Requirements for Free Education too Strict, Students Say
Minister of Education Jaak Aaviksoo's proposed free university education scheme has come under fire from the nation's largest student advocacy group, which says its requirement that recipients take a full study load every semester is too harsh.
In a July 1 statement, the Federation of Estonian Student Unions said demanding that students maintain a 100 percent study load will do nothing to improve the fairness or quality of the educational system, and that it didn't support the move.
Under Aaviksoo's model for implementing the "free education for all" pledge, which was a staple of the IRL party's campaign in the March elections, students who do not take on a full load in a given semester will be made to pay for part of their tuition at an amount set by the state.
The federation has sent an appeal to Aaviksoo, outlining its position that a full load requirement "does not fit with the modern structure of higher education, which is designed to give students more opportunity and responsibility in organizing their curricula, including studying abroad."
It also said that, if the 100 percent study load requirement were implemented, an additional system of social guarantees would be needed for students from poorer socio-economic backgrounds, who would otherwise have to work to support themselves.
However it might not only be the poorest students who would be affected by the study requirement. A survey published in May by the Human Rights Center found that 66 percent of Estonian university students were holding down jobs, the highest percentage in Europe. The organization’s annual report for 2010 said that 51 percent of full-time students in the country work full time.
Aaviksoo has earlier said that the current coalition's deadline that foresees installing needs-based social guarantees for students by 2015, may be too far away.
Steve Roman