Information to the university family during the war in Ukraine

Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the University of Tartu has been actively engaged in supporting its Ukrainian staff and students and preparing for the reception of refugees from Ukraine. Among other measures, the university plans to allow Ukrainian students to study at the university without paying the tuition fee and apply for financial support. An overview of what is being planned and what has already been decided:

• The university is looking for ways to offer tuition fee discounts to our current Ukrainian students.
• The university will ask the Ministry of Education and Research to review the requirements for need-based allowance for Ukrainian students. The senate will create the possibility for Ukrainian students to apply for a need-based special allowance in 2022.
• The university has established a scholarship fund to collect and channel donations to support Ukrainian students' studies at the University of Tartu. We invite the entire university family to donate to the University of Tartu scholarship fund for Ukrainian students and share the word about the fund. Ukrainian students can apply for the scholarship until 15 March.
• To support Ukrainian citizens' access to higher education, the university extends the period of admission to non-Estonian-taught curricula for Ukrainian citizens. The application deadline for Ukrainian citizens for the first and second level of study will be extended to 1 June. This means the applicants for non-Estonian-taught curricula will have to be assessed in several stages. Therefore, institutes should be ready to assess Ukrainian citizens' applications in the middle of June. In addition, Ukrainian citizens will be exempt from paying the fee for processing admission documents.
• In cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Research, the university will create additional tuition-waiver student places for Ukrainian citizens. For the 2022/2023 academic year, the university is ready to create up to 250 additional tuition-waiver student places for Ukrainian students. In addition, the university will offer jobs to academic staff from Ukraine. The related conditions will be specified shortly.
• Estonian universities decided to halt cooperation with Russian and Belarusian universities. The decision concerns institutional cooperation between universities. The International Cooperation and Protocol Office will compile information on ongoing cooperation projects and organise the informing of partner universities.

For Ukrainian members of the university family, the first point of contact in emergency is the Head of International Cooperation Kristi Kerge (+372 529 7677). Please send written enquiries to ukraina@ut.ee.

People arriving from Ukraine are kindly asked to first contact the Tartu Welcome Centre for assistance with administrative formalities.

The website of the city of Tartu also provides information on donation opportunities as well as practical guidance for people arriving from Ukraine.

Psychological support

• The university offers its members full support during the challenging time. In cooperation with the Institute of Psychology and master's students in Psychology, the university will provide both individual and group counselling to international students online.
• Ukrainian members of the university have the opportunity to participate in a support group involving mental health professionals. The first meeting took place on 28 February.
• Students of the University of Tartu can seek psychological support from the university's Counselling Centre. Ukrainian citizens studying at the university can contact the Counselling Centre's psychologist Maarja Sagen directly at maarja.sagen@ut.ee.

How to help?

Victims of war can be supported through a number of initiatives.

• University is gathering information about people who are willing to provide counselling and contribute to the organisation of counselling. Sign up using the registration form by 3 March 2022 16:00.

Collecting humanitarian aid.

• On 26 February, the University of Tartu Student Union opened a collection point for humanitarian aid at its Tartu office (Ülikooli 18b, Tartu).
• On February 28, the University of Tartu Pärnu College, in cooperation with the City of Pärnu and the Estonian Red Cross, opened a collection point for humanitarian aid at Pärnu College (Ringi 35, Pärnu).
• Through Estonian Refugee Aid you can support the provision of humanitarian aid in Ukraine.

Making donations.

• The University of Tartu scholarship fund collects donations to support the studies of Ukrainian students.
• At ukrainaheaks.ee you can make a donation to help Ukrainians.
• On the page Come Back Alive you can support the Ukrainian army.
• On the page Voices of Children you can support affected children.

More information

• A list of reliable information channels compiled by researchers of the University of Tartu Institute of Social Sciences
• Antiwar declaration (in Russian) from the participants of the international congress "Juri Lotman's semiosphere"
• An appeal by The Guild network to European governments and the European Union
• A statement by the University of Tartu Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies
• Rector Toomas Asser's address to the Ukrainian members of the university and the entire university family

For updates on the security situation, see the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For information about how to help the Ukrainian people, call the state information line 1247.