On 28 January 2002 Mailis Rand became the Estonian Minister of Education in the government of Siim Kallas. She was often criticised for her youth and inexperience. Although she was unable to solve several crucial problems of Estonian education, she fought for more funding to education and was elected Friend of Education by Estonian Education Forum in October 2002. Mailis Rand renamed the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Education and Research (in effect since 1 January 2003) to reflect the central role of this government institution in administration of higher education and research activities.
