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University of Tartu

Postal addressÜlikooli 1850090 TartuESTONIA

Information Desk +372 737 5100E-mail info@ut.eeHomepage www.ut.eeTwitter www.twitter.com/tartuuniversityFacebook www.facebook.com/tartuuniversityYouTube www.youtube.com/TartuUniversity

Marketing and Communication Office +372 737 5683Office of Research and Institutional Development +372 737 6192Office of Accademic Affairs +372 737 6215Rector’s Office +372 737 5600

University of Tartu. Yearbook 2011

Text Anneli MiljanEditor Kadri KunnusLanguage Editor Marika KullamaaTranslation from Estonian Keelion TranslationsEditor (English) Meelis Leesik (Keelion Translations)Design Maarja Roosi (UT Multimedia Service)Photography Andres Tennus (UT), Ove Maidla (UT), Maarja Roosi (UT), Aldo Luud (Scanpix), Renee Altrov, Mihkel Maripuu (Scanpix), Fredrik Punga, Jaak Nilson, Sille Annuk (Scanpix), Kristjan Teedema (Scanpix), Ain Protsin (Scanpix), private collections

Copyright University of Tartu 2012

ISSN 2228-1924

Front cover: a glimpse of the opening ceremony of Tartu Old Observatory

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University of Tartu

Postal addressÜlikooli 1850090 TartuESTONIA

Information Desk +372 737 5100E-mail info@ut.eeHomepage www.ut.eeTwitter www.twitter.com/tartuuniversityFacebook www.facebook.com/tartuuniversityYouTube www.youtube.com/TartuUniversity

Marketing and Communication Office +372 737 5683Office of Research and Institutional Development +372 737 6192Office of Accademic Affairs +372 737 6215Rector’s Office +372 737 5600

University of Tartu. Yearbook 2011

Text Anneli MiljanEditor Kadri KunnusLanguage Editor Marika KullamaaTranslation from Estonian Keelion TranslationsEditor (English) Meelis Leesik (Keelion Translations)Design Maarja Roosi (UT Multimedia Service)Photography Andres Tennus (UT), Ove Maidla (UT), Maarja Roosi (UT), Aldo Luud (Scanpix), Renee Altrov, Mihkel Maripuu (Scanpix), Fredrik Punga, Jaak Nilson, Sille Annuk (Scanpix), Kristjan Teedema (Scanpix), Ain Protsin (Scanpix), private collections

Copyright University of Tartu 2012

ISSN 2228-1924

Front cover: a glimpse of the opening ceremony of Tartu Old Observatory

ContentsRector’s Foreword

Studies

Students

Research

Innovation

International Cooperation

From University to Society

Organisation

Finances

Rector’s Office

UT Structure

UT Membership

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For the University of Tartu, the year 2011 was marked by several important research initiatives and by preparations for significant reforms in the university’s governance. The year also brought a significant increase in the university’s international visibility.

According to the results of the Times Higher Education Ranking 2011 the University of Tartu is placed among the top 3% of universities worldwide. UT is the only one from the Baltics to have achieved such a high ranking. The uni-versity continues to hold a place on the top rung in life sciences (QS University Rankings). UT is also the first Estonian university to have achieved the top 1% ranking in engineering (Thomson Reuters Web of Science). These results are something that we can truly take pride in. Another reason for satisfaction is that UT is attracting more and more school-leavers who have shown exceptional academic achievement and high results in international academic competitions. The 2011 reform of the univer-sity’s admissions system focused on academic quality: our threshold-based system was replaced with one based on rank lists. We have seen an almost 50% increase in the number of international students, and their academic qualifications have improved markedly. Another significant achievement lies in the record number of 152 PhD defences successfully completed in 2011 at UT. The university has also become the largest provider of continuing education in Estonia – the courses offered by UT in 2011 attracted over 30,000 learners.

The research conducted at UT is evaluated as top qual-ity in several fields. This is reflected in the international recognition of the university as well as by the number of research prizes granted to UT academics. It should not be underestimated that in addition to the fundamental research, the year 2011 at UT has seen the creation of exciting and innovative technological applications, and the launch of several research cooperation initiatives of considerable importance to the university and to Estonia as a whole. In 2011, UT established a 6.1m EUR research develop-ment fund which makes it possible to support outstanding research in the university in selected breakthrough fields.

UT’s development as an international university with an extensive network of international relations holds consider-

ReCtoR’s foRewoRd

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ReCtoR’s foRewoRd

able promise. During the year, public lectures were held at UT by a number of internationally renowned researchers, including Robert Gallo, Keith Devlin, Ronald Inglehart and others. UT also received visits from famous politicians. Un-der the aegis of the Coimbra Group, the university organised an international symposion on language and identity which brought together semioticians, linguists, social scientists and philosophers from across Europe. At the same time, many of the university’s teachers and researchers were working at universities abroad.

The university is a flexible and adaptable organisation. The year 2011 was a year of preparations for the transition to a new system of governance. A new council whose tasks and composition have been significantly modified and a senate – a novel body in the university’s structure – were convened. The university’s external partners are now directly involved in governing the university, which will forge stronger links between the university and the Estonian society.

UT’s finances are sound and our receipts show an increase largely on account of assistance from the EU’s structural funds. In 2011, the Philosophy Building at 2 Jakobi St and the Social Sciences and Education Building at 36 Lossi St were both overhauled. Construction work started on an academic building for the university’s Narva College. The university has also invested in renovating the Old Observa-tory and in design work for a new Physics building. All these projects improve the conditions that the University of Tartu offers for research and studies.

The results of 2011 show that the university has performed well. I wish all of you continued success in the future and I am sure that the university will continue to be seen as a reliable partner in the Estonian society and in the world at large.

Alar KarisRector of the University of Tartu

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Best upper secondary school leavers’ preference – the University of Tartu

The total number of new students who commenced studies at the University of Tartu in the academic year 2011/2012 was 4578, which is 735 students less than in the preceding academic year. The decrease in admission figures reflects the university’s policy of reducing its training capacity, raising academic standards and switching from a threshold-based to a ranking-based admission system.

Fifty-five percent of all Estonia’s school-leavers who had received the maximum grade (100 out of 100) in at least one state exam applied for admission to the Univer-sity of Tartu. In the aca-demic year 2011/2012, a total of 129 students who had performed success-fully in academic competitions or olympiads started their studies at the University of Tartu. The programmes which were the most popular with the new students were those of law, medicine, physics, computer science and chemistry.

In 2011/2012, 433 of the cream group of school-leavers – those who had received top honours (the gold medal) or had completed their studies with distinction (the silver medal), as well as 8 pupils who had shown the best grade point average of their school, were admitted to UT. The programme that attracted the most honours students was medicine, followed by law, biology, economics, special education and gene technology.

E-course of the year developed at UTThe best e-course of 2011 in higher and vocational educa-tion institutions was announced at the spring conference of the Estonian e-Learning Development Centre in April. This year’s winner was Propaedeutics of Oral and Dental Diseases, developed at the University of Tartu by Riina Runnel, Assistant in Oral and Dental Diseases of UT Clinic of Stomatology. Four e-courses were nominated for the title of E-Course of the Year from among 31 applicants for the quality label.

studies

The number of students admit-ted to the university on the basis of good performance in national subject competitions and inter-national olympiads increased by 42% from previous year

Riina Runnel

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studies International studies gain momentum

In 2011, the number of admission applications meeting the established requirements from international stu-dent candidates was roughly 40% more than in the previous year. Con-sequently, the aca-demic background of admitted inter-national students was also stronger than in previous years.

Overall, the uni-versity considered nearly 470 quali-fying applications from all over the world. The largest group of applicants came from Finland (accounting for ap-proximately 15% of all applications), followed by Russia, Ukraine and Geor-gia.

As of the end of 2011, UT had 484 in-ternational students (2.7% of the total number of students). The proportion of international students in doctoral studies was close to 7% and in Mas-ter’s studies close to 5%. The most represented countries were Finland, Russia, Latvia, Ukraine and the USA.

This autumn, nearly 80 international students commenced their studies in international English-taught Master’s programmes. The Software Engineer-ing programme attracted the largest number of applicants. An increase was also recorded from the previous year in the number of Estonian students who applied to UT’s English-language programmes.

Student exchange figures for the 2010/2011 academic year improved significantly over the previous year. The number of international students at the University of Tartu showed an increase of 10% over last year. The corresponding figure for international visiting students was 12%.

International students at the university come from a total of 64 na-tions

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Total number of international degree students at the University of Tartu 2007–2011

Pille Põiklik

Mihkel Zilmer

Koit Herodes

Kristel Ruutmets

Best teachers recognised by university and students

For the sixth time, the university recognised its best teachers in four main academic domains at the open-ing ceremony of the academic year. Based on feedback from students, the 10 best teachers are selected from each academic domain and the title of UT Teacher of the Year is awarded to those four who have earned the best

marks from students in their respective domain. In 2010/2011, the best teachers of the Univer-sity of Tartu were: Pille Põiklik, Assistant in English Language and Literature, Faculty of

Phi losophy; Kristel Ruutmets, Lecturer of Didactics of English, Faculty of Social Sciences and Education; Koit Herodes, Sen-ior Lecturer of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology; Mihkel Zilmer, Professor of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine.

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UT students take lion’s share of national student research awards

The most awards in the national student research contest, including 13 first prizes, went to students of the Univer-sity of Tartu. One of the two main awards in the field of biological and environmental sciences, worth 3600 euros, was claimed by UT alum-nus Leopold Parts, who defended his PhD at the University of Cam-bridge. His dissertation Genetic Mapping of Cellular Traits is a top-level research paper in bioin-formatics, which proposes a new method for simultaneous mapping of different genes with a high level of precision.

students

Erasmus students enjoy studying in EstoniaThe ESN Survey 2010 polled over 8400 Erasmus students from 25 countries who had spent at least one semester abroad. Respondents gave Estonia and Tartu an average of 4.74 points on a 5-point scale when asked to rate their

stay in the host country. In the survey’s other general category, overall satisfaction with the quality of studies, the list was topped by the USA, followed by Denmark, Switzerland, Ireland and Sweden. Estonia was ranked tenth, scoring an average of 4.15 – ahead of 15 other countries and above the general average of 4.06. Canada, Austria,

the Netherlands and Germany also received bet-ter marks than Estonia, while Estonia was ahead of

Norway, Finland, the United Kingdom, Belgium as well as other East European and Mediterranean countries partici-pating in the survey.

UT students took 61% of awards in the na-tional student research contest

Estonia and Tartu took first place in the ESN Student Survey 2010

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University of Tartu

Tallinn University of Technology

Tallinn University

Estonian University of Life Sciences

Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre

Estonain Academy of Arts

Most new PhDs in Estonia defended at UT

Leopold Parts

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UT student wins second place in World Physics

OlympiadUT physics student Ants Remm achieved an outstanding result, and a gold medal, by placing second in the World Physics Olympiad (WoPhO) held at the end of the year in Lom-bok, Indonesia. Participants of the final round of WoPhO included 109 high school students from 15 differ-ent countries. WoPHO is a secondary school level international physics con-test that lasts a full year and consists of three rounds. Only the very best make it through to the final round. Ants Remm obtained an invitation to the WoPHO final round by winning a gold medal in the International Phys-ics Olympiad (IphO) held in Bangkok 2011 summer. In the summer of 2012, the international physics olympiad will be held in Tartu, Estonia for the first time.

students

UT’s youngest PhD graduate in last half-

century – Margus NiitsooAt the age of 24 years, 4 months and 13 days, Margus Niitsoo, Research Fellow of UT Institute of Computer Science, is the youngest PhD student in the last 50 years to have defended his thesis at the University of Tartu. In his PhD thesis entitled Black-Box Oracle Separation Techniques with Applications in Timestamping, Ni-itsoo investigates the security of the timestamping solution used by the Estonian IT company GuardTime. In addition to research, Margus has been teaching students at the university for three years already.

The University of Tartu confers the first Estonian PhDs in materials science.Margus Kodu, Martin Järvekülg and Sergei Vlassov are the first materials science PhD students to have defended their theses in Estonia.

Most new PhDs in Estonia defended at UT

Ants Remm

Margus Niitsoo

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University of Tartu in top one percent in nine research areas

According to the reputable QS World University Rankings, the University of Tartu now finds itself in the 301 to 350 bracket of more than 15,000 universities in the area of life sciences, i.e., biology, medicine, psychology.

According to Thomson Reu-ters Web of Science, the Uni-versity of Tartu also made to the top 1% of global research centres in biosciences and Earth sciences. In total, UT now holds a top 1% place in nine different research areas: clinical medicine, chemistry, environmental science and ecology, animal and plant sciences, Earth sciences, general social sciences, materials science, biology and biochemistry and engineering.

A spate of national research awards claimed by UT researchers

Physicist and academician Vladimir Hižnjakov, Professor Emeritus of the University of Tartu, received an award for his long-standing significant research and development work.For outstanding research carried out and published in the previous four years, an Estonian national research award was presented to each of the following UT researchers:XX in exact sciences, to Gennadi Vainikko for the research cycle Cordial Volterra Integral Equations;XX in medicine, to Eduard Maron for the research cycle Neu-robiological Factors Affecting the Emergence and Course of Panic Disorders; XX in agricultural sciences, to Asko Lõhmus for the research cycle Promoting Ecologically Sustainable Forestry; XX in social sciences, to Tiit Tammaru for the research cycle Urbanisation, Suburbanisation and Counterurbanisation of Population Groups in Estonia; XX in the humanities, to Valter Lang for the research cycle Bronze and Iron Age in Estonia and the Baltic Countries.

The 2011 Young Scientist Award of the Cultural Endowment of the President of Estonia was also bestowed upon a UT re-searcher. The recipient of the 2011 award was Peeter Laud, Professor of Cryptography of UT Institute of Computer Sci-ence.

ReseaRCh

University of Tartu is the first Estonian higher educa-tion institution to be ranked in the top 1% in Engineering sciences (Thomson Reuters Web of Science).

Vladimir Hižnjakov

Gennadi Vainikko

Valter Lang

Eduard Maron

Asko Lõhmus

Tiit Tammaru

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Unique home care robot built by UT computer

scientistsA team of UT computer scientists led by Senior Research Fellow Satish Srirama introduced the public to Estonia’s first home robot, which is designed to help the elderly and peo-ple suffering from heart diseases. The robot monitors the patient’s condition without the intrusive presence of a car-er and permits the patient to enjoy an independent and private life at home. The robot was created with the pur-pose of improving the quality of life of patients and reducing the cost of home care for both patients and hospitals.

UT scientists: switch mechanism in cells resembles barcode

Scientists working at the UT Institute of Technology have discovered that the switch mechanism governing cell division contains an incredibly pre-cise and systematic mechanism resem-bling barcodes used in supermarkets. A team of young UT scientists led by Mart Loog, Senior Research Fellow in Molecular Biology, discovered that the protein kinases controlling the di-vision of yeast cells act very much like barcode scanners in respect of their target proteins. These target proteins contain regions with specific patterns of phosphorylation sites. The signal’s output is a specific digital combina-tion of positions with and without phosphate. These positions, however, are not arranged randomly, as it was thought before, but according to a certain pattern which the scientists themselves call the code of multiphos-phorylation, and of which they have managed to decode a considerable part.

The knowledge may help develop a more efficient treatment for cancer or can contribute to the production of biofuels. The article was published in Nature.

ReseaRChUT ecologists advance the

notion of ‘dark biodiversity’UT ecologists Meelis Pärtel, Profes-sor of Botany, Martin Zobel, Profes-sor of Plant Ecology, and Research Fellow Robert Szava-Kovats argue that in nature, for the purposes of de-scribing losses of biodiversity, absent species are at least as important as existing ones. Absent species which do not exist but which could easily fit into a biological community are the community’s ‘dark biodiversity’.

Dark biodiversity allows scientists to assess whether a biological commu-nity is governed by local ecological or regional evolutionary processes. A significant dark biodiversity value suggests impoverishment of local com-munities and is indicative of the recov-ery potential of damaged ecosystems. The article was published in Trends in Ecology and Evolution.

Robert Szava-Kovats

Martin Zobel and Meelis Pärtel

Mart Loog

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Sõnar – your pocket grammar companion in your mobile phone

Martin Ehala, UT Professor of Didactics of the Estonian Language, and the linguist Peeter Tinits have developed a novel smartphone application called Sõnar (a derivation from the Estonian word sõna, meaning ‘word’) which is an efficient and quick means to check your spelling and to look up the particular grammar rule you need at the moment.

Sõnar is an Estonian grammar app which helps regular mobile users check their spelling and grammar and can be a useful learning tool for school students. The application asks sim-ple multiple-choice questions which are designed to lead the user straight (usually after three questions) to the appropriate rule. The application is also easy to use – where a traditional grammar book often contains specific and difficult grammar terms, Sõnar provides illustrative examples to accompany all its definitions, which are given in plain and simple language that anyone can understand.

Chromosome 16 controls human body weightIn collaboration with their Swiss colleagues, UT scientists have discovered a short region on chromosome 16 which plays an important role in regulating body weight. An international research team at the University of Lausanne which included researchers from the UT Estonian Genome Centre, UT Insti-tute of Molecular and Cell Biology and the Genetics Centre of the Laboratory of UT Clinics discovered that people whose chromosome 16 contains three duplications of this short region instead of the usual two have lower BMI and run an inreased risk of being underweight.

The discovery was made possible by medical data from pa-tients of the Genetics Centre of UT Clinics and gene data from donors of the UT Estonian Genome Centre. The DNA and questionnaire data of more than 50,000 Estonian citizens stored at the Estonian Genome Centre are now being exten-sively used in research to improve public health.The article was published in Nature.

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Cooperation with space software developer Logica

The University of Tartu and the world’s leading space software com-pany Logica signed a cooperation agreement to jointly develop mission control software for the Estonian stu-dent satellite ESTCube-1.

Logica is an international business and technology service company that employs 41,000 people, posts an an-nual turnover of more than 4 billion euros and has been involved in space projects for more than 40 years.

The first Estonian satellite ESTCube-1 which is developed and built as a col-laborative effort of Estonians, Finns, Latvians and Germans amongst oth-ers. The satellite will be launched to Earth’s orbit by the end of 2012. Its mission is to test novel spaceship en-gine components. Mart Noorma, the leader of the UT student satellite team was awarded the Order of the White Star, 5th class, by the President of the Republic for his services in popularis-ing science.

UT to invest 6.1 million euros in promising R&D

projects Out of 23 candidate projects, the university selected three whose high international potential made them suitable for financing from the UT Development Fund in 2011 2015. The funds allocated to the projects will be used to create a centre for EU-Russia studies, the Centre of Translational Genomics and the Centre for Disease Models and Biomedical Imaging. The sums earmarked for these projects amount to a total of 6.1 million euros.

University’s spin-off company breeds genetically

engineered mice for hepatitis C drug tests

The laboratory of UT’s spin-off com-pany KPA Scientific breeds geneti-cally engineered mice who possess human-origin genes which hepatitis C requires to invade the liver. The test-ing platform based on these animals is used to test potential anti-HCV drugs in the preclinical phase of drug devel-opment. Such an animal testing plat-form allows drug developers to save large amounts of money and valuable time by avoiding costly failed clinical trials. Currently, there may be as many as 1500 potential drugs out in the mar-ket which urgently require testing. The business idea earned KPA Scien-tific and its CEO Mario Plaas, Head of the Core Laboratory for Transgen-ic Technology of the UT Institute of Technology, a valuable third place in the 2011 entrepreneurship contest Aju-jaht (‘party hunting’, literally ‘brain hunt’).

innoVation

Mario Plaas

Mart Noorma

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UT increases cooperation with companies In 2011, the University of Tartu concluded research and development contracts worth 1,39 million euros with the business sector. The university’s cooperation with small and medium sized businesses in Estonia has expanded consider-ably. Compared to 2010, when the number of cooperation projects with new business partners was 30, the year 2011 signalled a sharp increase, bringing UT a staggering 90 new SME partners. Businesses are interested primarily in the analysis, testing and product development services provided by the university. The Entrepreneurship Day that the university organises each year again proved a popular event, attracting over 160 participants.

UT launches IdeaLabThe UT IdeaLab is a forum which students and scientists can use to brainstorm difficult and even intractable prob-lems with a view to developing original solutions to deal with these. The IdeaLab welcomes fledgling projects of concern to entrepreneurs, scientists and social work prac-titioners. The teams who start working at the IdeaLab are required to have an interdisciplinary dimension – a team must include specialists from at least two different areas.Projects may be suggested to the IdeaLab by businesses, academic staff members and by the students themselves. A project incubated by the IdeaLab may lead to a social venture, a computer programme, a product or an exciting interdisciplinary scientific finding.

In cooperation with Estonia’s biggest exporter and Europe’s largest producer of construc-tion foams, OÜ Krimelte, UT participates in development of unique, isocyanate-free con-struction foam

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World Cultural Council award ceremony held at UTIn 2011, the 28th World Cultural Council award ceremony was held at the University of Tartu, making it the first time it has happened in the Baltic countries.

The annual Albert Einstein World Award of Science went to Geoffrey Alan Ozin, Professor of Nanochem-istry at the University of Toronto, and the Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts was bestowed upon Todd Siler, an American artist, writer and inven-tor. In addition to its main awards, the World Cultural Council also rec-ognised eminent members of UT aca-demic community by presenting them with special recognition diplomas. In consideration of their contributions to Estonian education, science and cul-ture, special recognition was granted to Professor Rein Taagepera, Profes-sor Urmas Varblane, Professor Jüri Talvet, Professor Kalle Kasemaa, Professor Toomas Asser, Professor Richard Villems, Professor Jaan

Einasto, Professor Peeter Saari and choir conductor Vaike Uibopuu. Rector Alar Karis received a special service medal for his contribution to granting top level of Estonian higher education.

The World Cultural Council, founded in 1981, is dedicated to increasing the efficient, positive use of knowledge and to achieving a rapprochement among people, nations and govern-ments, regardless of ideology, opinion, religion, race or gender.

Nobel Prize Laureate Edmond H. Fischer delivers

a lecture at UTIn connection with the World Cultural Council award ceremony, the Honor-ary President of the Council, Edmond H. Fischer, who won the 1992 Nobel Prize in Medicine together with Edwin G. Krebs, also visited the University of Tartu. He held a public lecture at the university entitled The Origin of Reversible Protein Phosphorylation as a Regulatory Mechanism.

inteRnational CoopeRation

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UT hosted foreign dignitaries and illustrious scholars and scientists

In 2011, the University of Tartu hosted several eminent foreign dignitaries, including Bronisław Komorowski, President of the Republic of Poland, and Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of the Republic of Lithuania. In April, UT welcomed the rectors of the University of Latvia and Vilnius University, both of whom signed strategic cooperation agreements with UT. Cooperation with our Latvian partners gained even more momentum at the end of the year when the university hosted a full Latvian del-egation comprising Marcis Auzinš, Rector of the University of Latvia, Robert Kilis, Latvian Minister for Education and Research, Ingrida Circene, Latvian Minister for Healthcare and Janis Gradovskis, Rector of the Riga Stradiņš University.

UT continued to engage in close interdisciplinary cooperation with Nebraska Wesleyan University. In August, Nebraska Wes-leyan’s basketball team had a friendly match with UT’s basket-ball team, and in May, the highly acclaimed Emmy-nominated mixed choir of NWU gave a concert in the university’s assembly hall.

In September, UT hosted the virologist Dr Robert Gallo, one of the discoverers of the HIV virus and one of the first scien-tists to prove that HIV causes AIDS, who delivered a public lecture. Amongst other notable scientists and scholars, public lectures were delivered by the mathematician Keith Devlin from Stanford University and by Ronald Inglehart, one the world’s leading political scientists and the recipient of the 2011 Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science.

The Granö lecture series continued this year with public lectures by two guest speakers from the University of Turku – Keijo Virtanen, Rector of the University of Turku and Professor of Cultural History, and Ulla Hakala, lecturer at the Department of Economics. Both speakers discussed the cities of Turku and Tallinn as bearers of the title 2011 European Capital of Culture.

German-Estonian academic week Academica, held for the 15th time, welcomed the University of Greifswald, a partner of the University of Tartu, as a featured guest.

In October, UT hosted the international Language and Identity Symposium, jointly organised by the Culture, Arts and Humani-ties Task Force of the Coimbra Group and the Graduate School of Linguistics, Philosophy and Semiotics. The symposium focused on the prospects of smaller European language communities in a globalising world and on the language policies of universities. The list of speakers included Neasa Hegarty (Ireland), President of the former European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages, Alexandra Jaffe, Professor of Linguistics and Anthropology at California State University Long Beach, and John Joseph, Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh.

Robert Gallo

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UT among Estonia’s largest providers of continuing

educationin 2011, the number of people partici-pating in the university’s continuing education courses increased by 20%. In total, more than 30,000 eager learn-ers spruced up their skills and knowl-edge by participating in nearly 1600 different courses.

E-courses are gaining popularity – 234 courses were either entirely or partially offered online and attracted 5057 part icipants, i.e. every sixth con-tinuing education learner in Estonia, which is 17% more than on the previ-ous year.

UT International Summer School attracts 50 Chinese

studentsFor the first time in its history, the UT International Summer School drew participants from the People’s Republic of China – 50 students from Nanjing Southeast University, Shang-hai University and the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology. In total, the Chinese participants spent three weeks in Tallinn and Tartu. They followed a course specially designed for Chinese students which was of-fered for the first time.

Conductor Triin Koch receives the annual Musical

Arts AwardThe annual Musical Arts Award of the Musical Arts Foundation of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and the Estonian Music Council was be-stowed upon Triin Koch, conductor of UT Academic Female Choir and UT Chamber Choir. The award was granted to Ms Koch for her outstand-ing achievement as a conductor and populariser of choir music.

uniVeRsity to soCiety

The Oldest partici-pant in UT’s Senior Study Programme in 2010/2011 was 86 years old

Triin Koch

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Old Observatory reopened as museum on its 200th anniversary

The Old Observatory of Tartu, one of the jewels in the his-tory of Estonian science, celebrated its 200th anniversary in April. To mark this occasion, the observatory building, in its heyday among the world’s leading centres of astronomy, opened its doors as a modern museum after a thorough reno-vation. The Observatory’s treasured Fraunhofer refractor was also overhauled. As a historically important reference point of Struve’s geodetic arc, the Old Observatory was included in the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2005. Sup-port for renovating the Old Observatory and reconstructing it as a museum was provided by the European Regional Development Fund.

UT museums showcase exciting exhibitions and

record a surge in the number of patrons

In total, the number of visitors in-creased 1,6 times, compared to the previous year. This significant surge in visitor figures can be attributed to the reopening of the Old Observatory and to various attrac-tive events, exhibitions and programmes organised by the museums to popularise science and promote the university.

The UT History Museum, which celebrated its 35th anni-versary in 2011, displayed one of the richest burials found in Estonia in an exhibition titled The Beauty of Kukruse and Her Contemporaries. The archaeological excavations conducted on the Tallinn-Narva motorway at Kukruse at the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010 unearthed a roughly eight-century-old cemetery which consisted of 50 burials. The archaeologists claim it to be one of the richest finds dating from the period of the Livonian Crusade (the beginning of 13th century).

The UT Art Museum presented the exhibition Pictures Cut In Wood – Albrecht Dürer and German Woodcutting Art in 16th Century. The exhibition featured masterful original woodcuts of the German painter, engraver and printmaker Albrecht Dürer, accompanied by other works of his con-temporary artists.

The UT Natural History Museum, under the aegis of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, gained full membership in the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF). The Estonian research infrastructure project Natural History Archives and Information Network was also launched and the development of related IT applications (PlutoF cloud, Estonian eBiodiversity database) continued.

In 2011, the three UT museums recorded 76,736 visits altogether

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UT Gifted and Talented Centre reaps a near-record

harvest of medals in international olympiads

In 2011, Estonian school students coached at the UT Gifted and Tal-ented Development Centre (GTDC) participated in 16 international subject contests, including nine international olympiads, two European olympiads, three Baltic olympiads and two Esto-nian-Finnish contests.

In total, 91 school students participat-ed as members of Estonian teams in international olympiads and contests.

Invitations to participate in selection contests were sent to school students who had achieved good results in na-tional subject contests and in other open contests organised by the GTDC throughout the academic year.

UT Academic Sports Club once again elected Estonia’s

bestThe UT Academic Sports Club has reigned in Esto-nia’s athletics are-na for the past 15 years. The club was also elected the best athlet-ics club in 2011,

besting other clubs by a very comfortable margin.

High jumper Anna Iljuštšenko was voted Female Athlete of the Year and her instructor Martin Kutman was nominated for the Coach of the Year. In summer, Anna won the bronze med-al at the World University Games in Shenzhen – her first medal in a major event. In the IAAF World Champion-ships in Athletics in Daegu, she made it to the final round and, in a stiff com-petition, won the 12th place. Compet-ing in the final stage of the BIGBANK Gold League in Viljandi, she set a new Estonian women’s high jump record of 1.96 meters.

Grit Šadeiko – Best Estonian junior athleteGrit Šadeiko, a heptathlete of the UT Academic Sports Club who in sum-mer won the heptathlon at the 2011 European Athletics U23, was voted the best junior athlete of 2011 by Estonian sports journalists, event associations and the public. Grit’s final score of 6134 points also meets the ‘B’ qualify-ing standard for the London Olympics. In 2011, she also won the fifth place in pentathlon at the European Athletics Indoor Championships and became an eight-time Estonian champion in vari-ous track-and-field events.

University of Tartu – university’s own basketball

clubOne of the best basketball clubs in Estonia, UT/Rock which has won the Estonian Basketball Champions’ ti-tle six times during the last ten years, changed its name at the beginning of the season and now bears the name of the University of Tartu. The name change was motivated by the desire to promote the image of the University of Tartu through basketball and sports in general and to link the university’s image more closely to sports and a healthy lifestyle. The name change is also expected to help the university’s marketing work in the Baltics and in other neighbouring countries.

The teams of UT GTDC won 37 medals – 5 of them gold, 10 silver and 22 bronze

In total, the athletes of the Academic Sports Club took 89 Estonian Champion-ship titles, breaking 12 Estonian records last year Grit

Šadeiko

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University of Tartu ranked among top 3 percent of the world’s leading universities

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings, one of the three most influential international university rankings providers, assigned the University of Tartu a posi-tion in the 351–400 bracket in its list of top universities for 2011–2012. Of all Baltic universities, UT is now the only one among the top 3% of the world’s leading universities.In 2011, for the first time, the Times Higher Education ranking listed universities which fell immediately outside the official top 200 but had made significant progress in the last few years and possessed potential to rise in the near future. Similarly to promising Czech, Polish, Turkish, Iranian and Indian universities, the University of Tartu is expected to continue to advance in the rankings and reach the best 200 soon.

UT involves more external partners in university’s governance

University of Tartu has adopted a new structure of govern-ance which involves external partners in its management. The university’s new governing bodies include the Council (whose powers have been modified) and the Senate. The council comprises 11 members, of whom five are nomi-nated by the university, one by the Estonian Academy of Sciences and five by the Minister for Education and Re-search. The council is the highest decision-making body of the university and holds responsibility for the university’s economic activities and long-term development, adopts the university’s statutes and approves its budget.

The senate is the university’s academic decision-making body, responsible for teaching, research and development work at the university, and should ensure top quality in those areas. The senate is composed of the Rector as its chair and 21 members, 16 of whom are elected by members of the university’s academic staff and 5 by students.

Five honorary doctors elected by UT Council

The degree of Honorary Doctor of the University of Tartu was granted to the Russian psychology professor Vladimir Zinchenko, American biologist Scott Gilbert, Finnish his-torian Seppo Zetterberg, Finnish medical scientist Krister Höckerstedt and Swedish legal scholar Erik Nerep.

oRGanisation

VladimirZinchenko

KristerHöckerstedtSeppo

ZetterbergScott

Gilbert

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UT boasts excellent international work

environment In the contest Multicultural Compa-ny and Work Environment organised by the Estonian business newspaper Äripäev, the University of Tartu won a respectable II-III place in the cat-egory of public sector organisations. This recognition was earned due to the fact that in addition to the Esto-nian, the university’s public website and intranet are both available to users also in English. In addition to that, the international students and staff mem-bers at the university are provided nu-merous opportunities to participate in different language and culture courses. UT staff includes 126 foreign nation-als from 34 different ethnic groups. Nearly 90% of them are members of the academic staff.

The aim of the contest Multicultural Company and Work Environment is to recognise companies and organi-sations which value and foster multi-cultural work environment and create equal opportunities for all employees regardless of their ethnicity.

Three UT professors elected members of Estonian Academy of Sciences

The Estonian Academy of Sciences conferred the title of academician upon three UT professors: – for medicine, upon Toomas Asser, Head of UT Nerve Clinic and Professor of Neuro-surgery; for biosystematics and ecol-ogy, upon Urmas Kõljalg, Director of UT Natural History Museum and Professor of Mycology; for linguistics, upon Karl Pajusalu, UT Professor of Estonian Dialectology and History of the Estonian Language. For the first time in the Academy’s history, a mem-ber specialising in music was elected. That person was Arvo Pärt, world-renowned composer and also Honorary Doctor of UT.

UT is considered to have the highest reputation among 72% of the Estonians

Vello Salo

Toomas Asser

UT continues to be Estonia’s most reputable university

A survey of the reputation of Es-tonian universities conducted by the polling company TNS Emor in 2011 confirmed that the University of Tartu continues to enjoy the status of the most prestig-ious university in Estonia, as it did in two previous years. For 52% of the re-spondents, the first preference was UT.

As a second preference, UT was men-tioned by a fifth of the respondents. UT received the most praise from managers, specialists and respond-ents who hold a university diploma. In total, 1018 people aged 15–74 years responded to the survey.

Cleric Vello Salo receives the award for significant contribution to Estonian

national identity At the ceremonial meeting dedicated to the 92nd anniversary of the Estoni-an-language university, the Estonian Catholic priest, scholar and translator Vello Salo was presented with the UT award for significant contribution to Estonian national identity for 2011.

Vello Salo is the eight recipient of the UT award for significant contri-bution to Estonian national identity. The recipient of the award must show outstanding achievements in promot-ing Estonian national and ethnic iden-tity. In the seven preceding years, the award has been granted, respectively, to the writer and ethnologist Ilmar Talve, to the composer Veljo Tormis, to the academician Endel Lippmaa, to the artist Kaljo Põllu, to the writer Ain Kaalep, to the ethnologist and cultural historian Ants Viires and to the writer Mats Traat.

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Growth in UT receipts fuelled by allocations from EU structural funds

Receipts in the UT budget amounted to 118.2 million euros in 2011. This represents an improvement of 4.1 million euros compared to 2010. Due to Estonia’s conservative fiscal policy, UT receipts of government funding for research (targeted fund-ing of research themes, baseline funding, targeted funding of infrastructure expenditure) remained on 2010 levels. The 0.8 million euros’ increase in receipts from government-funded provision of higher education was due to a slight upward ad-justment in the baseline cost of a student place and the uni-versity’s most successful year so far in terms of the number of PhD theses defended. It is good to know that Estonian people continue to show a high interest in studying at the University of Tartu – in spite of the difficult economic situation, the tui-tion receipts have remained stable through the last four years.

Assistance from the EU’s structural funds made up a sig-nificant part of the increase in the university’s receipts. All in all, the university’s budget of 2011 received 13.8 million euros from the EU structural funds, accounting for 11.7% of total receipts. Of the research receipts, the allocations from the EU structural funds amounted to almost twice that pro-portion at 21.6%.

In 2011, the university’s expenditure reached 127.2 million euros. The university’s cash flows in 2011 were negative, with a balance of minus 9.0 million euros. However, negative cash flow figures simply reflect the logic of allocations from the EU structural funds. The university must first make the authorised expenditures, which will be reimbursed once the report re-garding the expenditures has been submitted and scrutinised. Since the share of allocations from the EU structural funds in the university’s budget is considerable, its influence on the general cash flows was expected to be significant.

Two important academic buildings renovated 2011 saw full renovation of two important academic buildings – those of the Faculty of Philosophy at 2, Jakobi St, and of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Education at 36, Lossi St. The renovation of both buildings was financed from tuition and research receipts and borrowed funds. The construction of the new academic building of the Narva College is scheduled to start 2011 and end in 2012 and is financed to a significant extent from allocations received from EU structural funds. In the past five years, the University of Tartu has invested more than 70 million euros in construction and renovation projects.

finanCes

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RECEIPTS 2008 2009 2010 20111. Tuition receipts

1.1. Government-funded provision of higher education

32 471,2 33 129,2 31 369,1 32 175,8

1.2. Non-distance tuition fees 4 386,2 4 821,1 4 851,7 4 743,5

1.3. UT open university tuition fees 4 258,7 4 391,9 4 389,1 4 363,2

1.4. Continuing education fees 1 764,7 1 410,9 1 367,4 1 654,0

1.5. Fees for medical residents’ training 7 748,2 7 212,6 7 778,8 7 997,9

1.6. Assistance from EU structural funds 3 290,4 1 372,3 2 150,5 4 002,8

1.7. Other tuition receipts 2 366,5 2 080,7 2 756,6 2 161,6

Total tuition receipts 56 286,0 54 418,7 54 663,2 57 098,8

2. Research receipts

2.1. Targeted funding of research themes 12 056,2 11 573,9 11 247,2 11 405,6

2.2. Grants from Estonian Science Foundation

4 981,7 5 076,8 5 095,8 5 688,1

2.3. Research and development contracts 5 686,5 5 109,5 5 825,6 6 476,3

2.4. International contracts and grants 5 356,8 5 460,1 6 158,7 5 871,8

2.5. Targeted funding of infrastructure expenditure

3 528,3 3 304,9 3 242,5 3 282,4

2.6. Baseline funding 3 815,0 3 716,1 3 414,1 3 402,0

2.7. Other research receipts 6 424,6 4 346,5 7 692,1 7 738,0

Total research receipts 41 849,0 38 587,9 42 675,9 43 864,2

3. Other receipts

3.1. Student allowance funds 5 075,9 2 315,4 2 207,5 2 462,9

3.2. Investment loan 5 752,0 0,0 4 320,0 5 400,0

3.3. EU’s structural funds for infrastructure investments

61,4 18 620,6 1 778,0 359,8

3.4. Other receipts 7 728,8 9 961,5 8 487,5 8 991,6

Total other receipts 18 618,0 30 897,5 16 792,9 17 214,2TOTAL RECEIPTS 116 753,1 123 904,2 114 132,0 118 177,3

EXPENDITURE 2008 2009 2010 20111. Research areas

1.1. Humaniora 9 973,1 10 517,2 10 906,7 12 442,9

1.2. Medicina 20 389,0 21 355,6 23 193,7 22 734,3

1.3. Realia et naturalia 31 904,2 33 407,0 36 593,0 40 112,8

1.4. Socialia 14 212,6 13 574,3 13 621,6 15 447,4

Total for research areas 76 479,0 78 854,2 84 315,1 90 737,3

2. University institutions 5 479,9 5 900,2 5 880,8 6 245,6

3. Administrative and support structure 8 576,9 9 415,7 8 999,4 9 456,0

4. Members' fees 1 085,6 1 122,1 1 066,8 1 212,4

5. Investments in construction projects 23 495,5 16 360,8 5 504,4 11 666,6

6. Loan repayments 1 947,8 1 641,8 2 275,4 2 251,6

7. Student allowances 4 906,1 2 597,0 2 474,2 2 378,1

8. Other expenditures 2 653,2 2 581,1 2 473,2 3 205,8

TOTAL EXPENDITURES 124 624,0 118 473,0 112 989,4 127 153,4

Receipts and expenditure (thousand euros)

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ReCtoR’s offiCeas of 31 December 2011

Andres LiinatHead of Administration

prof Alar KarisRector

Rector

Martin HallikVice Rector for Academic Affairs

Kristjan HallerVice Rector for Research

Taimo SaanHead of Finance

Ivar-Igor SaarniitAcademic Secretary

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ut stRuCtuReas of 1 January 2012

FACULTIES

FACULTY OF THEOLOGY

FACULTY OF EXERCISE AND SPORT SCIENCES

FACULTY OF MEDICINE

FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

FACULTY OF LAW

FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY

FACULTY OF MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND EDUCATION

COLLEGES

EURO COLLEGE

PÄRNU COLLEGE

NARVA COLLEGE

VILJANDI CULTURE ACADEMY

SUPPORT UNITS

INSTITUTIONS

BOTANICAL GARDENS

THE GIFTED AND TALENTED DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

MUSEUMS

ESTONIAN GENOME CENTRE

LIBRARY

COUNCIL SENAT

RECTOR

RECTOR’S OFFICE

BOARD

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STRUCTURAL UNIT STAFF STUDENTS

Faculty of Theology 22 288

Faculty of Law 93 2044

Faculty of Medicine 538 1509

Faculty of Philosophy 383 3062

Faculty of Exercise and Sport Sciences 66 574

Faculty of Science and Technology 1 028 2 437

Faculty of Economics and Business Administration

82 1 300

Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science 150 944

Faculty of Social Sciences and Education 206 3062

Total Faculties 2 568 15 220

Euroopa college 18 103

Narva college 51 742

Pärnu college 59 947

Viljandi Culture Academy 167 1 035

Total Colleges 295 2 827

Estonian Genome Centre 37

UT Library 176

UT Museums 84

Gifted and Talented Development Centre 12

Botanical Gardens 14

Pedagogicum 7

Total institutions outside Faculty structures 330

Rector 16

Vice Rector for Research 24

Vice Rector for Academic Affairs 61

Director of Administration 259

Director of Finance 43

Total support structure 403

GRAND TOTAL 3 596 18 047

UT membership as of 31. December 2011

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www.ut.ee

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