Studies in the Institute of Psychology

All the psychology programmes of our university meet European regulations and have international accreditation as well as being continuously evaluated by Estonian Higher Education Quality Agency.

The majority of psychology graduates enter very different careers, such as personnel selection, sales and advertising, management, consulting; also as counselors in schools or kindergartens; about half the students who finish Bachelor's studies will enroll in Master's level studies.

To work as a clinical psychologist in Estonia, at least a Master's level degree in psychology and a qualification exam is required; the practicing psychologists in the fields of clinical and school psychology can apply for a certificate of professional qualification. The Union of Estonian Psychologists in collaboration with the Estonian Qualifications Authority assesses the applicants' qualifications and issues the certificates.

Doctoral students usually combine their studies with part-time work as researchers or lecturers in the universities and many of them continue to do so after they have defended their PhD; some of them proceed to work in research institutions or on independent projects that are funded by the government.

Bachelor's and Master's studies

Unfortunately we do not offer a Bachelor’s of Master's program in Psychology in English at the moment.

If you are very interested in studying psychology in Tartu, it is only possible to apply for a position in the general competition with the local students. Upon possible admission, you should take an extra year for language studies and then pass the program in Estonian.

If you are interested in the contents of our curricula, you can search for them in our Study Information System.

Doctoral studies

Fortunately, our PhD program is passable in English. The program is free of charge. You can see the contents of our PhD curriculum in our Study Information System.

To apply for a PhD position, we require any Master's degree from an internationally accredited university. A previous education in psychology is not required, but can be beneficial in the competition. See more information in the Admission Web. If you don’t find an answer to a specific question, please ask the university's Admissions Office (admissions@ut.ee).

We do not offer certain projects, topics or supervisors for the candidates, so you should present your own idea for a PhD thesis with your application. But the ideas should still fit with our institute's research areas and possibilities. See the list of our employees and look up their work on scientific databases and see if someone's interests are similar to yours. Do not write to everybody at once, only contact specific persons if you have a realistic idea for collaboration. Tell them how you see yourself being useful and provide some background information about your research experience and education. In that way, they are more likely to give you an open-minded answer.