In recent years, young people's interest in engineering fields has grown. However, over the next decade, there will still be a shortage of more than 800 young engineers.
Many engineers are retiring. There are no quick solutions, but relief is being sought through changes in mathematics education.
At Tallinn University of Technology, interest in engineering sciences has increased. Dean Fjodor Sergejev says there are not enough students to fill the engineer shortage.
We need to replace retiring engineers. We also need additional engineers for the development of the field.
The president of the Estonian Association of Engineers, Cathy-Liis Põlluveer, says that engineers are hard to find. Competitions are often held just for one engineer.
OSKA analyst Anneli Leemet states that the demand for engineers is growing. Especially for electrical, energy, mechanical and electronics engineers.
Experts want to change mathematics education in primary schools. Mathematics teaching should be engaging and interesting.
Tiina Kraav, a lecturer at the University of Tartu, says that mathematics education is being developed. However, there are no quick solutions.
Subjects should connect various natural and exact sciences. This would help in training engineers.
Schools are moving towards theme-based learning. For example, 3D modeling is already used in the fourth grade.
OSKA will publish a new labor market study on engineers in November. Engineers must have deep knowledge in digital, data analysis and artificial intelligence fields.