03.12.2025
continuing education
Tiia Ristolainen
PhD (Estonian and Comparative Folklore)
Office of Academic Affairs
Lifelong Learning Centre
Head of the Lifelong Learning Centre
+372 737 6203
+372 501 5584 (6203)
Ülikooli 18-238

Application is open for micro-degree programmes starting in the spring semester

Täiendusõppijad peahoones
Author: Marja-Liisa Plats

Adult learners are welcome to participate in micro-degree programmes starting in the spring semester to acquire an additional specialisation or competence in a narrow field. Applications can besubmitted until 25 January.

In the spring semester of the 2025/2026 academic year, the University of Tartu offers seven English-taught micro-degree programmes, for example: “Public Sector Entrepreneurship and Innovation Master Class”, “Teamwork and Leadership”, “Global Governance in a Changing World”, “Planning the 15-minute city for all”, and “Cloud-native application design and DevOps”.

The latter will also continue in the autumn semester of the next academic year. In total, the university offers 30 micro-degree and micro-credential programmes in the fields of entrepreneurship, economics, marketing, environment, information technology, education, counselling, health, law and social sciences.

According to Aune Valk, Vice Rector for Academic Affairs at the University of Tartu, micro-degree programmes are here to stay – the changing labour market and new ways of working require people to continuously develop their knowledge and skills, which is now more flexible and faster thanks tomicro-degree and micro-credential programmes. “Experience shows so far that adult learners have welcomedthis learning opportunity, which has a lighter workload and is suitable for working people. According to the latest feedback survey, 98% of the respondents agree or rather agree that studying in a micro-degreeprogramme is a valuable experience, and nearly half of them (46%) wish to continue their studies in a degree programme. We are developing new programmes, and continued collaboration with the representatives of employers and target groups is essential to ensure that micro-degree studies meet the needs of the labour market and society,” Valk added.

While a micro-degree programme consists of degree study courses and the studies generally take place together with students, a micro-credential programme is designed as a continuing education programme and organised in a separate group. The volume of the programmes is 5–30 ECTS credits and their duration is usually one semester. Learners with at least upper secondary education are invited toapply, but many programmes have additional admission requirements.

More detailed information about the content, application deadlines and requirements is available in the description of each programme on the university’s webpage.