OREANDA-NEWS. June 13, 2013. According to a new study by TNS Emor, nearly half of high school students are planning to continue their studies at Tallinn University of Technology (TUT).

Based on the study, a total of 83% of the young respondents are planning to continue studies at some university, 45% of those prefer the specialties at TUT. This indicates the growing interest of young people in the specialties of technology, as in 2011, a total of 25% of high school students intended to continue their studies at TUT.

According to Heiki Lemba, the Board Member of TUT, the percentage of students, who prefer to study technology specialties, has significantly increased among students with best academic achievements and the graduates of humanitarian high schools. “The specialties of technology are combined with business, economic, healthcare, environmental, state governance, law, and other broad specialties,” Lemba said. “Such synergy is characteristic to a university of technology, which best known examples are TOP 10 universities in the world, such as the California Institute of Technology, Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Berkeley University, as well as Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and several others. A university of technology can be best characterised with strong research potential and close co-operation with enterprises, other universities, and the public sector.”

TUT will accept approximately 4,000 new students this year. If approximately 30% of the high school graduates chose to study natural, engineering, and exact sciences in the university in Estonia last year, it is estimated that this percentage will significantly increase this year. The growth is partly due to the higher education reform, which increases the number of free state budgetary student places in the field of natural, engineering, and exact sciences and limits the number of study places in the field of social sciences.

According to Heiki Lemba’s estimation, the main incentive of the growing popularity of engineering specialties is approximately 3,000 vacant positions in the technology sector and also in other fields. “The demand for engineering professionals will grow as the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications of labour market forecast to 2018 shows the most rapid employment growth in the fields of ICT, power engineering, and production,” he said. “The study of university graduates commissioned by the Archimedes Foundation clearly indicated that the graduates of TUT are the leaders in income ranking. Approximately 75% of them will earn the Estonian average salary or more a year after the graduation.”

To conduct the survey, TNS Emor questioned 154 young people aged 15–19 during April and May. The survey commissioned by TUT was carried out as a web interview.

Applications to TUT will be accepted from the student candidates from 26 June, the lists of the accepted students will be published on the following dates: on 5 July in PhD studies, on 12 July in Master's Studies, on 17 July 2013 in Bachelor's Studies, Professional Higher Education Studies, and Integrated Studies.

Founded in 1918, TUT is the only university of technology in Estonia, which uniqueness lies in the synergy of engineering, natural, exact, social, and health sciences. TUT mission is to support Estonian economy, business, and industry. Over 60,000 people have graduated from TUT; currently 14,500 students are studying at this university. TUT co-operates with universities from all over the world, including TOP 10 universities (Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, Harvard, etc.). TUT agencies are located in Silicon Valley in the USA and Shanghai in China. TUT campus, which is situated on more than 50 ha, includes 72 buildings. In addition to eight faculties, IT College and Tallinn Science Park are situated here with the latter assembling over 150 high-tech companies. Additionally, TUT has separately situated colleges in Kuressaare, Tartu, Virumaa, and Tallinn. The students are offered fantastic student and cultural life; the accommodation and sporting facilities are one of the best in Northern Europe.