The senate is the university's academic decision-making body chaired by Rector Toomas Asser. It is responsible for the university's teaching, research and development activities and ensures their high quality. The senate adopts the statutes of the university and submits these to the council for approval. The senate has the power to exercise a one-time veto in respect of a council resolution by which the university's budget is adopted.
The senate is composed of the rector as its chair and of up to 21 members. The university's academic staff elect four representatives from each faculty. At least 1/5 of the senate members are students, elected by the Student Union.
Toomas Asser
Rector of the University of Tartu
Professor of Neurosurgery
Renate Pajusalu
Professor of General Linguistics
Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics
Aivar Kriiska
Professor of Laboratory Archaeology
Institute of History and Archaeology
Raili Marling
Professor of English
College of Foreign Languages and Cultures
Ave Matsin
Lecturer in Estonian Native Textile
Viljandi Culture Academy
Urmas Varblane
Professor of International Business
School of Economics and Business Administration
Veronika Kalmus
Professor of Sociology
Institute of Social Studies
Maaja Vadi
Professor of Management
School of Economics and Business Administration
Marju Luts-Sootak
Professor of Legal History
School of Law
Külli Kingo
Professor in Dermatology and Venereology
Institute of Clinical Medicine
Mihkel Zilmer
Professor of Medical Biochemistry
Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine
Pärt Peterson
Professor of Molecular Immunology
Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine
Tanel Laisaar
Associate Professor in Thoracic Surgery
Institute of Clinical Medicine
Krista Fischer
Professor of Mathematical Statistics
Associate Professor of Biostatistics
Institute of Mathematics and Statistics
Institute of Genomics
Tõnu Meidla
Professor of Palaeontology and Stratigraphy
Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences
Peeter Burk
Professor of Chemical Physics
Institute of Chemistry
Marco Kirm
Professor in Experimental Physics
Institute of Physics
Joosep Heinsalu
Faculty of Social Sciences
Stella-Maria Kangur
Faculty of Medicine
Imar Yacine Koutchoukali
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Kertu Liis Krigul
Faculty of Science and Technology
Katariina Sofia Päts
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
President of the Student Union