Maarjavälja Career Day brought together enterprises and students

On May 5th, 2022 the Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Tartu, held a joint Career Day in VSpa Hotel Conference Centre.

The last Maarjavälja Career Day took place two years ago, in February 2020, before Covid-19 restrictions. 

Almost 30 enterprises and public authorities and 200 students from different academic levels gathered to the VSpa Hotel Conference Centre. 

The organisers of the event were five institutes of the Faculty of Science and Technology:

• Institute of Chemistry
• Institute of Physics
• Institute of Technology
• Institute of Ecology and Earth Science
• Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology

The Institute of Computer Science and the Institute of Mathematics and Statistics held their own Career Day, Delta Career Day, in March 2022. 

The aim of the Career Day was to offer companies the opportunity to meet students from different disciplines under one roof. The enterprises and public authorities had a possibility to introduce their job and traineeship offers to students and the students had a unique possibility to find future job or attractive internship for summer or for longer period. 

The event took place as an open fair: short presentations from companies and discussions in the boxes from face to face. 
In addition, the enterprises were divided into blocks which were introduced to the attendees by the moderator of the day who was assisted by the specialist of the field from the university. 

The enterprises highly value the education in the field of science and technology given by the University of Tartu. The speciality of the student is even not so important as the good basic knowledge of the graduates, accompanied by the ability to learn quickly, think critically, social activeness and being open-minded. All these qualities are needed in today's and future labor market. 

At this time, different from the last event, the language of the day was Estonian. Still it was good to see that the students from the curricula where the language of tuition is English, were active to participate and discuss. 
In the fair boxes the discussion went on in Estonian, Russian and English. 

The fair boxes of the companies were really attractive offering also some amusement. 

The Career Day of 4-hours was opened by the Dean of the Faculty, Professor Leho Ainsaar, who first explained the meaning and vision of "Maarjaväli". 
The first to stand up in the big stage were the career consultants of the university. The career box for students was opened all event long. 
Also the student organisations of the institutes were presenting their work and engaging new members for the next academic year. 

The following programme of the Career Day was divided into focus groups: 

• chemistry
• physics
• gene technology and biology
• geology
• geography
• computer technology

The moderator of the event was Ermo Leuska, communication specialist of the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology. 
He was assisted by colleagues from the institutes:
Teele Eensaar, Margus Leppik, Liis Siinor, Heili Kasuk, Teve Rajamets, Sven Paulus, Anniki Puura, Indrek Jõgi, Kersti Riibak, Piret Pikma, Kairi Põldsaar, Madli-Johanna Maidla, Carmel Kuusk, Oliver Vaht, Imbi Rauk.

As the event was a big success both on the opinion of companies and students, the Career Day in 2023 will follow on February 9, 2023 probably in the same format. 

All the participated companies and their introductions can be found from the webpage.