News

The Institute of Philosophy and Semiotics invites students from all University of Tartu masters’ programmes to participate in the online course “E-Health Opportunities & Challenges: IOT, AI and Ethics” (5 ECTS) to find out more about tech influence and challenges for eHealth sector.

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 University of Tartu Futulab, a platform for mediation of internships, enables organisations and the university alumni to find motivated interns and employees from among more than 13,600 students.

In the spring semester, the first expatriate Estonian visiting professor of the University of Tartu David Ilmar Lepasaar Beecher teaches a course on nations and empires in a globalising world. Registration to the course is open in the Study Information System until 7 February.

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.

In memoriam Theda Rehbock (27.8.1957 Aurich-2.1.2021 Susimetsa, Pärnu County)

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.

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.

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.

Next year, the expatriate Estonian visiting professorship of the University of Tartu will be held by Jaan Valsiner, professor of cultural psychology at Aalborg University. He is one of the world’s leading cultural psychologists, whose research focuses on the intersections and interconnections of psychology and semiotics, and who has helped to promote Estonian research in the world. Jaan Valsiner has worked as a professor of psychology at Clark University in the USA, and is currently a professor of cultural psychology at Aalborg University in Denmark.

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.

In September, Peeter Selg, Professor of Political Theory at Tallinn University, and Andreas Ventsel, Senior Research Fellow in Semiotics at the University of Tartu, published a monograph synthesising the research on relational political analysis and political semiotics that the authors have been conducting over the past decade. The book provides a systematic basis to political semiotics as a discipline and proposes a method of political form analysis.

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.