On September 1, or the so-called Day of Knowledge, tens of thousands of pupils are preparing to start a new school year. Estonian schoolchildren have achieved the highest educational rankings in Europe, according to the OECD. In the 2018 PISA report, Estonia topped the list in reading, math, and science. These international rankings gauge the performance of 15-year-old students in reading, math, and science across 79 countries and economies. Breaking down the scores, Estonian students excelled in reading. The performance has a clear impact on Estonia’s economy in terms of innovation and efficiency, as its IT sector was recognized as the most competitive in the Emerging Europe region for two years in a row.
Estonia’s remarkable performance in the PISA rankings shows the state’s commitment to providing excellent education opportunities. On the one hand, the government is preparing to increase the age of compulsory education to 18 years of age or until the acquisition of vocational education. On the other hand, teachers’ compensations are also rising steadily. The 2023 pay rise should take their salaries to 113% of the Estonian average and reach 120% of the national average in 2024.
More than 75% of Estonian students embrace a growth-oriented mindset, believing in their capacity for intellectual development. This contrasts with less than half of students in other countries who share the same belief.
In this scenario, on September 11th the University of Tartu will launch two international projects to bring new quality to life sciences, biotechnology, and personalized medicine. The European Commission supports the projects with €30 million over six years, with another €30 million invested by the Estonian state.
The plan to reduce the consumption of fossil raw materials, the environmental impact of agriculture, and fostering the growth of the circular economy will increasingly focus efforts on bioengineering. The Centre for Digitalized Bioengineering (DigiBio) applies digitization, big data analysis, and machine learning methods for the genetic designs of such cells. Moreover, an automated experimental unit for the digitalized design and engineering of cells – a bio-foundry – will be established in Tartu, which will be unique in the Baltic region.
And thanks to advances in science and technology, also the field of medicine is going through a breakthrough, which can be summed up by the term ‘personalized medicine’. Increasingly, there are opportunities to look at health and disease more individually than ever before, considering a person’s genetic background, lifestyle, and environmental influences, among other factors. Largely thanks to the valuable database of the Tartu University Estonian Biobank, Estonia has become one of the most advanced countries in personalized medicine. A dedicated national IT infrastructure has also recently been completed, enabling the secure integration of genetic data into doctors’ daily work.
Another aim is to improve the digital usability of people’s health data in Estonia. Even though Estonia is a strong e-state, some electronic data is still unstructured and in a free-text format. Besides enabling better use of data for prevention and treatment, a well-organized health data infrastructure will also boost health technology start-ups, which in turn will accelerate the flow of research into society.