OREANDA-NEWS. August 28, 2013. Admission to the degree studies at the University of Tartu is drawing to a close. Admission to the open university, which ended on Friday, added another 2049 applicants, which means that the biggest number of applications were submitted to the University of Tartu - 11,441 in total. The student body commencing their studies at the UT this year is of a higher academic level, given that the average competition scores of those admitted were higher compared to the previous year.

8948 people wished to continue their studies on the first level of higher education at the University of Tartu: 7528 applied for daytime studies and 1420 for the open university. A total of 2203 applications were submitted for Master's studies: there were 1574 applicants for daytime studies, whereas 629 favoured the more flexible open university. 290 people applied for a Doctoral programme. Between all three levels of study, there were 415 applications from foreign students. 

Aside from the number of applications, the University of Tartu considers the quality of the applicants the most important. To ensure a high level and the best student candidates, the UT has established the strictest admission criteria. For example, there is a minimum threshold that needs to be passed in order to even be able to apply.

"Our admission criteria are stricter than those of other universities, and the admission results show that these higher requirements have fulfilled their purpose, helping to achieve the main goal of the admission - to bring the best of the best to the UT. For instance, 60 per cent of all high school leavers who received a maximum score for at least one state exam this year applied to the UT, in particular, and nearly 40 per cent of the 2013 medallists will commence their studies at the UT this autumn," said Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Martin Allik, adding that the average state exam results of those applying to the UT were 10 points higher than the national average. "Furthermore, the University of Tartu is delighted that a greater number of capable candidates had access to free studies this year, thanks to the higher education reform," said Hallik.

According to Senior Specialist for Student Admissions Kaja Karo, the most selective fields of daytime study turned out to be performing arts, medicine and dentistry, which required competition scores of 91.2, 86.9 and 86 for admission, respectively. "Comparing the competition points, it emerges that the average admission score was 81.5 points, which is significantly higher than that of previous years - last year, the average was 79 points," Karo noted, pointing out that the level of the admitted students has improved in the law department, among others: the average score of new students was 9 points higher compared to the previous year.

This year's most popular programmes of the University of Tartu proved to be medicine (470 applications), law taught in Tartu (434 applications) and Tallinn (344 applications), economics (427 applications), informatics (402 applications), and English studies (353 applications). In the open university, the biggest number of applications were submitted for the Tallinn study group of law: 278 in Bachelor's studies and 94 in Master's studies.