Article is more than five years old, has been archived and is no longer updated.
Lukas: State Budget and EU Sufficient for Funding Education
Tõnis Lukas has taken back his comment about imposing a "university tax" on college graduates.
After consulting with the leaders of his IRL party, Minister of Education and Research Lukas said that higher education should be funded from the state budget and European assistance, and the focus should not lie on alternatives such as the tax he proposed last week.
"Supporting completely my position that higher education must be a priority for increased spending in the years ahead, the party set the goal at its [September 22] session to allocate the necessary funding directly from the state budget, drawing on additional European funding as well," said Lukas on September 24.
If the number of free education slots and funding for scholarships and financial aid are increased, Lukas said, Estonia would not need to expand the student loan system or ask for money back from graduates.