General approach of composing and running ICT curricula in Estonia Peeter Normak

Plan General scheme of development of ICT curricula in Estonia. ICT curricula in Estonia – an overview. Estonian institutions, policies and strategies supporting university level academic activities in ICT.

General scheme of development of ICT curricula in Estonia

Complete conceptual scheme of the occupational qualification http://www.kutsekoda.ee/fwk/contenthelper/10447220/10447221

Application to the ICT curricula Professional standards are developed for the most widespread ICT professions – normally up to the level 6 of European Qualification Framework. Management of Information Technology is currently the only level 7 professional standard in ICT. Professional standards for ICT professions are based on e-CF, the European e-Competence Framework 1). For those qualifications where there are professional standards, the curricula are based upon them. Universities are free to develop curricula that are not necessarily based on professional standards. 1) http://www.ecompetences.eu/

The structure of tertiary curricula There are three level ICT curricula: Bachelor (duration nominally 3 years) Master (2 years) Doctoral (4 years) Universities are free in determining the structure of curricula. The curricula are divided into modules. There are three types of modules and courses: Compulsory Elective from a list Freely elective (can be taken from other universities as well) The very last module consists of a thesis.

General principles for composing ICT curricula Bachelor curricula are broad-based and similar in all universities – the graduates can enter different master programs (in all Estonian universities). Bachelor curricula were initially to a great extent based on Computing Curricula 2001 (CC2001) 2). Master curricula are focused to some subarea and are different from each other – aiming in total to cover possibly the whole ICT area. Political decision: the scope of master level curricula should be wide enough allowing cost effective teaching (ensuring big enough study groups). University studies should be research-based. 2) http://www.acm.org/education/curricula-recommendations

Main HE institutions offering IT education in Estonia Tallinn University of Technology (www.ttu.ee) Tallinn University (www.tlu.ee) Tartu University (www.ut.ee) The Estonian IT College (www.itcollege.ee).

Example: the structure of ICT bachelor level curricula in Estonia University Intro ICT comp ICT elect Free Thesis Total Tallinn Univ.* 16 105 29 24** 6 180 Tallinn Tech 126 18 8 Tartu Univ. 22 96 48 12 IT College 20 134 21 5 * https://ois.tlu.ee/portal/page?_pageid=35,454968&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&p_action=new_lang&p_fk_str_yksus_id=56&p_kava_versioon_id=4021&p_net=internet&p_lang=EN&p_rezhiim=0&p_mode=1 ** The size of minor subjects in TLU

Master level ICT curricula in Estonia an overview

Master curricula – Tallinn University of Technology Computer and Systems Engineering www.ttu.ee/compsys Communicative Electronics www.ttu.ee/communicativeelectronics Cyber security www.ttu.ee/cybersecurity E-Governance Innovation: Technologies and Services www.ttu.ee/egovernance Informatics (in Estonian) Business Information Technology (in Estonian)

Master curricula – University of Tartu Software Engineering http://software.cs.ut.ee/ Computer Science (in Estonian) – Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science Computer Engineering (in Estonian) – Faculty of Science and Technology

Rapid development demands extra resources Estonian institutions, policies and strategies supporting university level academic activities in ICT Fundamental principle: Rapid development demands extra resources

Estonia – institutions supporting ICT higher education Estonian IT Foundation (www.eitsa.ee/en/) – supports ICT innovations and implementation in the universities and in the Estonian IT college. Archimedes Foundation (http://archimedes.ee/en/foundation/) – implements international and national programmes and projects in the field of education and research. Estonian National program in IT – supports R&D projects. Association of Information Technology and Telecommunications (www.itl.ee, universities are associated members) – supports cooperation with the industry, promotes ICT professions. Estonian Development Fund (www.arengufond.ee) – composes foresights etc (http://www.arengufond.ee/eng/publications/).

Estonia – ICT Strategies/policies/programmes Estonian Information Society Strategy 2013 http://www.riso.ee/en/information-policy/policy-document Catalogue of Estonian ICT solutions – http://www.itl.ee/?op=body&id=142 and http://www.riso.ee/en/information-policy/projects ICT Foresight: Conclusions and Policy Recommendations http://www.arengufond.ee/eng/foresight/estit2018/ ICT higher education development program (in Estonian) – http://www.eitsa.ee/pohitegevused/tiigriulikool/ikt-korgharidusprogramm/#tiigriylikool13-16 Strategy of e-Learning Development Centre http://www.e-ope.ee/images/50000894/eLDC_Strategy.pdf

Estonian Information Technology Foundation Tiger University program: Upgrading ICT infrastructure Visiting conferences and receiving lecturers Offering stipends to PhD students BeSt program: Finances development of e-Learning courses Finances development of learning objects Salaries to educational technologists Contests, infrastructure support etc ICT R&D program IT Academy – supports bachelor and master students

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