The main focus of the Engineering Academy programme is on developing and popularising engineering in vocational and higher education, which is an important endeavour and will help to increase the number of engineering students in the short term, but the foundations for the next generation are laid earlier – and that is where the problems are now.
“The next generation of engineers does not appear with university enrolment. It emerges when young people have a clear understanding of mathematics in basic school, good science and technology teachers, and opportunities that spark and nurture their interest in technology," said Rauno Vinni, audit manager of the National Audit Office. “If this foundation is weak, the number of engineering students in higher education cannot increase significantly.”
A large share of basic school graduates fail to achieve a satisfactory result in the national mathematics exam: in 2024 and in 2025, approximately a quarter of students failed to reach the 50%. thresholdNon-formal education support for local authorities has decreased in recent years, increasing the risk of a decline in young people’s exposure to engineering and science. As a result, there is a shortage of upper secondary and vocational school graduates who want to become engineers and who have sufficient science knowledge required for this.
The National Audit Office audited the Engineering Academy programme set up by the Ministry of Education and Research and the Education and Youth Board. The key question was whether the programme is enough to really alleviate the shortage of engineers and sustainably support the next generation.
The National Audit Office found that the state has built a solution without knowing who are needed in the engineering sector, and how many. The goal of the Engineering Academy is to bring the number of engineering graduates in line with the need for labour. This is an ambitious target – but when the programme was launched, there was no comprehensive understanding of how many and what kind of engineers were actually needed. Neither was it clarified which specialties are the most critical and how much of the need is covered by engineers or by other technical specialists. A more detailed analysis of the need for labour was included in the work plan of the Estonian Qualification Authority for 2026 – by which time the programme will already be halfway through.
“If we don’t know how many engineers we need and what profiles they should have, it is difficult to assess whether or not the programme is moving in the right direction,” said Rauno Vinni, audit manager at the National Audit Office's audit. “Without a clear target, there is a
risk that money and attention will be spread too thinly and the real impact will fall short of ambition.”
Temporary extra funding can cover gaps in permanent funding, but it is no substitute for systemic change. The Engineering Academy has brought significant extra funding to vocational and higher education institutions and has made it possible to carry out the necessary developments. But a larger part of this money covers activities that should be the day-to-day work of schools – modernising learning, developing teachers, supporting learners. The programme will end in 2029, but it is not known at this stage how supporting the next generation of engineers will continue after that.
“If systemic shortcomings in engineering education are patched up with project funds, there will be no solution, just a temporary reprieve,” said audit manager Rauno Vinni. “Without a well thought-out follow-up plan, the capacity created will dissipate with the end of the funding.”
The targets and metrics set for the programme do not show the extent to which the Engineering Academy contributes to increasing the next generation of engineers. They primarily reflect the structure of learners and the volume of activities, not the increase in the number of engineering graduates or the decrease in the shortage of labour.
In addition, the potential of the steering council has not been exploited. The steering council was set up to link initiatives and provide strategic direction in the sector, bringing together the representatives of the state, schools, companies and professional associations. So far, the role of the steering council has been limited to coordinating action plans and reports, but its advisory potential has been used very little in shaping the strategic choices that support the next generation of engineers.
The National Audit Office recommends that the Minister of Education and Research create a clearer framework linking labour needs in engineering with education supply. This means an up-to-date overview of the need for labour, an assessment of training capacity and well thought-out development priorities.
Secondly, there is a need to invest more in general education, not just in the development of vocational and higher education. The quality of mathematics and science education, the next generation of teachers and young people’s interest in technology do not happen by themselves. These topics need the support and attention of the public authorities alongside the Engineering Academy.
Thirdly, continuity in the development of the next generation of engineers should be ensured beyond 2029, when the funding for the Engineering Academy will end – but the shortage of engineers will not. It would be reasonable to clarify the targets and metrics and to prepare a follow-up plan before the EU support disappears.
The National Audit Office recommends that the Director General of the Education and Youth Board strengthen the management and monitoring of the programme. This means providing substantive and consistent support to vocational and higher education institutions and establishing common, comparable reporting formats for activities and budgets. This would help to better assess whether the programme is moving in the right direction and to
ensure that the steering council has a sufficient and reliable overview of the state of play to provide strategic advice.
Background information
As the general population and working age population are declining, the development of the Estonian economy depends more and more on increasing productivity and solutions based on technology and knowledge. These require a sufficient number of competent engineers. According to the World Competitiveness Ranking of the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Estonia ranked last among European countries in terms of the availability of qualified engineers in 2023.
The Engineering Academy is a cooperation programme between the state, educational institutions, companies and professional associations launched in late 2023 to improve the quality of engineering education and support the next generation. Approximately €37 million of EU funding will be channelled to the programme from 2023–2029 and the main focus of the programme is on higher education and vocational education.
The National Audit Office assessed whether the Engineering Academy has been designed and implemented in a way that would help to alleviate the shortage of engineers and support the next generation in the long term. The audit focused on assessing labour needs, programme targeting, management and monitoring, and whether activities are also reaching the root causes of problems.
