European Commission highlights University of Tartu's project to help Ukraine

TALLINN – The European Commission has highlighted the University of Tartu's project among outstanding initiatives launched to help Ukraine.

In the publication released in February, “Building hope for Ukraine: 15 inspiring projects from Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps”, the European Commission highlighted the most outstanding projects in support of Ukraine through the Erasmus+ program and the European Solidarity Corps. One of these was the University of Tartu’s initiative that enabled Ukrainian medical students to continue their studies in Tartu after a year of intensive Estonian language learning, the university said in a press release.

In the 2022/2023 academic year, the University of Tartu accepted medical students from Sumy, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Lviv and Vinnytsia. The students completed an intensive Estonian language course, supported by Erasmus+, and continued their studies in medicine at the University of Tartu in Estonian in 2023/2024.

"The medical students have been very interested in coming to study in Tartu from the beginning of the war. However, coming to the University of Tartu for a semester or two was not an option, as it would have been difficult for many to return to their home university and finish their studies there at the end of the mobility," Piret Maiste, student exchange coordinator at the University of Tartu, said.

"We gathered the medical students, and those who passed entrance tests successfully were admitted as international exchange students on special terms at the University of Tartu. To continue their specialized studies, they were required to master the Estonian language at B2 level within a year, which most of them did," Maiste added.  

In 2023, sixteen new Erasmus+ partnership agreements were signed with Ukrainian universities, mainly aiming to foster student and staff mobility. The program’s flexibility has enabled the University of Tartu to admit 128 international visiting students of Ukrainian origin since the spring of 2022.