Meist meedias

The University of Tartu invites everyone to participate in a photo contest to get photos by talented amateur and professional photographers depicting the University of Tartu buildings, students, events, studies, and everything else related to the University of Tartu. The contest takes place from 29 March to 30 September and all participants enter a draw to win prizes.

Studies will continue largely online and classroom studies should be kept to a minimum in April As the epidemiological situation in Estonia is very serious and the Estonian government has imposed additional restrictions on educational institutions, the University of Tartu will continue with similar organisation of studies as in March.

From 1 to 5 March, the ENLIGHT European University network organised its official kick-off week. All students and staff of the University of Tartu, as well as the wider public, was invited. Recordings of some of the exciting international lectures and discussions about the environment, digital solutions, healthcare, equity, energy and teaching are available to watch on YouTube.

Applications to international master’s studies at the University of Tartu can be submitted until the midnight on Monday, 15 March. The application period to international bachelor’s studies is one month longer and ends on 15 April.

The University of Tartu invites international students interested in international bachelor’s and master’s studies to submit their applications in DreamApply. Studies start at the end of August 2021.

Coronavirus is spreading widely and the situation is alarming. It is everyone’s duty to avoid unnecessary contacts. As workplaces are important sources of infection in addition to schools and homes, we must reduce contacts also at the university and ask everyone whose duties allow that to work from home.

To mark the 103rd anniversary of the Republic of Estonia, Rector Toomas Asser and Academic Secretary Tõnis Karki placed flowers at the Estonian War of Independence Memorial to Fallen Students in the university’s assembly hall.

A comprehensive database of Estonian soils and a map application has been completed in cooperation with researchers of the University of Tartu and the Estonian University of Life Sciences. The database makes Estonian soil information easily accessible and can be used from local farm-scale to national-level big data statistical analysis and machine-learning models.

On 11 February, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science is held in Estonia for the first time, led by the Archemy research group of the University of Tartu and the Estonian Young Academy of Sciences.

In autumn 2021, first students start their studies in the joint English-taught master’s programme “Environmental Governance and Adaptation to Climate Change” by the Estonian University of Life Sciences and the University of Tartu. The joint international curriculum focuses on tackling challenges resulting from climate change and covers a broad range of subjects from politics and legislation to information technology and science.

Yesterday, members of the Rector’s Office discussed the organisation of teaching and studies in February and March, and decided that in both months, teaching will be largely conducted online. However, we are trying to gradually move towards greater openness. We make decisions about teaching and studies in the spring semester for one month at a time – for each month, by the middle of the previous month. The rector’s decree with more detailed guidelines will take effect after passing the bylaw approval process.

This week, the Digital Cleanup Week takes place at the university. Its aim is to declutter one’s personal or the unit’s digital life, and move in small but effective steps towards a greener university. The Digital CleanUp Week ends on 29 January, the nationwide Digital Cleanup Day.

The first edition of the Delta X student competition initiated by the University of Tartu reaches its final on 27 January. From among nearly one hundred submitted solutions, the best will be decided in four categories. The Delta X competition aims to give secondary school and university students an opportunity to test their skills and apply their acquired knowledge in practice. There are four categories: robotics, digital solutions, business models and mathematics. More than one hundred students from all across Estonia will take part in the final.

Due to the state of emergency declared by the government of Estonia, the University of Tartu cancels face-to-face classes from today to 1 May 2020. Instead, e-learning and other forms of distance learning will be used. Students who stay in residence halls are recommended to return home, if possible.

Hortus Semioticus has recently released a its 7th journal issue, a zoosemiotics special issue that is also its first after a 10-year hiatus. The journal was originally developed as a student initiative within the department of semiotics at the University of Tartu, and this current edition intends to continue this tradition.

The University of Tartu Mentoring Programme is open for applications. The programme, created for the students and alumni of the University of Tartu, was first introduced in 2017 and is now for the first time also available for international students and alumni.

Aune Valk, University of Tartu Vice Rector for Academic Affairs

After having received the regulation of the government of Estonia, and discussing with the Rector’s Office the exceptional situations in which it is very difficult to apply distance learning, we now add more detailed information to the message sent on Wednesday. These guidelines will be in force until the beginning of the spring semester.

Next autumn, the first students start their studies at the University of Tartu under the international joint curriculum “Geo-information Science and Earth Observation for Environmental Modelling and Management”. The joint curriculum is supported by a three-million-euro grant from the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme. The Erasmus Mundus joint master degree programme is coordinated by the University of Twente (the Netherlands). From the University of Tartu, the Department of Geography is involved.

In the newly published ranking list of universities from emerging Europe and Central Asia, the University of Tartu has reached the second place, which is also the highest among Estonian universities.