News

At a meeting on Monday, the University of Tartu and the construction company AS YIT EHITUS agreed that the contractor will complete the second stage of works on the university library by 30 November this year. Thereafter the request for getting a permit for partial use is filed, and after the request is satisfied, the university can open a part of the library for readers.

On December 9th, at the University of Tartu’s initiative, the first international business festival sTARTUp Day 2016 will be held. Over 1,000 entrepreneurs, investors, students, and scientists will come together and more than 40 speakers will discuss successful business models.

The aim of the research work of doctoral student Anne-Mari Anton Willmore, who is conducting her research in the UT cancer biology research group, is to reduce the side-effects and dosage of cancer drugs. She received a 5,000 euro scholarship from the Valda and Bernard Õun memorial fund of the UT Foundation to work on her research and doctoral thesis.

At its meeting on 23 September, the council of the Institute of Sports Sciences and Physiotherapy elected Professor of Functional Morphology Priit Kaasik, who had performed the tasks of acting head of institute, as the new head of institute.

In the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, published yesterday evening, UT holds the highest place of all times—it placed 301–350.

It is extremely difficult to succeed in Asia without knowing the local language and culture. University of Tartu Asian Centre brings together Asian expertise which has until now been rather dispersed in Estonia, shares its experience and uses contacts of an international cooperation network to help the private and public sector, organisations or private persons with matters related to Asia. The centre’s work is not limited to China, Japan, Korea or India, it also includes Middle Eastern countries and Turkey.

University of Tartu placed 347 in the QS World University Rankings—this is the highest position an Estonian university has held since the first ranking was published in 2012. Last year UT placed 400 in the ranking. This year UT improved its position for five of the six QS indicators, including academic reputation which improved 22 places, employer reputation which improved more than 50 places and citations per faculty which improved two places.

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a neoplastic disease of bone marrow and accounts for approximately 13% of all hematologic cancers. In Estonia the survival of MM is only 30 months whereas in the US it is considerably higher. This difference is mainly explained by different access to anti-myeloma agents in the US and Europe. On 9 September, experts of the subject from Estonia, the US and elsewhere will meet at the University of Tartu to discuss the latest developments of the disease and increase research cooperation with the US to improve the survival of MM patients in Estonia.

Under the leadership of the University of Tartu medical researchers, a 958,804 euro grant was received in tight competition from the European Commission to develop medical education in Vietnam in cooperation of four European and four Vietnamese medical universities. European researchers will support creating the first doctoral programme of medicine which is also supported by the government of Vietnam.

The opening ceremony of the new academic year begins on 29 August at 10am in the UT assembly hall. In the new academic year more than 3,900 new students, incl. nearly 700 international (visiting) students, begin studies in all study levels at UT.

2016/2017 academic year opening ceremony of the Faculty of Medicine takes place on Monday, 29 August at 11.15 at UT`s Assembly Hall. Speeches by dean of the Faculty of Medicine Professor Margus Lember, Professor Helle Karro, representors of 1st year students and tutors. Ceremony is held in Estonian.

On 15 July 2016, the lists of students admitted to the University of Tartu’s 2,342 bachelor’s and 1,417 master’s study places were published. 425 of Estonia’s best high school graduates, students who finished with a gold or silver medal, are on the lists, incl. 350 students who finished high school this year. By now the applicants have received the first results regarding the UT admission. All those who exceeded the admission threshold were guaranteed a study place.

The University of Tartu Rector invites all golfers who appreciate the beauty of the game to the traditional University of Tartu Rector’s Cup Golf Tournament, which takes place on 21 August 2016 at the Otepää Golf Center between the hills of South-Estonia. Players compete in individual class and, for the first time, also in the faculty competition. It is an open tournament and in addition to alumni, students and lecturers all competitive golf enthusiasts are welcome.

UT medical researchers, under the lead of Professor Sulev Kõks, received 700,000 pounds of funding to study the rare Wolfram syndrome. The research group has worked on this for already 13 years. Researchers believe that the funding provides an opportunity for an applicable breakthrough, which would be a ray of hope for the so far untreatable disease.

The Kick-Off Meeting of the Baltic Fracture Competence Centre (BFCC) took place on the 21st and 22nd of April in Hamburg. The BFCC is a Baltic Sea region-wide collaborative project which got awarded with €3.6 M from the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme last December. It will foster an international approach to face the challenges of fracture management. UT is represented by the research group of the Department of Traumatology and Orthopedics of the Faculty of Medicine's Institute of Clinical Medicine, led by Associate Professor Aare Märtson.

2,279 applications were submitted to the UT’s 19 English-taught bachelor’s and master’s curricula and the integrated curriculum of Medicine. Similarly to previous year, most applications were submitted for IT specialisations: the Computer Science programme received 242 applications from international candidates and 40 from Estonian candidates and the programme of Software Engineering had 277 and 41 applications respectively.

The cooperation of Tartu and Swedish researchers will soon shed light on the first dialogue between the embryo and mother that leads to embryo implantation in the inner lining of the uterus. An understanding of the biological mechanisms of the beginning of life enables to use more exact and effective methods to increase the success rate of infertility treatment.

One of the two 40 000 euro research awards for outstanding lifetime achievements in research and development was given to Professor Emeritus Ülo Lepik of the UT Faculty of Science and Technology. Several UT researchers received the 20 000 euro award for best research work.

The University of Tartu and SEB Vega fund divided 20 100 euros between four teams for developing knowledge-intensive ideas. The funding helps to develop, for example, an automatic system for measuring blood pressure in real-time and a security system which makes keys and smart cards a thing of the past.

On Tuesday, 1 December, the University of Tartu celebrates the 96th anniversary of the national university with the traditional ceremony, torch-light procession and ball. Two honorary doctorates and 112 doctorates will be conferred at the ceremony and the University of Tartu Contribution to Estonian National Identity award will be presented. The ceremony is broadcasted live on www.uttv.ee.