Rectors warn funding shortfall could force Estonian universities to cap admissions

Estonian university rectors say funding constraints could force institutions to limit future admissions and threaten the training of doctors. The concerns come as enrolment has grown and next year’s state budget provides no substantial increase in higher education operating support, ERR reported.

The state is adding 13.3 million euros for first-cycle higher education, but a 9.6 million euro cut to operating support will absorb most of that increase. The remaining 3.7 million euros across all higher education institutions would not cover inflation, the rectors say. Education expert Jaak Aaviksoo believes universities can find savings internally.

University of Tartu rector Toomas Asser said uncertainty over funding is significantly affecting the university’s plans for next year. He said training doctors was a particular concern and that the university needed a funding guarantee covering at least six years.

Medical education is expensive and requires practical training, Asser said. The university has already used internal reallocations to open one additional study group of 12 students, but its capacity to do so has been exhausted. Admissions will rise to some extent next year, but by less than expected.

Asser criticised negotiations that focus only on one year of funding. He also said presenting the 13.3 million euro increase without taking the cut into account was misleading.

Tallinn University of Technology rector Tiit Land said the university’s student population had grown from 9,000 to nearly 11,000 in five years. The fastest growth has been in engineering and IT, fields identified as state priorities, where admissions rose by up to 30 percent over the past two years.

Land cited the electrical power engineering and mechatronics programmes, where enrolment rose from 80 students three years ago to 200 this year. Practical group work has expanded sharply, he said, but funding has not kept pace.

Land said the university could be forced to freeze future admissions if operating support remains at its current level. Institutions must provide quality teaching to students already admitted for three to six years, he said, leaving future intake numbers as the only realistic place to make savings.

Estonian University of Life Sciences rector and Rectors’ Council chair Ülle Jaakmaa said the university had increased bachelor’s admissions by nearly 18 percent and master’s admissions by more than 26 percent since 2023.

Jaakmaa said universities and the education and research minister had agreed in the spring, before signing administrative contracts, that 19.9 million euros in additional funding was needed to teach the increased number of students. “We cannot make cuts to the students we are already teaching,” she said.