The University of Tartu is a classical university in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. The University of Tartu is the only classical university in the country and also the biggest and most prestigious university in Estonia. It was established by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden in 1632.
There are nearly 14,000 students at the university, of which over 1,300 are foreign students. The language of instruction in most curricula is Estonian, but there are some more notable exceptions like Semiotics, Applied Measurement Science, Computer Science, Information Technology Law and European Union - Russia Studies.
The QS World University Rankings ranked the University of Tartu 347th in the world in 2016, and the top-ranked university in the Baltics. The university is also ranked 4th in the Emerging Europe and Central Asia region. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings placed it in the 301–350 range among world universities. It is the only university in the Baltic countries to place among the top 200 universities in Europe. UT belongs to top 1% of world's most cited universities in 10 research areas.
The historical buildings of the university are included in the European Heritage Label list as "embodiment of the ideas of a university in the Age of Enlightenment".
The University of Tartu is a member of the Coimbra Group and the Utrecht Network.