Eesti in brief - 2009-10-28

Oct 28, 2009

Foreign Minister Urmas Paet opened the Estonian Embassy in, Minsk, Belarus, on Oct. 20. Paet said that Estonia would like to "intensify Estonia-Belarus bilateral relations as well as relations between Belarus and the EU in order to support Belarusian society continuing to open up to European values." The foreign minister also opened an Estonia-Belarus business forum, with a 30-member Estonian businessman delegation that was along on the visit. Estonian entrepreneurs have great interest in Belarus, said Paet, explaining that this is why more attention should be given to promoting economic cooperation. "The investments our businessmen are making in Belarus have grown significantly over the past few years. In the future the embassy will help Estonian entrepreneurs establish contacts with the Belarusian side," he said. Paet said that Estonia and the European Union are interested in Belarus opening up to Europe, step by step. "The European Union Eastern Partnership offers many practical opportunities for co-operation between Belarus and the European Union."

Tartu University has for the first time appeared on the renowned 'Higher Education-QS World University Rankings' list of the top 600 global universities, reports Postimees Online/LETA. "We can't say our exact position, because places 501-600 are represented as one big group of universities," explained the director of Tartu University's foreign relations department Virve-Anneli Vihman. "Being among the top 5 percent of the world's leading universities is recognition of our university," said Tartu University Rector Alar Karis. "I believe that it will help young people choose their path of education and encourage them to study at Tartu University," he said. In compiling the list, factors taken into consideration are surveys of the leading figures at universities, the student-to-instructor ratio, citations given for scientific publications, and the percentage of foreign instructors and students. This year 9,386 representatives of the academic world took part in the study, 47 percent more than in 2008. According to the OECD, there are 12,000 universities around the world.

forgot password?