University of Tartu joined the Europaeum association of leading European universities

From 2021, the University of Tartu is a member of the Europaeum association of leading universities in Europe. The association of eighteen universities aims to promote extensive academic collaboration and bring exceptionally talented young people together within an educational context.

Dr Hartmut Mayer, Executive Chair of the Europaeum, said he is very pleased to have the University of Tartu as the newest member, as Tartu is hugely respected as an excellent research and teaching university and its faculty and students represent a significant strengthening of the Europaeum.

„Our friends and students from the University of Tartu will bring the perspective from the Baltic states which are so important for the whole of Europe into our common EUROPAEUM debates. We are looking forward to working with the outstanding colleagues in Tartu and to bringing young people together to learn to work collaboratively and to become the problem-solvers for Europe in the 21st century,” Mayer added.

Rector of the University of Tartu, Professor Toomas Asser confirmed that it is indeed an honour and privilege for the University of Tartu to join such a distinguished group of universities that includes some of the finest institutions of higher education on the continent. According to Asser, by becoming a member of Europaeum, the UT considerably expands the geography and scope of its international cooperation.

“We are thrilled about the prospect of working together with Europaeum partners. In view of Brexit, we are especially happy about the opportunity to strengthen our links with the universities of St Andrews and Oxford, the UK members of the network. With its special emphasis on facilitating student exchange on the doctoral level, we see Europaeum as a most welcome addition and complement to the current network activities of our university. We are particularly excited about the Scholars Programme, which for us is a completely novel and very promising form of training. It is also my hope that through our membership in Europaeum we will be able to take a more active part in the European-wide debates on our common challenges,” Asser explained.

Europaeum was created in 1992 on the initiative of Lord Weidenfeld, Sir Ronald Grierson and Lord Jenkins. It promotes extensive academic collaboration across its member universities and brings together, within an educational context, exceptionally talented young people who will help shape the future of Europe.

The earliest members were the universities of Oxford, Leiden, and Bologna. Today, its eighteen members include also University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Geneva), Charles University in Prague, the Complutense University of Madrid, Helsinki University, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona), Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, St Andrews in Scotland, Luxembourg, Catholic University of Portugal, KU Leuven, the Free University of Berlin, the University of Copenhagen and now the University of Tartu.

Further information: Kristi Kerge, UT Head of International Cooperation, 529 7677, kristi.kerge@ut.ee