Uudised

On Friday, November 10, a 48-hour "Social Impact Data Hack 2017" will begin at the University of Tartu, which explores the possibilities of contributing to society by using big data from various public institutions and private enterprises.

Meelis Luht, former management board member of Eesti Meedia Group, will start work as the Director of Administration of the University of Tartu on 21 August. Rector Volli Kalm said the new director of administration has been in charge of several different areas of activity in his career and is a top leader with international work experience. We can see his capability as well as his desire and ambition to actively contribute to the implementation of the university’s development goals.

We are happy to inform you that on October 18th from 16.15-17.15 the first research seminar of the Faculty of Social sciences will take place in Lossi 36 room 305. The aim of the seminars will be to introduce what (foreign guest) researchers at our faculty are up to and to promote cooperation. The first presenter at the seminar is Professor of Psychology Dr. Oleksii Polunin from Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics, who is in Tartu for fall semester 2017 thanks to the Open Society Foundations scholarship program.

Since 1998, the International Summer University of the University of Tartu has introduced higher education and research in Estonia, incl. study opportunities at the University of Tartu, to participants from all over the world.

The University of Tartu's Centre for Applied Social Sciences (CASS) prepared an overview for the European Commission of the current situation and future trends of collective labour relations in Estonia. The report compiled by the analysts of the UT Centre for Applied Social Sciences Uku Varblane, Kerly Espenberg and Olena Nedozhogina "Industrial Relations in Estonia: Recent Developments and Future Challenges" aimed to study post-crisis industrial relations and changes in economic development, and to give recommendations for dealing with future challenges.

For the third year already, the Estonian Academy of Sciences organises the competition in which public university students explain their field of science in three minutes.

This fall marks the first time a course by the researchers of the University of Tartu goes live on Udemy, one of the largest international online learning platforms. Online course “Introduction to Internet Voting”, developed by the Senior Researchers in Technology Studies Kristjan Vassil and Mihkel Solvak, is available on Udemy - an online teaching platform with 15 million active learners. Currently, this is the only University of Tartu MOOC, massive open online course, offered at such a scale on the international online platform.

The Times Higher Education (THE), arguably the world’s most influential compiler of university rankings, published the most recent ranking of the world’s best universities. In the 2018 rankings the University of Tartu continues to hold a place in the 301–350 band.

Opening ceremony of the new academic year starts on Monday, 4 September at 10:00 in the university assembly hall. Salutatory addresses are delivered by rector Volli Kalm and the mayor of Tartu Urmas Klaas. In the 2017/2018 academic year, nearly 4000 students start their studies in UT at all study levels.

September 4-5, 2017 the European Company Law and Corporate Governance Conference will take place in Tallinn to discuss necessary changes in the existing EU company law. The conference is planned to cover three different areas of interest: the digital company law, the cross-border mobility of companies (cross-border mergers, divisions and transfers of registered office i.e. conversions) and applicable law in company law matters.

Tongji University (Shanghai) and University of Tartu Summer School in Economics On the 7th and 8th of August, a delegation from Tongji University (Shanghai, PRC) visited University of Tartu School of Economics and Business Administration. This was the second doctoral seminar since Tongji is an official partner university. The previous event took place 27-28th of March 2017, in Tongji.

On 7 August, the University of Tartu School of Economics and Business Administration starts moving to the former National Archives building in Liivi Street to operate there until the new academic and research building Delta is completed.

As a result of a naming competition, the new academic and research building of the Institute of Computer Science, the Institute of Mathematics and Statistics and the School of Economics and Business Administration to be completed in autumn 2019, will be named Delta.

Jan Richard Bærug, who recently defended his PhD at the University of Tartu, analysed the attitude of 691 newspapers and niche magazines of northern Europe to the merging of journalism and advertising. He found that three quarters of all analysed publications agreed to publish unlabelled marketing texts. According to Bærug, such hybridisation of journalism is a problem as it may weaken democracy.

From 7 to 14 July, academic staff and doctoral students from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and North India participate in the University of Tartu summer school. At the summer school in Tartu, participants learn about new research methods in environmental health and epidemiology, which they can use to conduct similar studies in their home universities.

The master’s thesis by Annika Liivamägi, a graduate of Service Design and Management in the University of Tartu Pärnu College, explains that customers who leave the online shop before completing their purchase are not necessarily a problem for the retailer but may involve a positive opportunity instead.

The admission period for most Estonian-language bachelor’s and master’s curricula in the University of Tartu ended last week. Application for English-taught curricula took place in spring. In total, the university received more than 12,100 applications for admission to Estonian and English curricula of all study levels.

From 8 to 15 March, students of Marymount University participate in the international continuing education programme on cyber security at the University of Tartu. Participants of the programme visit the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Estonia as well as Skype, Microsoft and other enterprises in Estonia and Finland. The 24 students participating in the programme come from various countries, including the USA, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Barbados, India and Ethiopia.

Approximately 70% more applications than last year were submitted to the curricula in English in the University of Tartu. Interest of Estonian applicants in curricula in foreign language increased more than three times. The most popular curricula among Estonians as well as foreigners were thouse of IT: Software Engineering and Computer Science.

On September 8, the election commissions approved the dean candidates for the University of Tartu’s four faculties. The new deans are elected at the end of September and beginning of October and their term of office begins on 1 January 2016 when the university’s academic units continue as four faculties within the new structure.