International cooperation and Education Estonia

The results of the international student performance survey PISA show that the Estonian education system is among the best in the world. We have a unique experience of almost three decades in reforming education among transition countries. Today, Estonia is known in the world for its digital capabilities in all areas of life - including education. All this has created a growing interest in our education and Estonia as a valuable partner.

In Harno:

  • There is great interest in Estonian education. Harno is happy to introduce different aspects of Estonian education to the delegations of policymakers, education specialists, entrepreneurs, and journalists. We are also ready to recommend other Estonian educational institutions and organizations worth visiting.

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  • We initiate and implement international educational projects in cooperation with foreign partners around the world. We assist the transition of developing countries in building their education systems by sharing successful Estonian practices. We bring home new ideas for the development and enrichment of Estonian education with modern knowledge and innovative solutions.

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  • We participate as a partner in important international cooperation networks in the field of education.

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Education Estonia

Learn more about the education system and the best practices behind the success of Estonia or search for digital solutions and schools. Estonia has the knowledge and expertise to share.

www.educationESTONIA.ORG 

Study in Estonia

In the last five years, the number of foreign students in Estonia has increased fivefold. We run the Study in Estonia program, which introduces the world to Estonia as a great destination to study in order to recruit foreign students to Estonian universities.

www.studyinestonia.ee 

Introduction of Estonian education

Harno organizes meetings with experts and study visits to introduce the Estonian education system, its success factors and to explain the reasons Estonian students' rank so high on PISA tests.

Our goal is to share inspiration and know-how, create contacts and cooperation opportunities.

We are happy to introduce different aspects of Estonian education to the delegations of policymakers, educational organisations, entrepreneurs, and journalists. 

We also offer online meetings.

To arrange a visit, please contact Education Estonia.

Välismaa külalised

Contact

The Education and Youth Board
Department of Internationalization
+372 735 0500
[email protected]
 

Ongoing Projects

Objectives:

The overall objective of the project is to support the improvement of the efficiency and effectiveness of the Ukrainian higher education system by involving the best practices of the Estonia. The project's target group is university academic staff (priority to replaced universities, in total 19 universities evacuated from the occupied territories to different regions in Ukraine (Donetsk, Lugansk, Vinnitsa, Kryvyi Rih, Kharkov, and Kyiv), education administrators, representatives of international education support structures operating in Ukraine (Erasmus + , ENIC Centre), NGOs (falce-science). The project consists of six work packages (internationalization, quality standards, e-learning tools, education marketing, and ethical governance in universities.

Funder: Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Development cooperation.

Duration: 01.10.2021-30.09.2024

Contact: Ülle Must, coordinator ([email protected])

The project takes place as a continuation of the co-operation between Estonia, Georgia and UNICEF, which started in 2014. Within this co-operation, Estonia assisted Georgia in updating the national curricula of general education and teacher training curricula, and in piloting the renewed curricula in schools. By now, Georgia has an updated national curriculum for grades 1–10. This project is devoted to developing new national curriculum for grades 11–12. Duration of the project is June 2020 – June 2021.

Objective of the project:
Overall objective of the project is to contribute to updating the national curriculum for grades 11–12 in Georgia, to define the relevant policies and goals of upper secondary education, including goals related to further education and employability. Questions associated with organization of the study process, distribution of compulsory and optional subjects, the contents of the curriculum, developing assessment methods and the necessary instructional materials are the focus within this project.

Planned activities / role of Harno:
Development of Policy on upper-secondary education and the National Curriculum for upper-secondary education based on the policy (subject standards).
Development of the curriculum implementation guideline/manual.
Development of students’ assessment/complex tasks manual.
The project process and outcomes will be monitored and evaluated jointly by UNICEF and Estonian experts (Harno) in collaboration with the Georgian MoESCS based on agreed criteria. Estonian experts also provide Georgian partners with expertise and consultancy in the field of curriculum development and with knowledge concerning the best international practices.

Expected results:
There will be developed
Policy of upper secondary education that is in line with international best practices, creates opportunities for children to use their full potential, interests and prepare for further education, employment and life.
New, third generation National Curriculum for upper-secondary school, grades 11-12 that is based on Estonian and international best practices, supports development of 21st century skills and competencies and is logical continuation of the new National Curriculum of Georgia of basic school.
Manual for the implementation of the new National Curriculum of upper-secondary school, that allows the state to invest in preparation of teachers, resources, monitoring and evaluation system
The manual on students’ assessments/complex tasks.

Main partners: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia, UNICEF Georgia, Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Georgia, Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Estonia.

Financing of the project: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia through UNICEF Georgia

  

Overall objective: to reform and modernize the Vocational Education Training (VET) system in Ukraine to contribute to sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development via better economic governance, increased diversification and higher labour productivity.

Specific objectives:

  • To enhance effectiveness of VET reform
  • To improve quality and attractiveness of VET for both female and male learners, and to increase its relevance to the labour market needs
  • To optimize and modernize the VET infrastructure network

Estonia is represented in the consortium by the Education and Youth Board.

The aim is to support the implementation of vocational education reforms in Ukraine through Estonia’s experience and counselling.

Main activities:

  • In cooperation with Ukrainian partners, the vocational education part of the Ukrainian Education Information System (EMIS) will be developed, including trainings and training materials
  • Estonian experts will advise and conduct trainings on optimizing the network of state vocational education institutions in Ukraine, change management will be supported in the 7 pilot areas of the programme
  • Advising on the development of 3-5 national vocational education curricula, taking into account the “blended learning” methodology
  • Participation in the implementation of the programme`s communication plan

Programme period: 1.04.2020-31.03.2023

Programme partners: The program is implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) as a lead partner.  Other partners are the Finnish Board of Education (EDUFI) and the Polish Solidarity Fund (PSF)

The project is funded by the European Union and 4 member countries: Germany, Poland, Finland and Estonia. The Estonian project is co-financed by the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs funds of development cooperation and humanitarian aid.’

In 2017, the European Commission issued a Country-Specific Recommendation to Slovakia on quality, equity, and access to education. As of now, the Slovakian government, teachers, schools, school backers, parents, and students still lack quantitative evidence on the quality of schooling and a systematic process to track student achievement over time or in relation to national learning standards. As of now, Slovakian quality monitoring of primary and secondary education is provided through internal and external evaluations. Each school carries out a self-evaluation while external institutions – namely the State School Inspection and the National Institute for Certified Educational Measurements (NUCEM) – carry out external evaluations, i.e. nation-wide testing of pupils.

The current Slovakian system of teaching and learning is based on ensuring students acquire specific core knowledge and attain a certain proficiency level in applying the prescribed minimum content. This system does not incorporate formative assessment and does not provide a possibility to track long-term evolution of performance.

The general objective of this project is to improve the quality and effectiveness of the education system in Slovakia in order to enhance the country’s competitiveness, sustainable growth, and job creation.

The specific objective of this project is to support the Slovak authorities in the design and the pilot implementation of a new student assessment system in schools, using the approach of criterion-referenced testing. This will be achieved by supporting specifically the group of Slovak test developers and NUCEM staff to define and implement appropriate processes and methodologies by considering good practices of and lessons learned from other countries; specifically of Germany and Estonia.

The project will achieve its objectives by completing the following specific outputs:

  1. Expertise provided on the development of the theoretical frameworks for CRT.
  2. Expertise provided on the elaboration of tests and background questionnaires.
  3. Expertise and good practices provided on the implementation of a CRT assessment system in Slovakia.
  4. Expertise provided to accompany the implementation of the field trial and planning of scale-up.
  5. Expertise provided on reporting CRT results to different stakeholders.

Education and Youth Board's role in the project is to share its practical experiences on the design and implementation of the Estonian external evaluation system, the exam preparation, and development process and testing.

Project period: 2018 – 2021

Project partners are University of Stuttgart (Germany), Education and Youth Board (Estonia), National Institute for Certified Educational Measurements (NUCEM in Slovakia).

The project is supported by the European Union through the Structural Reform Support Program (SRSP).

Estonia has recently become a successful role model in education worldwide. According to the 2015 results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Estonia was ranked 1st in Europe and 3rd in the world. We can share our know-how and offer insights that might inspire and help other countries in improving their education systems.

We have created the project “Sharing the best practices of Estonian education with developing countries“ in order to offer specialists and officials working in the field of education in various developing countries a chance to visit Estonia to learn about our best practices.

The group should include experts of different educational areas, for example:

  • Representatives of the ministry of education
  • Other relevant organizations responsible for education
  • Local municipality persons responsible for education
  • Representatives of the university
  • VET education specialists or policy makers
  • Pre school education specialists or policy makers
  • Journalists, who covers educational topics

During one week you will have an opportunity to learn and experience the best practices of Estonian education:

  • Visits to schools and other educational institutions
  • Meetings and knowledge exchange with experts and relevant parties
  • Meeting at the Ministry of Education and Research
  • Learning about: educational reforms, key factors behind good PISA results of Estonian students, Lifelong Learning Strategy, e-Estonia and Digital Focus in Education and other topics that may interest you
  • And the chance to establish contacts with local educational institutions for further possible cooperation

Project period: 15 September 2018 – 28 February 2021

The project is funded by the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ means of Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid.

If you are interested in becoming a part of this project, please contact us!

Project manager:
Anna Silem
+372 735 0656
[email protected]

The Erasmus+ project “My Journey – My Mobility” is the cooperation project of the four countries: Malta, Estonia, Germany, and Belgium.

The aim of the project is to enable the participating countries to exchange best practices in the area of vocational education and training. The study visits that are conducted within the frames of the project are taken part in by over 300 VET teachers and VET school principals from the project partner states. The main target group are VET school principals from Malta who get acquainted with experienced VET schools in Estonia, Germany, and Belgium in order to introduce innovations in their country.

Project priorities:

  • Getting acquainted with VET in the partner countries,
  • Promotion of acquisition of vocational skills,
  • Proving schools with support in dealing with the dropping-out issue.

Activities planned within the project

Organization of 70 study visits/trainings in Estonia, Malta, Germany, and Belgium for the groups from the partner countries. Activities of the project management group in the partner countries. 

Education and Youth Board's role in the project is to share the best practices of the Estonian VET in cooperation with VET schools and to organize Estonian VET teachers’ participation in the project. 6 study visits to Estonia, with the total of 120 participants, will be conducted during the project period.

Project period: 1.09.2018 – 31.08.2021

Project partners: Malta (Education Institute), Belgium (EU projects coordination centre), Germany (BBS Cuxhaven), and Estonia (Education and Youth Board).

Project is financed by Erasmus+

Please see the overview of the study visit to Germany in the March of 2019, which representatives of Tallinn School of Service took part in.

The general aim of the project is to enhance the quality and effectiveness of the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system in Moldova using a twinning approach. (Twinning projects bring together public sector expertise from EU Member States and beneficiary countries with the aim of achieving concrete mandatory operational results through peer to peer activities.)

The objectives of the project are:

  1. Improvement of Quality Assurance mechanisms for VET and LLL at all levels of education;
  2. Enhancement of capacities at VET provision level for cooperation with​ the​ private sector

Project activities: The twinning activities mostly consist of peer-to-peer discussions, seminars, on-the-job training and consultations in order to support the beneficiary in its development. All project partners​are involved in all activities​ as a team in order to maximise the use of ​the​ twinning approach.

Planned results and outcomes:

1.1. Institutional and operational capacities and staff​competencies of the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Education and Research (ANACEC) are strengthened;

1.2. National Qualification Framework of the Republic of Moldova is further implemented;

2.1. Capacities for effective cooperation between VET providers and ​the​ private sector are built;

2.2. VET teachers of Centres of Excellence become multipliers through pedagogical training;

Partners of the project:

  • Member State Lead Partner: Finland represented by Omnia
  • Member State Junior Partners: Education and Youth Board (Estonia) MOSTA, the Research and Higher Education Monitoring and Analysis Centre (Lithuania);
  • Finnish collaborators: FINEEC, the Finnish Education Evaluation Council; the City of Espoo.

Beneficiary:​ Ministry of Education, Culture and Research of the Republic of Moldova.

Project period:​ 01.03.2019-31.05.2021

Funding:​ European Commission, EU funded budget 1,300,000 EUR

Duration: 01.01.2020-30.06.2023

The Objective of Ethna System is to develop and implement an Ethics Governance System for grounding good practices in RRI (ETHNA System) in Higher Education, Funding and Research Centres (HEFRCs). The Project will implement and validate a new formal organizational structure within the management structure in 6 different HERCs of the consortium from 6 countries and 3 type of contexts: 2 universities, 2 funding research centres and 2 technological parks in ES, NO, EE, BG, AT and PT.

Coordinator: UNIVERSITAT JAUME I DE CASTELLON (ES)

Partners: NORGES TEKNISK-NATURVITENSKAPELIGE UNIVERSITET (NO), FUNDACION ESPANOLA PARA LA CIENCIA Y LA TECNOLOGIA  (ES), ZENTRUM FUR SOZIALE INNOVATION (AT), APPLIED RESEARCH AND COMMUNICATIONS FUND (BG), FONDEN TEKNOLOGIRADET  (DK), EUREC OFFICE (DE ), BIOCOM  (DE), Harno (EE), UNINOVA-INSTITUTO DE DESENVOLVIMENTO DE NOVAS TECNOLOGIAS-ASSOCIACAO (PT)

Source of funding: EC H2020 programme

Duration: 01.05.2017-31.09.2021

The Project sets out to promote the acceptance of RRI in Horizon 2020 (H2020) and beyond. It will work out the conceptual and operational basis to fully integrate RRI into European and national research and innovation (R&I) practice and funding. In order to accomplish this goal, NewHoRRIzon will establish altogether 18 Social Labs that cover all sections of H2020. Together with a wide-ranging group of R&I stakeholders, in these Social Labs, NewHoRRIzon will co-create tailor-made pilot actions that will stimulate an increased use and acceptance of RRI across H2020 and each of its parts. These pilot actions will address a variety of R&I actors such as academia, business, non-university research institutes, research funding organisations, policy-makers on European, Member State and global level, civil society organisations (CSOs) and the general and specific public(s) as they arise from technological controversies. Ultimately, the pilot actions to be developed and tested in the Social Labs will contribute to R&I projects that fully recognise the significance of RRI. NewHoRRIzon will stimulate learning about how to accomplish RRI in H2020 and beyond in its Social Labs, in two cross-sectional workshops and two transdisciplinary conferences. It will conceptualise and operationalise a Society Readiness Level (SRL) for R&I that focuses on the alignment between the processes and products of R&I on the one hand, and broader societal demands and expectations on the other. Finally, NewHoRRIzon will use a variety of target-group specific strategies to disseminate best practises to promote acceptance of RRI across H2020 and generate long-term impact.

Coordinator: INSTITUT FUER HOEHERE STUDIEN (AT)

Partners: AARHUS UNIVERSITET (DK), Teknologian tutkimuskeskus (FI), OESTERREICHISCHE FORSCHUNGSFOERDERUNGSGESELLSCHAFT MBH (AT), FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V (DE), WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY (NL),  FONDATION NATIONALE DES SCIENCES POLITIQUES  (FR), FUNDACION TECNALIA RESEARCH & INNOVATION  (ES), UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM  (NL), GENOK - SENTER FOR BIOSIKKERHET  (NO), EUROSCIENCE ASSOCIATION  (FR), Harno (EE), Technologicka agentura Ceske republiky (CZ), ZENTRUM FUR SOZIALE INNOVATION (AT), Vereinigung Deutscher Wissenschaftler (DE), UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN  (NL), MINISTERIE VAN ECONOMISCHE ZAKEN (NL), THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES U WI* (Jamaica), COLEGIO MAYOR DE NUESTRA SENORA DELROSARIO CORPORACION SIN ANIMO DE LUCRO (Colombia)

Source of funding: EC H2020 programme

International cooperation networks

CIDREE (Consortium of Institutions for Development and Research in Education in Europe) is a consortium of European institutions for the development and research of education, established in 1990. The aim of the network is to strengthen cooperation and knowledge exchange between European education systems. Since 2019, Estonia has been a member of CIDREE.

The mission of CIDREE is:

to contribute to the quality of the work of member organizations through cooperation and the transfer of high-level knowledge and experience.

To develop CIDREE into an influential and active network that supports the individual and common interests of its members.

To represent members’ interests in other European and international organizations and networks.

CIDREE members are organizations that promote education in their country. Most CIDREE members play a key role in reforming and developing national curricula in their countries. Some of them also develop national qualification, assessment, and/or examination programs. Other members oversee national assessment and examination processes. The main task of almost all government agencies is to provide policy advice to ministries, usually in conjunction with providing guidance and advice on policy implementation in schools. Many member organizations play a key role in teacher training and in-service teacher training. Some members are mainly involved in research, sometimes with curriculum development and review.

CIDREE organizes study trips and expert meetings to exchange knowledge and experience, as well as international cooperation projects in the field of educational research and development. Projects are initiated by the member organizations themselves.

The Annual General Assembly of CIDREE approves the strategic action plan and, if necessary, new members. The General Assembly also elects the Board, determines the membership fee, and makes political decisions. The Management Board submits to the General Assembly issues that need to be discussed and agreed upon. The role of the Board is also to implement the decisions and to stand up for the interests of CIDREE between the meetings of the General Assembly. All member organizations are involved in the National Coordinators Meeting, where specific cooperation needs are identified. Each organization is represented at these meetings by the national coordinator.

All members must pay an annual fee to cover the costs of funding cooperation projects and other activities.

UNESCO UNEVOC (International Center for Technical and Vocational Education and Training) is an international center for vocational education and training aimed at promoting vocational education and training. The Center, based in Bonn, Germany, was established by the UNESCO General Conference in 1999.

The Center shall assist United Nations Member States in developing policies and practices on vocational education and skills that meet the needs of the labor market in order to achieve:

  • Opportunities for lifelong learning
  • Opportunity for everyone to access vocational education
  • Effective and relevant vocational education curricula

UNEVOC is the creator and leader of the international vocational education network. Through networking:

  • Innovative practices are shared
  • Normative documents and standards are being developed
  • The expert opinion is compiled
  • Knowledge is shared
  • Partnerships between different countries are strengthened

Here you will find the active job and internship offers of the Education and Youth Board and information on why it is good to work with us.

The Academic Cooperation Association (ACA) is a membership organisation. Its members are national-level organisations which promote and fund internationalisation of higher education. 

ACA has a double mission. First, it serves as a platform for its members for mutual learning and the exchange of good practice, for joint projects and other joint activities, and for advocating the members’ interests vis-à-vis the European institutions and national governments.

Second, it is a think tank on issues of internationalisation and innovation in higher educations. In this capacity, ACA is engaged in research into internationalisation of higher education, producing studies and evaluations. It also acts as a consultant for public and private clients and it runs a fair number of international seminars and conferences every year.

ACA was created in 1993 as a non-governmental organisation (AISBL/VZW) according to Belgian law). Current membership is comprised of 15 members in Europe and a further three in the US, Latin America and Asia.