UT council approved the new statutes of the university

The Council of the University of Tartu approved the new statutes of the university that take effect on 1 January 2016. At the electronic vote, eight council members out of eleven voted in favour of approving the statutes; no member voted against or abstained.

Chair of the Council of the University of Tartu Kersti Kaljulaid said that the support of the newly elected senate to the management and structural reform proves that it is indeed the wish of the majority of the members of the university. “I am glad the senate solved the problem the council referred to in its decision to veto the statutes. Sometimes it is good to take time off to double-check whether a chosen direction is indeed what the majority finds reasonable.”

Rector of the University of Tartu Professor Volli Kalm was content that one important stage in the modernisation of the management of the university – the development of the new statutes – has been concluded: the council has approved the new statutes. As the next step, the members of the university will continue discussions on the formation of academic structures within the domains and drafting of the charters of institutes and colleges.

Kalm added that in parallel to the drafting of the new statutes of the university, the reorganisation of the university structure has been going on over the recent years already. For example, at the beginning of 2014, the Institute of Social Studies was created at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Education, and in 2015, the College of Foreign Languages and Cultures will start its work at the Faculty of Philosophy. “This brings along large-scale reform of the curricula, which is the prerequisite for maintaining and increasing competitiveness in the international higher education market,” added Kalm.

Starting from 1 January 2016, the university will have four domains of teaching and research: humanities and arts; social sciences; medicine, and natural and exact sciences. Institutes and colleges will gather under the four larger domains as second-level units. The senate decided that the name of an institute may include the word “teaduskond” (faculty).

Additional information: Kersti Kaljulaid, Chair of the Council of the University of Tartu, phone: + 372 51 56 028, e-mail: [email protected].