News

Throughout May, the university invites all employees, students, alumni and their families to orienteering in the city of Tartu. The spring orienteering course, compiled by the university museum, focuses on places related to sports and recreation. Did you know that according to architect Krause’s initial floor plans there was supposed to be a fencing hall on the ground floor of the main building? If not, come orienteering and find out other exciting sports-related facts about the university.

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.

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.

The last week of January was the Digital Cleanup Week at the university, aimed to encourage UT staff to delete unnecessary data from their devices and get rid of external data carriers.

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. 

Machines, thanks to novel algorithms and advances in computer technology, can now learn complex models and even generate high-quality synthetic data such as photo-realistic images or even resumes of imaginary humans. A study recently published in the international journal PLOS Genetics uses machine learning to mine existing biobanks and generate chunks of human genomes which do not belong to real humans but have the characteristics of real genomes. 

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.

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.

The Annual Conference of the Institute of Genomics and the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu will take place from January 18 to 19, 2021. 

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.

The government of Estonia decided today that as of 14 December, all educational institutions, including universities, will be closed. Therefore, the university leaders decided that no classroom studies are conducted at the University of Tartu at least until the spring semester.

On Tuesday, 1 December, the university members celebrate the 101st anniversary of Estonia's national university.