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

2. 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.

3. General scheme of development of ICT curricula in Estonia

4. Complete conceptual scheme of the occupational qualification

5. 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)

6. 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.

7. 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)

8. Main HE institutions offering IT education in Estonia
Tallinn University of Technology (
Tallinn University (
Tartu University (
The Estonian IT College (

9. 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 *
** The size of minor subjects in TLU

10. Master level ICT curricula in Estonia an overview

11. Master curricula – Tallinn University of Technology
Computer and Systems Engineering
Communicative Electronics
Cyber security
E-Governance Innovation: Technologies and Services
Informatics (in Estonian)
Business Information Technology (in Estonian)

12. Master curricula – University of Tartu
Software Engineering
Computer Science (in Estonian) – Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science
Computer Engineering (in Estonian) – Faculty of Science and Technology

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

14. Estonia – institutions supporting ICT higher education
Estonian IT Foundation ( – supports ICT innovations and implementation in the universities and in the Estonian IT college.
Archimedes 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 ( universities are associated members) – supports cooperation with the industry, promotes ICT professions.
Estonian Development Fund ( – composes foresights etc (

15. Estonia – ICT Strategies/policies/programmes
Estonian Information Society Strategy 2013
Catalogue of Estonian ICT solutions –
and
ICT Foresight: Conclusions and Policy Recommendations
ICT higher education development program (in Estonian) –
Strategy of e-Learning Development Centre

16. 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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