News

Aune Valk, University of Tartu Vice Rector for Academic Affairs

The University of Tartu School of Law is launching a series of Tartu International Law Conversations. The first event of the series „International Law in a Biden Administration“ will take place on 13 January at 17–18 (GMT+2). The aim of this series is to invite academics and practitioners from Estonia and abroad to talk about various aspects of international law. Depending on the circumstances, the events are conducted in person or online.

Estonian company Crystalspace, partnered with Tartu Observatory of Tartu University and Krakul, has been selected by Maxar Technologies, a trusted partner and innovator in Earth Intelligence and Space Infrastructure, to build two cameras that will act as a stereo pair to monitor the operations of a robotic arm that will collect regolith samples from the Moon.

Researchers of the University of Tartu begin this year’s first stage of the coronavirus prevalence study on 7 January. In the study they estimate the impact of nationwide restrictions imposed in mid-December, regional restrictions placed shortly before the end of the year, and the holiday season on the spread of the virus.

The Estonian government has decided to support the study on the strains of SARS-CoV-2 with an additional 400,000 euros to allow the early detection of the possible occurrence of the new and potentially more rapidly spreading strains in Estonia.

At the end of the year, the university’s mascot contest was held. In the public vote that lasted until 16 December, all members of the university community could choose between three mascot designs shortlisted by the evaluation committee. Now, after all the votes have been counted, the design Tiksu can be declared the outright winner of the contest.

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.

Due to the reconstruction of the academic building at Lossi 3, the university’s central IT infrastructure are moved to other server rooms from 21 to 31 December. This will cause interruptions in IT services. The most extensive interruption will be on 29 December between 5 and 8 in the morning, when the university’s firewalls and other systems are moved. During these hours it is not possible to use the university’s IT services or university-related IT services.

Next autumn, the first students start their studies at the University of Tartu under the international joint curriculum “Geo-information Science and Earth Observation for Environmental Modelling and Management”. The joint curriculum is supported by a three-million-euro grant from the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme. The Erasmus Mundus joint master degree programme is coordinated by the University of Twente (the Netherlands). From the University of Tartu, the Department of Geography is involved.

The results of the coronavirus prevalence study conducted by the University of Tartu show that the virus is widespread and the number of infected people is high, while the number of virus carriers remains largely the same as a few weeks ago. According to researchers, this refers to the efficiency of restrictions imposed at the end of November.

As of January 2021, President Toomas Ilves will be Visiting Professor of Democracy in the Digital Age at the University of Tartu. During a year, Ilves will deliver lectures to students and participate in developing teaching and research activities in the field of e governance in the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies.

The government decided on Thursday, 17th December 2020 that it is necessary to continue the research on the spread of COVID-19’s and waste water analysis. The Ministry of Social Affairs provides the Ministry of Education and Research 4 000 750 euros to conduct the studies.

Researchers and doctors of the University of Tartu, Tartu University Hospital and South-Estonian Hospital are studying how COVID-19 affects patients over the course of three years after infection. At the third- and sixth-month follow-up, more than half of the patients reported various health concerns, although their routine analyses were fine. In the third-month follow-up, the main complaint was a decrease in physical exercise capacity. By the sixth month, the number of patients with complaints had increased and problems with joints were added to the decreased exercise capacity.

The pre-selection for one of the biggest business ideas competitions, Kaleidoskoop, took place on 10 December, bringing together 30 student teams from all over Estonia. The best 15 teams were selected to present their ideas in the Kaleidoskoop and Delta X finals.

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.

Analysis by medical researchers of the University of Tartu indicates that focusing solely on respiratory symptoms may mean that COVID-19 is diagnosed late or left undiagnosed. For people older than 50, more attention must be paid to diarrhoea and fever without cough or runny nose.

Taking place from 10 to 21 December, the new stage of the coronavirus prevalence study aims also to assess the impact of the restrictions imposed on 24 November on the spread of the virus. The study helps to estimate the growth rate in the spread of the virus and thereby gives important information to decision-makers in addition to the daily statistics by the Health Board.

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.

Researchers of the University of Tartu analysed the data from the eight months of 2020 about nearly 32,000 people, including those who had been tested positive for coronavirus during that period and those who had not. The initial results of the analysis showed that a corona patient was mostly likely hospitalised due to pneumonia or acute bronchitis. Those who did not have corona went to the hospital mostly to give birth or for a medical repeat procedure.

In the course of arranging the data of users of the UT information systems, the Information Technology Office will this week send a notification of closing the user accounts to all former students and employees, who have no study or employment relationship with the university as of 30 November 2020.