Be it lack of information, a fear for our future or simply not understanding the need for change. Tallinn University is taking things slow and steady, with a strategy to change the structure of leadership to achieve new common goals by 2020. We are still at a stage where the new structure has not come into force, but it seems that the leaders are infected with positive anticipation.

I am aware of the multiple arguments and hesitations within the University, which the members of Rectorate tried to subdue with sharing information about the change. It makes perfect sense that reorganising the current structure, coupled with the disappearance of many current units and their leaders, will bring along confusion. There were probably many moments of personal fear, wherein the big picture played second fiddle to people’s own egos.

Thankfully, most of the bitterness and personal statements stayed between our own walls. While discussing the change at the Advisory Board, we were surprised Tallinn University had manage to solve many problems without public uproar, which has not been the case with many other universities.

What is most important is that our university should be the first choice in the eyes of the students, academics and other partners when it comes to offering higher education. People often choose the institute of higher education, which is modern, open to change and gives a good practical education and eruditeness.

Lastly, a University, where everyone stands for the same beliefs and values, is a big force and opportunity. The changes we have had so far are just the first steps of a long journey. And I think Tallinn University now deserves a Tallinn University Act.