News

From the beginning of this academic year, free menstrual pad dispensers have been installed in the university study buildings to ensure that hygiene products are always available when needed. A total of 39 dispensers have been placed in the buildings.

What does literature know, and how does it know it?

A recently completed study on conspiracy theories, the most extensive one ever conducted in Europe, found that narratives circulating across national borders adapt to local history, cultural memory and social tensions. A book presenting the study’s findings has now been published, co-edited by Mari-Liis Madisson, Associate Professor of Semiotics at the University of Tartu.

On 1–2 October 2026, the Centre for Ethics of the University of Tartu will celebrate its 25th anniversary. This quarter-century milestone provides an opportunity to bring together the Centre’s friends, partners, and experts from Estonia and abroad to reflect on the questions and issues shaping the role of ethics today and in the future.

On Monday, 31 August at 10:00, the 2026/2027 academic year was opened in front of the university's main building. The programme of the ceremony included a musical performance by Puuluup.

Registration is now open for the University of Tartu’s three-minute thesis competition for doctoral researchers, which will take place on 21 October at the University of Tartu Library. The deadline for registration is 12 October.

Courses related to Asia and the Middle East in the 2026-2027 fall semester

From 20 to 23 August 2026, the University of Tartu hosted the 62nd Annual Conference of Societas Ethica, the European Society for Research in Ethics, under the title “Crisis & Recovery – Ethics in Interdisciplinary Dialogue”.

Staff and students of the University of Tartu can take part in Tartu Maraton events with a 30% discount. This gives university members an affordable opportunity to represent the University of Tartu at sporting events together with colleagues and fellow students.

Maciej Eder is a Visiting Professor of Digital Humanities at the University of Tartu. Inspired by Tartu’s historic academic past, Maciej is helping to build an international research centre dedicated to exploring language, literature and the ways digital technologies are transforming both.

UT staff and students are invited to nominate candidates who deserve to be awarded the university’s honorary decoration for their outstanding achievements. Nominations can be submitted until 20 September.

The University of Tartu will welcome hundreds of students, researchers and academics from around the world in 2027 as it hosts the European Summer School in Logic, Language and Information (ESSLLI) for the first time in Estonia.

University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy offers two microdegree programmes in the autumn semester of the 2026/2027 academic year, aimed at professionals across all sectors.

During this year’s spring and summer admissions period, the University of Tartu received 1,275 applications for doctoral studies, of which 978 were eligible for evaluation.

You can now watch TEDx University of Tartu talks on TEDx YouTube channel.

This year, 10,835 people applied for studies at the first and second levels of higher education at the University of Tartu, submitting a total of 15,020 applications. Compared to the previous year, the number of applications for first-level studies has remained the same, while applications for master’s studies have increased by 7%.

The Viljandi Repair Festival, celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, has announced its programme of 35 hands-on workshops.

On 27 June, at 16:00, a monument to Professor Lauri Kettunen will be unveiled at Kassitoome, between Baer street and the valley. Kettunen participated in establishing the Estonian-language university and, in particular, the chair of Finno‑Ugric languages, serving as its first professor from 1920 to 1924.

2026 University of Tartu Asia Centre Scholarship recipients