On 31 January, a newly appointed University Council of TalTech met for its first session, electing Gunnar Okk as the chairman and Maive Rute as the deputy chairman of the council and deciding to announce elections for a new rector.
Candidates for the position of rector of TalTech can be put forward until 6 March, the names of candidates will be announced in mid-March.
A new rector is expected to be elected on 18 May and take office on 1 September 2020.
A person who has been appointed to the position of professor at any university can apply for the position of rector. A more detailed election procedure and manner in which the candidates are presented will be determined by the council based on the recommendations of the electoral committee. The term of office of a rector is 5 years.
‘This spring, TalTech will have an important and substantive debate on the future of the university and its strategic development over the next five years. The reforms that have been carried out in recent years have laid a solid foundation for further contribution to the Estonian economy and to the societal development in general,’ said Gunnar Okk, Chairman of the University Council of TalTech.
The University Council is the highest governing body of the university and it is responsible for the development of TalTech and for making important economic decisions.
The University Council has eleven members. Five members were appointed by the University Senate, one member by the Estonian Academy of Sciences, and five members by the Minister of Education and Research, on the basis that most of the persons appointed by her shall be representatives of professional or trade associations from the fields of entrepreneurship and production, and that the majority of the members of the council are non-university staff.
The members of the council were appointed for five years by an order of the Government of the Republic of Estonia.
The members of the University Council of TalTech are Gunnar Okk, Maive Rute, Heiti Hääl, Ardo Kamratov, Tõnis Kanger, Robert Kitt, Piret Mürk-Dubout, Arvo Oorn, Tiina Randma-Liiv, Mart Saarma, and Andres Öpik.
This article was first published 6 February 2020 by Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech).
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