DISTANCE LEARNING PROJECT AT UNIVERSITY OF TARTU
Distance Learning Program at Institute of Finance and Accounting (University of Tartu, UT) is composed of nineteen courses:
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1. Bank Functions
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2. Balance Sheet Activities in the Financial Institutions
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3. Financial Services
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4. Personal Financial Planning
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5. Value Based Financial Management
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6. Bank Organisation
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7. Monetary Policy & Euro
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8. Credit Management I-II
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9. Foreign Trade
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10. Real Estate Markets & Business I-II.
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11. Marketing of Financial Services I-II
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12. Financial Markets
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13. Life Insurance
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14. Pension Insurance
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15. Insurance of Property Risks
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16. Project Work
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17. Real Estate Law
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18. Project Based funding of the Organization
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19. Accounting I
The Project was launched by the Estonian Banking Association (EBA) in 1995 when the first nine courses were introduced: Bank Functions, Bank Balance Sheet Activities, Fee Business, Bank Financial Statement Analysis, Bank Financial Management, Bank Organisation, Supervision & Monetary Policy, Credit Management and Foreign Trade. These courses were worked out within the same framework of EC PHARE in cooperation with Banking Institutes in Portugal and Catalonia and Belgian Bankers Academy. In 1996 the pilot group consisting of 30 students graduated.
In 1997 the courses were also renewed as the second and even the third edition. In 1998 the Danish Banking Association and international consulting agency Carl Bro Management audited the Project and supported the establishing of three new courses: Real Estate Markets & Business I-II, Marketing of Financial Services I-II and Financial Markets.
In 2000 the new course – Monetary Policy & Euro - was introduced as the outcome of the cooperation with the European Commission’s Delegation in Estonia and as the sequel of the previous course on the same topic. Considering the new trends in financial sector the definition of the bank financial activities was enlarged and in the fall of 2000 another new course – Balance Sheet Activities in the Financial Institutions – was introduced.
A year before, in 1999, the EBA was elected the coordinator of the Göran Collert Foundation research project. This project “The Future of the Retail Banking and Customer Relations” enabled the scientific network among the universities in Scandinavia and Estonia. One of the outcomes of this project was the new distance learning courses Credit Management I-II (in 2000-2001) and Life Insurance (in 2002). We appreciate that this valuable cooperation in continuing.
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On Sept 6, 2002 the Chairman of the EBA Mr Indrek Neivelt and Rector of UT signed the contract about the acquisition of the Project by Institute of Finance and Accounting at UT.
“It is a great chance for the University to offer the high quality training services based on the unique distance learning materials and specialist knowledge not only for the financial sector but also to the public and students in the future,” declared Mrs Katrin Talihärm, the Managing Director of EBA.
Mr Mart Sõrg, the Head of the Institute of Finance and Accounting added: “We as the contract partners hope that the acquisition will increase the quality and popularity of the Project”. |
The first main IT task for the Project at UT was to examine all the possibilities of the web based training environment WebCT to set up new solutions for training kits and communication tools for actual students. The new web page was established to enlarge the marketing volume for potential students.
On Feb 19, 2003 all the Courses were listed to the Curriculum of UT as 3CP or 6CP subjects. Later on all students have graduated with the Certificate of the Open University at UT.
In spring 2003 two new short distance learning courses were introduced: The Student Company – How to Create the Breaking Strategy for the tutors of these companies (in cooperation with the Junior Achievement Estonia) and Insurance Mathematics II. In May 2003 the Real Estate School merged with the Distance Learning project to offer together a more comfortable training in the real estate sphere on a wellknown excellent level.
The present goal for Distance Learning Project is to involve more students working for the financial sector as well as for the other spheres in finance. Since 1996 the number of the students who have participated in the Distance Learning Project has exceeded 8,000.
Sincerely,
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