News

So far, the university has favoured preferring face-to-face learning to distance learning. However, as the coronavirus infection rate is increasing, the Rector’s Office decided at its today’s meeting that it is reasonable to rapidly reorganise studies wherever possible to safeguard the health of all university members.

View the video address of Rector Toomas Asser focusing on coronavirus prevention at the university on UTTV and read revised coronavirus guidelines at the university.

This week the Government of Estonia announced new coronavirus measures and based on the government’s recommendations, members of the UT Rector’s Office have laid down the following guidelines.

The University of Tartu announces a design contest to find a mascot to represent the university’s visual identity.

All students, staff and alumni of the university are welcome to submit their design projects until 22 November. The winner will be selected in two rounds: in the first round, a committee comprising the representatives of students, alumni and staff will choose three best projects that will be put to a public vote in the second round. The public vote among students, alumni and staff of the University of Tartu takes place in December.

On 30 October, the University of Tartu Senate decided to award the Johan Skytte Medal to the President of the Republic of Estonia Kersti Kaljulaid. The highest award for university members, the University of Tartu Grand Medal, will be given to four long-term high-calibre researchers. Also, the recipients of the University of Tartu Star of Appreciation, Medal, Badge of Distinction and the decoration “100 Semesters at the University of Tartu” have been selected.

The university invites all staff members, students, alumni and their families to city orienteering in Tartu from 19 October to 1 November. Do you know the buildings and sites connected with the university? Do you know what was in these places in the past? Grab a map and find out!

Research groups of the University of Tartu led by Professor of Mathematical Statistics Krista Fischer and Professor of Bioinformatics Jaak Vilo who have supported the state with the data collection and analysis since the beginning of the corona crisis can continue their work thanks to a private donation by entrepreneur Väino Kaldoja. 

In a live interview on Tuesday, 1 September at 13:00, Rector of the University of Tartu Toomas Asser spoke about the organisation of studies and work at the university this autumn. 

The interview focused on what to keep in mind in this academic year in the circumstances of the spread of coronavirus and to what extent regular classroom studies will be replaced by e-learning. In addition, the rector once again reminded viewers how to keep oneself and others safe at work and during studies and what to do in case of illness.

Dear members of the university,

To recover from the extraordinary situation that hit the world in spring, a summer holiday is vital for all of us. However, we must remember to exercise caution when returning to work to make sure our life at the university and in the country as a whole could continue as normally as possible.

University gradually returns to the normal organisation of work.

Below, the units have described their organisation of work starting from 18 May. 

The page will be updated as needed.

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This year, traditional graduation ceremonies bringing together hundreds of people are not held at the University of Tartu, but ceremonies take place online. The university also makes a gift to the graduates: they now have their own tree and a bench in Tartu city centre. Also, the university main building and the sculpture on the Town Hall Square will be decorated.

University of Tartu researchers analysed the genomic sequences of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) taken from six Estonians. Compared to the initial virus strain that spread in China, researchers have identified eight mutations in Estonia that have been also found in other parts of the world and two mutations which so far seem to be unique to Estonia.

On Tuesday, 5 May at 13:00, the Vice Rector for Academic Affairs Aune Valk talked in a live webcast about when and how the university could resume regular teaching and studies, and what lies ahead of us before the end of the academic year.

Among other issues, she discussed everything related to graduations; for example, graduation ceremonies, exams and theses.

Watch the video with English subtitles:

An interdisciplinary research team of the University of Tartu is actively collecting, modelling and analysing data on the spread of coronavirus. The researchers invite people to participate in a study on the prevalence of COVID-19 to create a database for mapping and modelling the spread of the virus. The research group includes computer scientists, statisticians, mathematicians and medical, genetic and social scientists of the University of Tartu.

The University of Tartu will not hold graduation ceremonies this summer because these events usually attract crowds of people and close contact is impossible to avoid.

Graduates receive their diplomas in their institute/unit in the second half of June. Detailed information on the time and place will be sent to all graduates and posted on the university’s website. If necessary, you can authorise another person to collect your diploma, or have the diploma sent to you by mail.

Dear students and members of the teaching staff,

On 15 April, several media channels wrote about the court case between a UT alumnus and a member of the teaching staff over an insulting comment in the confidential course feedback questionnaire.

Understandably, this has shaken the trust in the feedback system and pointed to problems we want to avoid in the future. On the other hand, it is clear that the university cannot develop without substantial feedback.

A new study in Nature Communications proposes a method to extend polygenic scores, the estimate of genetic risk factors and a cornerstone of the personalised medicine revolution, to individuals with multiple ancestral origins. The study was led by Dr Davide Marnetto from the Institute of Genomics of the University of Tartu, Estonia and coordinated by Dr Luca Pagani from the same institution and from the University of Padova, Italy.

To find out about politics and inequality in prehistoric Europe, the prominent European Research Council (ERC) awarded researchers of three countries with a grant of nearly two million euros in total. To obtain new information, the researchers will use novel research methods and thereby bring together ancient life and death.

The five-year research that received the grant from the European Research Council is led by John Robb, Professor of European Prehistory in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge.

On Friday, 20 March, at 14:00 there will be a video broadcast on the university website, where the rector and members of the Rector’s Office of the University of Tartu give an overview of the reorganisation of work at the university during the emergency situation, and answer questions sent by university members. 

In the broadcast, Rector Toomas Asser, Academic Secretary Tõnis Karki and Vice Rector for Academic Affairs Aune Valk will speak about the new organisation of work.

Research Estonia 11.02.2020

The ERA Chair project, recently started in the Genome Institute at University of Tartu, is about to take Estonia’s personalised medicine another step further. Dr Jon Anders Eriksson from King’s College London, who will be leading the new project, explains the direction in which genetic science will be developed.
The new Centre for Genomics, Evolution and Medicine (cGEM) was established for the project with the aim to bring together personal genetic information and population genetic and evolutional aspects in the studies of diseases.

Professor Svante Pääbo, who was elected as the foreign member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences this year, is a world-class evolutionary and population geneticist.