News

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.

Students’ business idea competition Kaleidoskoop invites student teams to join the competition for the 15th time already. In the online competition, every student team has three minutes to present their idea to a panel of judges. Registration for the pre-selection is open until midnight on 7 December.

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

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.

In each semester, students start developing their ideas in the Startup Lab to gain entrepreneurial experience. A key role in this process is played by mentors who, based on their experience, give feedback to teams, share valuable advice and help them make useful contacts.

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.

Congratulations to all of us! Our excellence of University of Tartu in business and economics confirmed once again! On 28 October, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THE) published more rankings by subject, where the placement of the University of Tartu’s business and economics programmes is the range of 201-250.

Ülemiste City invites students to take part in a project-based internship! Students can join the project at https://praktika.ut.ee/projektipraktika/ until 2 November. Ülemiste City project idea is:

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!

Researchers of the Centre for Applied Social Sciences of the University of Tartu have conducted a survey to analyse how the university as an organisation responded to the crisis, and to what extent it is possible to use the gained experience to plan future work.

This seems to be what politicians from the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE) have asked. As an answer, they have proposed a draft legislation aiming to prevent young people from Ukraine, Georgia, Russia or another non-EU country from coming here to study unless they pay for their studies. The draft legislation turned up at the beginning of September, without any analysis or legislative intent, without notifying the parties concerned or coordinating the draft with them.

Congratulations to Iuliia Trabskaia, who is since September 1 officially an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship. Iuliia held the venia legendi lecture on Moday, 21 September. The topic of the lecture was "Ecosystem as the Source of Entrepreneurial Opportunities". The lecture supposed to take place in the spring, but it was canceled due to corona virus. Congratulations to the new Associate Professor among us! Abstract:

The University of Tartu’s Startup Lab launched the new season of its business idea development programme Starter Tartu on 17 September with an Idea Hackathon at the Delta X Ideas Festival. The opening event brought together over 120 entrepreneurship-minded students from high schools and universities who presented their ideas and joined teams.

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.

Futulab, the university-wide platform for mediation of internship, invites students of all curricula to join an internship project of interest. Registration is open until 20 September. Project-based internship provides students with project work experience and therefore, a labour market advantage. It also helps expand their horizons, bring them out of their comfort zone, and forces them to develop. Project-based internship enables students to

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. [collapsed]

In the last days of June, the UT Viljandi Culture Academy hosted doctoral students and supervisors from the University of Tartu, Tallinn University of Technology and Estonian Business School, who participated in the PhD Summer School of the Doctoral School in Economics and Innovation. This time, the traditional summer school took place as a parallel event in Viljandi and via the web, involving a total of 75 participants.

We all have ideas how one or another situation could be improved. Often we do not think beyond the idea or even if we do, we immediately run into obstacles. But there are always people who have an irresistible desire to find out whether the idea creates value for many and is also a business opportunity. They differ from dreamers in their determination and willingness to risk, and confidence in their success.