News

On 30 November the rector of the University of Tartu Volli Kalm and head of Swedbank in Estonia Robert Kitt signed a framework agreement which lays down the goals for long-term cooperation in the area of economics, IT and mathematics, by developing curricula, contributing to studies and teaching, and supporting the implementation of interdisciplinary projects.

Researchers of the University of Tartu won the first prize for the best smart solution in education in the Golden Apple 2016 competition organised by Archimedes Foundation, for UT’s science-promoting Instagram account.

On UT IdeaLab stage at sTARTUp Day business festival on 9th December the finals of Kaleidoskoop business ideas competition took place. The main prizes were given to the student company Festera who produces recycle bins that eliminate biodegradable waste using special bacteria, and UT IdeaLab’s STARTER program graduate Triplecase who has developed a practical three-zipper pencilcase.

Based on students’ feedback, the recipients of the 2016 Best Teaching Staff Award of the University of Tartu are Reet Alas, teacher of French of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Liina Lepp, lecturer in didactics of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Marko Murruste, lecturer of surgery of the Faculty of Medicine, and Ivo Leito, professor of analytical chemistry of the Faculty of Science and Technology.

Thursday, 1 December 2016 the University of Tartu marks the 97th anniversary of Estonia’s national university. To celebrate the anniversary, the traditional ceremonial meeting is held in the university’s assembly hall, where honorary doctorates and doctoral degrees are conferred and thereafter the UT award for Contribution to Estonian National Identity is presented. See live webcast of the ceremony on www.uttv.ee.

The senate of the University of Tartu at its meeting on 25 November 2016 elected Kristina Kallas the new director of UT Narva College. Since 1 September 2015, Kristina Kallas was the acting director of the college.

Admission to the innovative Excellence in Analytical Chemistry (EACH) master’s degree programme created to meet labour market needs will be open until 11 January 2017. According to Ivo Leito, professor of analytical chemistry and the programme director of this master’s degree curriculum, considerable changes have taken place in this field in recent years, “Measurements in various policies, but also in the course of legal cases have become more and more common.”

On 21 November the opening event of the new network of European research-intensive universities GUILD took place in Brussels. The gathering of 18 leading research-intensive universities is focused on science and innovation policy issues and seizing a leading role in the middle of the economic, cultural and social changes in the society.

A student team from the University of Tartu is the only one from Estonia to get through to the ACM programming contest held December 3-4 in Russia, Georgia and Kazakhstan. Recently the same team was also awarded third place in the International IEEE Xtreme programming contest, which so far is the best result in Estonia and the whole of Baltics.

At a meeting on Monday, the University of Tartu and the construction company AS YIT EHITUS agreed that the contractor will complete the second stage of works on the university library by 30 November this year. Thereafter the request for getting a permit for partial use is filed, and after the request is satisfied, the university can open a part of the library for readers.

On Gustavus Adolphus Day and the anniversary of founding the university, the ambassador of Sweden to Estonia, following the decision of His Majesty Carl XVI Gustav, gave the 1st class Order of the Polar Star to Tiina Mullamaa, teacher of Swedish of the University of Tartu.

On December 9th, at the University of Tartu’s initiative, the first international business festival sTARTUp Day 2016 will be held. Over 1,000 entrepreneurs, investors, students, and scientists will come together and more than 40 speakers will discuss successful business models.

With the help of the researchers of the University of Tartu, three thousand Estonians responding to the questionnaire will contribute to European Social Survey analysing the impacts of climate change risk. Researchers want to find out whether people’s behaviour and attitudes are influenced by awareness, resources or other factors.

On Monday, 7 November the Day of Gustavus Adolphus, the King of Sweden and the founder of the university of Tartu, and the 384th anniversary of founding the Academia Gustaviana is celebrated. Everyone interested is welcome!

On 28 October 2016 the senate of the University of Tartu appointed five nominees of the university as members to the council.

The University of Tartu School of Law started an important project, which aims to advance and promote the human rights knowledge and skills of Ukrainian students and academic staff in Ukrainian universities.

The University of Tartu Institute of Social Studies in cooperation with the UT Centre of Information Society organise the high-level interdisciplinary seminar “Age of information (overload)” on 4 November at 10:00. The seminar is free for everyone interested. At the seminar different aspects of the age of information are analysed and the topics of risks and opportunities involved in an information society are discussed. The speakers in the event are excellent and inspiring researchers who study the information society and its phenomena (e.g. social media).

A new open-access online course in environmental auditing will start on 31 October. The experience gained by the National Audit Office in recent years when leading international working groups has pointed out the need to harmonise the expertise of auditors who evaluate compliance with environmental protection requirements, good environmental practices and the principles of sustainable development.

Yesterday the University of Tartu and Tallinn University of Technology joined the US-based Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium. Thereby the expertise of the two leading universities of Estonia will reach the US Army who purchases innovative products and services through the consortium.

On 21 October 1983 the value of the speed of light 299 792 458 m/s was approved – and in honour of that event the day is celebrated as the International Day of Photonics. On that day the event will also be celebrated for the second time in Estonia: to everyone interested, the University of Tartu Institute of Physics will open its doors, show light experiments and introduce their recent achievements and developments in this field in Estonia.