Politicians to the university!

Overview

The “Politicians to the university!” project had Estonian institutions of higher education invite politicians to become student shadows for a day.

On the first week of November, 31 October – 4 November, spearheaded by the University of Tartu Student Union, the student unions of six Estonian institutions of higher education organized a student shadow day for Estonian politicians. With the project, we wanted to introduce the students’ daily life and challenges to the parliament members.

The aim of this initiative was to offer an effective and constructive intersection point for successful politicians and active, studious students. We created an opportunity for politicians to see what kinds of decisions and choices students must make and what challenges they face in their daily lives. With this project, the students took one of their ordinary fall days and made it into a special and unforgettable experience, where they showed a known politician their doings, rights and obligations and joys and worries. One of the reasons for creating this project was to inform MPs, as the people who have the right to vote on the decisions at the state level, in the most direct way of one of the main problems of students as a societal group – economic vulnerability.

The participants of the project are the students and student unions of Tallinn University, Tallinn University of Technology, University of Tartu, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, and Estonian Academy of Arts.

While participating in the student shadow day, the student and their shadow MP had the opportunity to show their activities and extraordinary day on social media by using the hashtag #PoliitikudÜlikooli. Still, either party didn’t need to record moments of the day, but it was a nice way to give the project visibility in the media and raise awareness of the project among the broader audience. Multiple politicians did that by uploading their posts regarding the student shadow day to their social media. The student unions collected photo and video material of the politicians’ and students’ meetings and interviewed both sides.

In addition, the television students of the Baltic Film, Media and Arts School (BFM) compiled a newsreel to give an overview of the project:

Some of the politicians’ posts:

Purpose and background

While the student shadow day gave both the politician and the student an exciting, educative experience with different perspectives, the project also had a substantive background and goal. The goal was to bring the attention of the state-level decision-makers and those who work with state support systems to the financing of higher education.

Financing higher education

We are in a situation where universities have increasingly started to close less popular Estonian-languaged curricula and open foreign-languaged curricula. There’s also a drastic drop in the value of teaching at the university as a professional activity, which is why top specialists rather choose a better-paid job in the private sector or work on research instead of teaching. This low appreciation for academic work strongly endangers the next generation of Estonian-languaged academics and has reached a situation where between 2013 -2020, the enrollment of Estonian students in doctoral studies dropped by a third: from 324 to 217 students. *none of the mentioned circumstances creates assumptions and hope for developing sustainable and quality Estonian-language higher education, but they draw attention to the systematic issues plaguing the topic.

* -the statistics are taken from the Rectors’ Council’s article “Mida peaks toetama kõrghariduse rahastuse kasv?”.

The need-based study allowance

Manystudents need financial support from the state to manage financially. One of these support mechanisms is the need-based study allowance, which must be reviewed and updated to fulfil its goal and offer real assistance. The need-based study allowance must meet today’s real-life conditions, but in reality hasn’t been changed since 2013, which means a maximum amount of support of 220 euros a month. To correspond to today’s prices and cost of living, the need-based study allowance should be increased to 340 euros a month.We also find that the method for calculating a student’s income must be reviewed with a critical eye, as currently, it counts a 24-year-old student as a part of their family’s household. But according to the Family Law Act, a parent doesn’t have to provide maintenance for a student who’s older than 21, which means that a student between the ages of 21-24 can be left alone and without the direly needed economic assistance if their family doesn’t financially support their studies.

Student Housing

Every student must have a guaranteed opportunity to start their studies with a guaranteed dormitory place. Every year, over 85% of the new students at The University of Tartu come from outside the city of Tartu, which in most cases means moving away fromone’s family. Getting a place in the dormitory shouldn’t be a race but a right of every student starting their studies. Also, a private bedroom shouldn’t be a luxury item that can be accessed only by waiting in line for many months. The dormitory buildings should be modern and well-maintained, with access to everything a student needs for their daily life and internet that can withstand distance learning.

The achievement stipend

Similarly to the need-based study allowance, the achievement stipend has also remained unchanged since 2013, at 100 euros/month. The achievement stipend aims to recognise and support students with great study results. Due to the small size of the stipend’s fund, for years, there’s been a situation where students with great study results can’t get the achievement stipend. Although the competition for receiving the achievement stipend is relevant and welcome, the state-appointed achievement stipend fund must be increased. This would increase the students’ motivation to study for great grades during the entire study period, which will raise the level of our future specialists and professions and have a positive effect on our country’s economic development. If we want our future specialists’ and professions’ level to stay high and for the country’s economic growth to continue, the students must have additional motivation to study for great grades during their entire study period. Increasing the achievement stipend fund would help achieve just that.

Student loan

Currently, it’s possible to take a student loan of up to 3000 euros per academic year, which means 250 euros a month. It’s obvious that it’s not possible for a student to live on 250 euros a month. Also, the loan repayment system doesn’t consider the graduate’s economic state. The state has to be a more active partner between the students and the commercial banks to ensure students a reasonably sized loan without deposits and personal sureties, which will help the students who receive the loans to focus solely on studying.The student loan has to be big enough, when needed, to offer the student a chance to pay for their accommodations, daily expenses and tuition. Guaranteeing a student loan with a reasonable size and conditions is the state’s investment in education and thefuture, but the current solution doesn’t have a function that’s necessary for the student.

Students’ thoughts regarding their economic survival and the study allowance system:

Estin Rand, a first-year medical student at the University of Tartu: “As a medical student, working during my studies seems quite complicated since we study a lot. This is why I think the need-based study allowance should be at least 300 euros per month.”

Anette-Mai with Mihkel Lees, deputy mayor of Tartu, who shadowed her.

Anette-Mai Pirk-Birk, a third-year history and archaeology student at the University of Tartu: “I’ve received a study allowance at one point, but there’s no way for a student to manage with the sum of 75 euros. I work during my studies, but I think that other students and I should actually be able to focus only on our studies during our university time. Working is bound to reduce the amount of attention left for studying, and if the job is not related to their studies, it won’t give them anything after they’ve graduated.”

What kind of impression of the students’ situation did the politicians get?

Raimond Kaljulaid: “From talks with the students, it appears that having a half-time job in the service industry is an unavoidable part of their university studies. More important than the student supports is increasing wages – a family should be able to finance their child’s studies itself.”

Mihkel Lees: “Even with the maximum study allowance and receiving the achievement stipend, a student can’t pay for their cost of living, food and other expenses. Working is useful for the students, but this shouldn’t be a reason for discontinuing their studies.”

Margit Sutrop with Angela, the student she was shadowing.

Margit Sutrop: “It’s clear that the students’ support system needs updating. It’s important that every capable youth could obtain higher education, despite the size of their family’s wallet.”

Raivo E. Tamm: “The main point was the lack of finances. Both in regards to financing institutions of higher education, but also on the student level – that 68% of students must work in addition to going to lectures to be able to live.”