Recent research activities at International University Audentes (2004-2006)

The reputation of any university depends first and foremost on two factors – the eminence of its alumni and of the scientists operating within it, and its greatest scientific achievements. Internationally renowned and recognised researchers and well-established schools determine the prestige of a university and its individual faculties. The research activities of the teaching staff also directly influence the quality of the studies they offer. It is the occurrence of independent research leading to new knowledge that sets a university apart from other institutes of applied higher education.

Audentes is a relatively young university, and as such it is only natural that research activities have not been of primary importance to it thus far; hindering it to this point have been the heavy workload of the faculty staff and the limited number of financial means and other resources. Now, however, things have changed, and quite significantly. Today, through merging with a number of smaller private colleges, International University Audentes has amassed itself a staff of potential researchers with experience in scientific work and international cooperation.

It has also developed the main lines of research for each of its faculties. The priorities for the Business School are primarily study of the factors affecting small enterprise (Helina Vigla) and economic freedoms (Prof. Ivar Raig and Andres Arrak). Other areas will also be looked at, as in a study of innovation readiness (Aivo Reiner). One of the Business School’s English-speaking teaching staff, Robert Mikecz from Hungary, has thoroughly analysed how ready the Estonian economy is to adopt the euro. International studies into areas of accounting have been carried out by Rita Ilisson from the Faculty of Economics. A major contribution to the optimisation of differential calculation has been made by Associate Professor Boris Shvartsman from the Business School, whose method is used in many of Russia’s leading universities. And considerable work has been done in the modelling of noise processes by statistical data analysis lecturer Ako Sauga (who was involved in ETF grant no. 5943 “Phase transfers and shift phenomena induced by coloured noise in non-linear systems”).

The studies performed by the School of Information Technology, which are directly applicable to the Estonian economy, have also earned international recognition. Recently completed were projects funded by the Estonian Science Foundation as coordinated by the dean of IT, Prof. Raul Kangro (ESF grant no. 5022 “Computational financial mathematics and the interactive environment in the study of market models”) and lecturer Jüri Majak (ESF grant no. 5246 “Analysis and optimisation of composite material constructions”).

Of the teaching staff from the Faculty of Law, most internationally active in the field of research have been Tanel Kerikmäe, Prof. Heino Koitel and Prof. Evhen Tsõbulenko. Prof. Eduard Raska’s collections of research articles and monographs have led the way in developing legal sociology as an independent discipline. Practical legal handbooks have been produced by Mati Merimaa, lecturer and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Law. Dean of the school, Jean Monnet Prof. Tanel Kerikmäe have participated in many international partnership projects and have acted as legal experts in evaluating matters of European Community law.

Studies by the teaching staff of the School of Social Sciences and Humanities have primarily been connected with the more complex periods of Estonian history (Prof. Toomas Karjahärm), but also with the problems of political philosophy in historical context (Prof. Siobhan Kattago). In 2001 Prof. Kattago published the English-language monograph Ambiguous memory. The Nazi past and German national identity, while Prof. Karjahärm’s monograph Cultural genocide in Estonia: artists and musicians 1940-1953 was published at the end of 2005. Social Sciences and Humanities lecturer Anzhelika Lensment has studied the ethnic stereotypes of Estonians and Russians.

Also on an international level have been the Acting Rector Prof. Peeter Müürsepp’s studies in scientific philosophy and Research and Development Assistant Rector Prof. Ivar Raig’s publications on a range of economic-political topics. Many of the university’s teaching staff have been prolific in influencing social processes and popularising scientific achievements in the Estonian and international press. Ivar Raig, Andres Arrak and Paul Goble are worth singling out in this area.

Audentes has also managed to regularly publish its scientific magazine Audentese Ülikooli Toimetised /Audentes University Proceedings/, the first issue of which appeared in 2001. 8 issues of the magazine have been released to date. The series presents many of Audentes’ teaching staff with a much-appreciated opportunity to publish the results of their research, which have so far been divided between two editions (“Finance and management” and “Politics, political science and international relations”). A special edition was released in 2005 to mark the 10th anniversary of the university and formed an overview of the greatest research achievements of all of its schools.
Quickly becoming something of a tradition are the annual Audentes spring conferences. The first of these was held in 2002, titled Estonia’s Choices between East and West. Since spring 2004 the conferences have taken on an international flavour, dedicated to topics of European Union or transatlantic cooperation. Presentations have been made at these conferences by politicians, diplomats and social scientists from Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Hungary, Ukraine, the US, the UK, Russia, the Netherlands, Turkey and elsewhere.

Significantly increasing the research potential of Audentes was its merger with Concordia International University Estonia, which brought with it international background and work experience as well as a lot of young and enthusiastic teachers. Law students from Concordia have, for example, founded the Baltic Legal Centre and launched the international scientific journal Baltic Maritime Law Quarterly.

Audentes’ research potential has also been boosted by its first merger with a research institution – the Institute for European Studies. The Institute’s research activities in the field of sociology have been highly appraised by an international evaluation committee. The Institute’s and International University Audentes’ senior scientist and lecturer Aksel Kirch has provided his expertise to the European Union’s Sixth Framework Programme in Brussels. The Institute for European Studies has now been reorganised as the European Institute of International University Audentes, with a view to launching interdisciplinary studies. Scientists from the European Institute are taking part in “The aspect of culture in the social inclusion of ethnic minorities and Roma/Sinti groups,” a project being funded by the European Commission, and ETF grant project no. 6009 “Formation and alteration of Estonian national identity from the 19th-21st centuries. The effect of identity mechanisms as a factor in cultural processes.” An international collection of research articles is also being published.

Publications that bring together the results of research are the ‘cornerstone’ of research activities, especially research articles and monographs written in English and accepted internationally, by which the level and effectiveness of the research is measured. For this reason there is a real need to boost the frequency and level of international publishing, and this will require the use of all of the incentives open to the university.

The future of research at International University Audentes is primarily connected with consistent development of international ties, the finding of new funding sources and the deepening of cooperation between specialists from different fields, both within Audentes’ own schools and more generally.

Mait Talts