Baltic, Education and Science, Estonia

The chairman of the cultural affairs committee of the parliament of Estonia, Aadu Must, said that the Baltic countries must work more closely together in developing vocational education.

"Our concerns are similar to those of Latvia and Lithuania, they have to do with the reputation of vocational education and updating the study programs. It is important that vocational schools train skilled workers looking at today's and tomorrow's needs, because in the longer perspective this will influence the sustainability of the economy," Must, head of the Estonian delegation to the Baltic Assembly, said according to spokespeople for the Riigikogu.

Member of the Riigikogu cultural affairs committee Krista Aru said that we have to dare to look into the future together, so that already in the coming years, sharing modern equipment and state of the art technology, we would be ready to offer vocational training and retraining in the fields we maybe cannot even name today.

Aru, chair of the education, science and culture committee of the Baltic Assembly, added that we have a great possibility to learn from the experience of the Nordic countries in updating the system of vocational studies.

During the meeting held at the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research in Tartu, the recommendations of the Baltic Assembly to the Baltic Council of Ministers for improving cooperation in education, research and innovation were also to be discussed. Besides that, the results of last year's PISA tests were to be summed up

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Also experts from the Nordic Council, the Baltic Council of Ministers and the education sector were taking part in the meeting.