News

On 18 October, the new Ambassador of Ukraine Maksym Kononenko visited the University of Tartu and met with the rector to discuss cooperation between the University of Tartu and Ukrainian universities.

The idea competition aims to find the best solution for reconstructing the academic building at Kaarli pst 3 and the design for the yard area.

On 9 October, ESTCube-2, the satellite developed by Estonian students, finally launched on board the Vega launcher of Arianespace. However, according to current information, the satellite most likely never separated from the launch pod in the nose of the rocket.

A recently published Open Science Toolkit developed within the ENLIGHT RISE project aims to help and support researchers in their work.

At the senate meeting on 25 August, the senate decided to propose to the Government of the Republic to remove Mari Moora from the University of Tartu council due to her appointment as Vice Rector for Research and to appoint Associate Professor in Animal Ecology Tuul Sepp as member of the council. The government accepted the motion at their session on 12 October.

The third ENLIGHT Teaching and Learning Conference took place at the University of Bordeaux from 11 to 13 October 2023. The focus of the conference was on empowering students.

On Friday, 13 October, leaders of the University of Tartu and the city of Tartu met in the university’s main building to discuss the topics in which the university and the city can support each other’s development. Based on the agreements reached at the meeting, the university and city cooperation agreement will be renewed.

The group of investors led by Specialist VC and UniTartu Ventures have invested €380,000 in Gearbox Biosciences, a company founded by researchers. With grants, the total funding amounts to over half a million euros.

The Police and Border Guard announced at 9:15 that dozens of Estonian institutions, including schools and kindergartens, received a bomb threat by email in Russian tonight.

Rector Toomas Asser, invited by the European Commission, took part in the European Week of Regions and Cities, the largest annual event on cohesion policy. On 10 October, Asser was one of the speakers in the high-level thematic session, "Retaining talent for regional growth".

As part of the Ida-Viru County Entrepreneurship Week, on 6 October, Narva College hosted an idea competition for young people to come up with ideas for implementing the green transition. The best idea was that of the students of Narva Upper Secondary School: using textile waste from the sewing industry to make toys for pets.

The University of Bordeaux is organising virtual intercultural exchanges, which are aimed to promote the participants’ communication skills and are open to students of all the ENLIGHT universities.

The language advisor welcomes students of all curricula of the University of Tartu whose mother tongue is other than Estonian and who need help and advice in writing academic texts in Estonian.

On 13 October at 15, the city of Tartu will open a memorial to Konstantin Konik, a statesman and a long-time employee of the University of Tartu, near the University of Tartu Library.

On 9 October, Rector Toomas Asser, Vice Rector for Development Tõnu Esko and Vice Rector for Research Mari Moora met with Minister of Climate Kristen Michal and his Science Adviser Aveliina Helm in Tallinn to discuss opportunities for cooperation, funding for sustainability-related research projects and ensuring the involvement of university researchers in the development of the Climate Act.

At the national Teacher of the Year Gala on 7 October, the winners of the Teacher of the Year awards were announced, and three educator’s lifetime achievement awards were presented. Two of the three lifetime achievement awards went to University of Tartu professors emeriti.

On 3 October, the faculties’ electoral bodies elected new deans for the University of Tartu. The Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities Anti Selart, the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences Margit Keller, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Külli Kingo, and the Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology Leho Ainsaar will assume office on 1 January 2024.

On 28 September, five lifetime achievement awards and 44 Teacher of the Year titles were presented at the recognition ceremony for educators of the city and county of Tartu. One of the recipients of the lifetime achievement awards was Enno Akkel, long-time coach of the UT Academic Sports Club.

On 6 October at 12, a commemorative plaque will be unveiled on the wall of the Von Bock House of the University of Tartu, as the Estonian University of Life Sciences celebrates the 175th anniversary of teaching veterinary medicine. The first patient – a horse – was admitted to the Von Bock House on 13 October 1848.

The three-minute thesis competition for University of Tartu doctoral students brought together young researchers of many disciplines.