News

We asked four recipients of honorary decorations to share what makes the University of Tartu special to them.

On 31 October, the senate of the University of Tartu decided to award the University of Tartu Grand Medal to former rector, Professor emeritus Jaak Aaviksoo, Professor Marlon Gerardo Dumas Menjivar, Professor Kalle Kirsimäe, and Professor Ivo Leito. 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 also been selected.

From 8–10 October, the final conference of MEDAL (Methodological Excellence in Data-Driven Approaches to Linguistics) took place. At the end of the conference, the best young researchers were announced.

The three-minute thesis competition for doctoral researchers, held at the University of Tartu Library on 22 October, featured 13 popular-science short lectures in Estonian and 14 in English.

This year’s Lennart Meri Waterfowl People’s Fund scholarship was awarded to Patrick O’Rourke, a doctoral student at the University of Tartu’s Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics.

The 14th International Finno-Ugric Congress (Congressus Internationalis Fenno-Ugristarum or CIFU) took place at the University of Tartu from 18–23 August 2025, bringing together nearly 300 participants from 20 different countries.

All university staff and students are invited to nominate candidates who deserve to be awarded the university’s honorary decoration for their outstanding achievements.

All in all, there are 16,052 students at the university.

We hope the graduation ceremony created many joyful moments you would like to share with your loved ones or even the world. To help you express this wonderful feeling, feel free to use the photos from the ceremony.

We hope the graduation ceremony created many joyful moments you would like to share with your loved ones or even the world. To help you express this wonderful feeling, feel free to use the photos from the ceremony.

The University of Tartu’s opening ceremony of the 2025/2026 academic year will take place on the corner of Lossi and Ülikooli streets at Pirogov square on Monday, 1 September at 10:00.

Estonian researchers have created the AI Barometer where users can compare the responses of language models and assess their proficiency in Estonian. Everyone is welcome to try out the barometer at baromeeter.ai. The researchers aim to collect at least 50,000 comparisons by the end of June.

The Center for Digital Text Scholarship (DigiTS), operating under the Centre of Digital Humanities at the Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics, is launching a call for applications for three research fellows (post-docs) and one junior research fellow (PhD student) in Digital Humanities.

All Estonian public universities will celebrate Diversity Week from 5–11 May for the second year. This year’s focus is on encouraging people to notice and to act.

The winner of the three rectors’ scholarship competition, which was held for the eighth time this year, is Arnita Agrita Umalas, who was born and raised in Latvia but is studying Estonian language and linguistics at the University of Tartu, focusing on the Livonian language in her master’s thesis.

Doctoral studies are a part of the career path, giving you the knowledge and future skills needed to become a top specialist or manager.

The university opens 182 student places in doctoral studies this spring. Everyone who desires to create new knowledge and pursue a career as a researcher, top specialist or manager is welcome to apply.

The University of Tartu invites international students interested in English-taught curricula to submit their applications in DreamApply.

The call for the Erasmus+ intra-European mobility application for the 2025/2026 academic year closed in March, revealing increased interest among students in studying at ENLIGHT universities.

On 14–15 March, rectors from the partnership programme LERU-CE7 between the League of European Research Universities and a group of seven leading Central European universities (CE7) gathered at the University of Tartu.