In an interview on ETV's "Aktuaalne kaamera" on Wednesday, EKA rector Mart Kalm said the university plans to thoroughly review the technical decision to terminate a contract with an Israeli lecturer.

According to Jüristo, EKA does not yet have a timeline in place for its review of the decision.

"The next steps involve conceptualizing further actions and forming a working group with the support offered by the ministry – activities that take time," she explained. "EKA is hoping for the opportunity to calmly make a decision – which ["Aktuaalne kaamera" news anchor] Margus Saar also expressed live yesterday."

Kalm also said on "Aktuaalne kaamera" that Minister of Education and Research Kristina Kallas (Eesti 200) had offered a hand to the university, promising that their ministry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will provide universities with advice on how to handle complex values-based issues, considering Estonia's universities have to date faced these challenges largely on their own.

"The issue lies largely in the fact that a technical decision has received a disproportionate amount of political attention," the rector said Wednesday.

"This is where I need to curb the enthusiasm of both celebrators and critics, because that contract was a relatively technical one in nature," he explained. "Erasmus+ student and faculty agreements are processed by international relations departments and don't ever hit the rector's desk. This was an unutilized contract that made no sense to maintain and then return funds to the state."

Workshop canceled

Last week, a curriculum director at the Estonian Academy of Arts informed students that the second part of a workshop by Jonathan Ventura, an associate professor at Israel's Shankar College, had been canceled, as EKA decided to sever ties with all Israeli universities.

The workshop had been scheduled for February.

In a statement issued Tuesday, EKA noted that it would consider convening a broad-based working group involving the Ministry of Education and Research and Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss the challenges of international learning in crisis countries.

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