Estonian University of Life Sciences

[EduCativ]

Estonian University of Life Sciences is the only University in Estonia whose priorities in academic and research activities provide the sustainable development of natural resources necessary for the existence of Man as well as the preservation of heritage and habitat. According to QS World University Rankings by Subject (2016), the Estonian University of Life Sciences is one of the top 100 universities globally in the field of agriculture and forestry, ranked 51 to 100.

The University also belongs to the top 1% most cited research facilities globally, with our plant physiology professor Ülo Niinemets being the most cited Estonian researcher altogether.

Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences is composed of 10 departments. It performs high-level modern teaching and research and development activities in many fields, such as animal nutrition and animal production, including aquaculture, animal genetics and breeding, reproductive biology, biotechnology, food hygiene, food technology, and many other subjects areas related to animal science and veterinary medicine.

Veterinary studies are integrated long-cycle studies that last for six years. Completion of the study program provides a qualification corresponding to the MSc.

There is also an Animal Clinic by the University that participates in the studies by educating new veterinarians.

Institute of Technology is composed of 5 departments. It is possible to focus on either energy application engineering, production engineering, or ergonomics. A famous specialty from the energy application curricula is the area of renewable energetics.

Institute of Technology focuses on responsibility areas and academic activities such as agricultural engineering and energetics. The main research fields include solutions of integrated renewable energetics, modeling of energy processes, technologies, and machinery of animal farms and ergonomics of biotechnical systems, etc.

The institute provides education on Bachelor's, Masters and Ph.D. degree levels.

Tartu Technical College is the only unit of the University providing professional higher education in several fields, i.e., biotechnological systems and Technotronic's.

The Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences is composed of 11 departments and three research centers.

This institute is the largest of the five institutes comprising the Estonian University of Life Sciences, attracting 5% of Estonian research financing. Besides the profound selection of Bachelor's level curricula, the international Master's program taught in English, Landscape Architecture, is coordinated here.

The academic activities of the 11 departments include plant cultivation, grassland cultivation, feed production, horticulture, plant protection, soil science, agrochemistry, etc. The institute provides education on Bachelor's, Masters and Ph.D. degree levels. Institute of Forestry and Rural Engineering consists of 8 departments.

The primary task of the Institute of Forestry and Rural Engineering is to prepare specialists with academic degrees for Estonian forestry, environmental institutions, construction, and water management sectors. The institute provides education on Bachelor's, Masters and Ph.D. degree levels.

The institute's responsibility areas are silviculture and forest ecology, forest management, forest and wood processing technology, water management, geomatics, and rural building.

Institute of Economics and Social Sciences is composed of 5 departments.

The institute is responsible for high-quality studies in accounting, financial management, economics, and entrepreneurship both at Bachelor's and Master's level.

Research is mainly done in the following fields: agricultural economics and policy, agricultural market and marketing, agricultural accounting and finance, rural sociology, co-operation, rural entrepreneurship, and environmental economics.

The opening of Tartu University: Academia Gustaviana was a momentous event in the Estonian nation's educational and cultural history. At the University's opening celebration in 1632, Johan Skytte, a Swedish politician and the founder of the University, wished that "... even the peasants of this country could get their share of the watering springs of educational wealth." This was the beginning of agricultural education in Estonia.

After the reopening of Tartu University in 1802, the Chair of Agriculture was founded under the supervision of Prof. J.W. Krause. Initially, agronomy was taught in the Faculty of Philosophy, later in the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics.

Other possibilities of receiving agricultural education were also created: the first agricultural higher education establishment in Russia - Vana-Kuuste Institute of Agriculture - was founded in 1834. Higher veterinary education was first provided at the Tartu Veterinary Institute in 1848.

In 1919 the Faculty of Agriculture, consisting of the Departments of Agronomy and Forestry, was founded at Tartu University. Experimental stations and trial plots, where students could undertake research work, also belonged to the faculty.

The Tartu Veterinary Institute founded the Faculty of Veterinary Science of Tartu University.

In 1951 an independent university - the Estonian Academy of Agriculture - was founded comprising the University faculties of Agriculture, Forestry, and Veterinary Science.

The Estonian Agricultural Academy was directly subordinate to the Soviet Union Ministry of Agriculture and prepared specialists in different fields of agriculture from agronomists and animal breeders to experts in large farms' electrification. Work continued in this way until the end of the 1980s. Changes in Estonian society necessitated alterations in the teaching of farmers. As a result, the structure of the University was reorganized, and the system of teaching rearranged.

From 1991 our educational institution was called the Estonian Agricultural University. New specialties like Environmental Protection, Landscape Architecture, Production and Marketing of Agricultural Products, Landscape Protection and Preservation, Applied Hydrobiology, Environmental Economics, and Natural Resources Management were adopted.

In 1996 the new main building on the outskirts of the town was completed, and the administration and the Institute of Economics and Social Sciences moved in. May 2000 saw the opening of the library, café, and canteen in the main building. In 2004 the new building of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences (Zoomedicum) was opened.

Till the end of 2004, the University had six faculties (Agronomy, Agricultural Engineering, Economics & Social Sciences, Forestry, Rural Engineering, and Veterinary Sciences) and eight institutes (Estonian Agribiocentre, Estonian Plant Biotechnology Research Institute EVIKA, Forest Research Institute, Institute of Animal Science, Institute of Environmental Protection, Institute of Experimental Biology, Institute of Zoology and Botany and Polli Institute of Horticulture).

Since 2005 the Estonian Agricultural University has a new structure. Teaching and research are carried out in five institutes: Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences, Institute of Forestry and Rural Engineering, Institute of Technology, and Institute of Economics and Social Sciences.

Since November 2005, the Estonian Agricultural University has been called The Estonian University of Life Sciences.

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