In a rapidly changing world, expectations for higher education are changing as well. Today, the most valued graduates in the labour market are those who can successfully apply the theory learned in lectures to real-life practice. Employers expect skills, experience, and the readiness to take action. As Estonia’s largest university of applied sciences, TTK University of Applied Sciences keeps pace with changing educational trends and applies the learning methods of the future already today.
The slogan of TTK University of Applied Sciences says that practice is the best teacher. This is not just a phrase, because here knowledge always moves into practical activities, including laboratories. The university’s innovative labs are places where future technologies are not a distant vision, but an everyday reality where theory becomes real life. In the labs, students can test, make mistakes, analyse, and try again.
Becoming an engineer in the lab? Absolutely!
Engineering programmes form an important part of the university’s fields of study. By nature, engineering education is highly practical and requires laboratories where skills can be developed and strengthened. TTK University of Applied Sciences has many such facilities.
For example, future experts in construction can carry out research and determine material properties in the construction materials laboratory. In the mechanical testing laboratory, students design and develop test models of different objects and put their properties to the test. More than one bridge model has experienced serious pressure there.
In the concrete 3D-printing laboratory, solutions are developed and tested where buildings are printed layer by layer. In the virtual reality laboratory, buildings and structures can be viewed spatially and explored from the inside. This allows students to evaluate the functionality and usability of planned solutions even before construction begins.
Future road construction professionals improve their skills in road engineering and road materials laboratories, where they can carry out structural tests and examine materials used in road construction more closely.
While the future is created in construction-related labs mainly through materials and mechanical testing, in the technology labs the future is set in motion. In Estonia’s unique robotics laboratory, students can simulate the production processes of a fully robotised factory. They work with collaborative industrial robots that transform the lab into a miniature factory where production is fully automated and robotised.
The university’s automotive laboratory is every car enthusiast’s dream, where students gain in-depth knowledge of the latest vehicle technologies. Future electrical engineers develop their skills in the electrical engineering laboratory, which offers many opportunities, including electrical measurements, circuit design, and programming and configuring electric drives.
In the environmental technology laboratory, the environment is within every student’s reach through practical work. Students carry out environmental studies, assess the operation of drinking water and wastewater treatment systems, analyse pollution, and simulate water purification processes. Learning therefore goes beyond recognising problems and includes solving them.
The same approach applies in the textile materials testing and technical materials laboratories, where materials are truly put to the test. Here students examine the properties of plastics and metal alloys, measure fabric strength, abrasion resistance, colour fastness, fire resistance, and much more.
Future applied architects gain valuable hands-on experience in the model studio, where they can test different architecture and planning projects through models and prototypes.
Real-life scenarios are also recreated in the logistics and business laboratories. Both are equipped with advanced simulation programmes and software, allowing students to apply their knowledge in practice and gain valuable professional experience.
Knowledge that creates value
For TTK University of Applied Sciences, it is important to develop a learning environment where students can already today work with the technologies of tomorrow. Here, students do not only learn a profession—they learn to think, experiment, and create.
In the eyes of employers, our students are among the most valued because they know that graduates from TTK University of Applied Sciences are practical thinkers who are ready to contribute, solve problems, and take action from day one. That is why TTK University of Applied Sciences offers practically the best higher education.
