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Minister of the Interior Katri Raik will appoint the current Vice-Rector of Development and Innovation Marek Link as the new Rector of the Academy of Security Sciences following his temporary period in the position of the Acting Rector of EASS.

Altogether eight applications were submitted for the competition announced in December with seven of them meeting the qualification requirements. Out of the three applicants presented to the Minister by the election committee, Marek Link came to be selected. Marek Link has worked at EASS since 2008 – in the past 3.5 years as the Vice-Rector of Development and Innovation, before that as the head of the Police College training centre and the Centre for Innovative Learning Technologies. Link received the Most Innovative Lecturer Award at EASS in 2015, the silver cross of merit of EASS in 2013 and he was selected the Colleague of the Year in 2012.

“Marek Link was supported by the majority of the election committee. I have been Marek’s colleague and I share his conviction of the importance of student-centred education, the need for improving teaching methodology and international cooperation. Marek will begin his mission at an enviable time – the new building of the Academy of Security Sciences is about to be opened providing them with a number of new opportunities. Our internal security institutions need new people and not only among youngsters. This, in turn, means that the instruction in the field of internal security must be considerably more flexible and innovative,” the Minister of the Interior Katri Raik stated.

According to Marek Link, the career of many employees working in the field of internal security begins at the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences, and it is therefore important that the acquired education provides them with not only professional skills and knowledge but also broadened horizons and entrepreneurship. “Irrespective of the speciality, it is clear that security can only be established in cooperation and it starts from all of us. And EASS has an important role to play in this,” Link remarked. The Academy of Security Sciences is a unique educational institution in the world, as the instruction in the field of internal security of the entire country is conducted in one organisation. Similarly, it is possible to acquire education on vocational and professional higher education level as well as in Master’s studies. The mission of EASS is to teach how to ensure security and live safely.

The work of EASS is conducted in various places in Estonia – in Tallinn, Paikuse, Väike-Maarja, Muraste and soon also in Narva where we will have a new practise centre. The Academy employs more than 200 people and teaches around 1000 students providing education in customs and taxation, corrections, police, rescue and emergency response service.