Section 21(9) of the study organization rules states: "Participation in lectures is not a condition for admission to the exam or assessment, nor is it a basis for the formation of a grade." The obligation to attend seminars/practicums is defined by the lecturer in the course program.", so attending lectures is not mandatory.

Professional English is divided into two levels in undergraduate studies: 

• Professional English I - corresponds to the B2 level of the European Framework Document, language skills at least B1.2 level are required to declare the subject course.
• Professional English II - corresponds to C1.1 level, declaration requires at least B2.2 level language skills.

At the Master's level, academic English, which corresponds to the C1.2 level, is added to the selection, and the prerequisite for declaration is language skills at least at the C1.1 level.

All first-year students must take an English placement test the week before the fall semester. Passing the placement test is mandatory, and as a result, it becomes clear which of the aforementioned professional English language courses the student must take. 

If you received professional English I, professional English II or academic English as a result of the placement test, declare the corresponding subject in the semester indicated in the nominal distribution of the curriculum.

If you received the answer of the placement test that you should start your studies at another level, e.g. A2, B1.1, etc., you need to upgrade yourself before you can declare a compulsory language subject in the curriculum. Select ASIO home page "Subject calendars" ("Ainekalendrid") and type "English B1" into the search. The system gives several matches, click on the subject of the correct level with the code "LCE". A calendar view opens, where you can see all the subject groups corresponding to the given level. By clicking on a specific group in the calendar view, a window opens where you can see the times of all lectures of the group during the whole semester. If you have found a suitable group, declare the subject in ÕIS. 

NB! Make sure that you choose the same lecturer who was registered with the group that suits you in ASIO.

You can get more information about foreign language studies HERE and from your study advisor.

As a free subject, you can take subjects of the same study level, which are not limited to prerequisite subjects. 

The same degree means that a bachelor's student can only choose subjects with the first number of the subject code as 6, a master's student can choose subjects with the first number of 7, and doctoral level subjects are indicated by the number 8 as the first number of the subject code.

You can see whether the subject is restricted to a prerequisite subject on the subject card, which can be found in ÕIS. The easiest way to find a subject card is to type the name or code of the subject in the search window on the ÕIS home page. 

Unfortunately, the university currently does not have a convenient department-wide system where a list of all subjects taught in a particular semester can be clearly seen. At the moment, unfortunately, you have to use ASIO to collect the relevant information.

Learning in Interdisciplinary Focused Environment, or LIFE, is a new kind of subject, during which real-life problems are solved as a team, and the completion of which is mandatory for most TU students. 

Each ELU project is like a start-up company, where participants' inspiring ideas, a problem seeking an answer and the goal to solve it smartly meet. Finding solutions to real-life problems through science-based sources can lead to joint action with external partners.

There is a difference related to the LIFE subject: registration in the subject is only done LIFE website and in two stages. In the first stage, the student has the opportunity to submit a letter of motivation to join a project of his choice. In the second stage, it is possible to join projects on a first-come, first-served basis, and you can join projects where there were vacancies from the first stage. More detailed information can be found: elu.tlu.ee/en. There is no separate registration for ELU in ÕIS. The subject coordinators will add the said subject to your study plans after the deadline for submitting the study plans. 

For students, the LIFE subject curriculum is outlined in the nominal division, but LIFE can also be taken in another semester that suits them (preferably after the first year of the bachelor's). We recommend not to leave the choice of the subject course until the last semester of the studies, because the 6 ECTS volume of the LIFE course requires a large amount of material and time contribution from the student.

The most convenient way to access the course programs is by going to your study plan in ÕIS (My study info -> My study plan) and clicking on the house icon behind the subject name.

The need to be absent from a mandatory seminar must be informed in advance to the lecturer (preferably in writing) and investigated whether and how it would be possible to compensate for the absence. At this point, it is important to keep in mind that based on the study organization rules, the lecturer has the right to establish requirements in the course program that must be met in order to pass the exam or pass the assessment, and the lecturer is not obliged to offer individual solutions/substitutions to meet the requirements. If it is not possible to participate in the mandatory seminar, the lecturer has the right not to admit the student to the exam/assessment or to consider his/her exam/assessment not passed. 

Challenging decisions made during the course of study is regulated by Chapter 10 of Tallinn University's Study Organization Regulations (ÕKE).

• § 33 of ÕKE stipulates the procedure for contesting decisions related to educational activities;
• § 34 of ÕKE stipulates the procedure for contesting decisions related to the final thesis or final exam:
•  Sections 1-7 of § 34 govern the challenge of the evaluation result or procedure obtained during the defense of the final exam or thesis (except for decisions related to disregarding academic practices);
• Paragraphs 8-14 of § 34 regulate the challenge of decisions related to the violation of academic practices that have occurred in connection with the final exam or thesis.

In a situation where the learner believes that a decision or an action related to the educational activity taken against him violates his rights, the learner has the right to submit an appeal to the person who made the decision or to the chairman of the decision-making body. According to Section 33, paragraph 1 of ÕKE, the learner appeals to the decision-maker or the chairman of the decision-making body and contests the decision within 7 days of the announcement of the decision. The student uses the TU e-mail address in official communication with the university and forwards a written (digitally) signed objection to the decision maker. 

When contesting a decision, the following must be stated in the appeal:

1. the name of the decision-maker or the chairman of the decision-making body to whom the appeal is submitted;
2. the content of the contested decision (i.e. the content of which the decision is contested);
3. reasons (including legal grounds) why the challenged decision violates the challenger's rights;
4. an unambiguous request of the objector (i.e. on the basis of points 2-3, what the objector wants to achieve by filing an objection).

The decision-maker responds to the objection within 12 days from the submission of the objection by providing the learner with a written, reasoned decision on whether or not to satisfy the objection. If the complaint submitted to the decision-maker does not meet the above-mentioned requirements, the decision-maker will give the learner an additional deadline to eliminate the deficiencies.

For example in a situation where the student considers that the exam result of the subject course announced to him is not justified, the student must challenge the exam result to the decision maker, i.e. the teacher of the subject course, within 7 days of the result being announced to him. 

To this end, a clearly understandable and explicit argument must be drawn up, in which the learner presents, among other things, the reasons and legal grounds for why the decision (grade) made violates his rights (e.g. which requirements, in particular, set out in the course program of the subject and/or ÕKE, has the lecturer violated when evaluating the learner's exam performance) and clearly expressed in the appendices the request that the learner wants to achieve by submitting the appeal (e.g. enabling the completion of a new basic exam or re-evaluation of the performance of the basic exam based on the reasons and legal grounds provided).

Further litigation

According to Section 33, paragraph 4 of ÕKE, if the decision-maker rejects the appeal, the learner may submit a written appeal within 10 days from the announcement of the appeal decision. The appeal should be submitted to the Director of the institute concerned. If the initial appeal decision was made by the director of the institute, the appeal must be submitted to the head of the field of study, vice-rector for research in doctoral studies. If the initial appeal was submitted to a member of the rectorate, the appeal must be submitted to the rector. The appeal will be responded to within 30 days from the filing of the appeal. The decision made on the appeal cannot be challenged further at the university.

For example, in a situation where the lecturer rejects the objection submitted by the learner regarding the exam result, the learner has the right to submit a reasoned appeal to the director of the academic unit (i.e. the institute), who makes a written reasoned decision on the duly submitted appeal. 

Pay attention!

• The person making the appeal decision has the right to extend the deadline for making the appeal decision by up to 7 days, and the person making the decision on the appeal has the right to extend the deadline for making the decision by up to 30 days, by notifying the person making the objection/appeal in writing.
  
  
• In the event that the learner submits a dispute/appeal regarding the decision made against him/her after the deadline for contesting stipulated in the ÕKE, the decision-maker will return the dispute/appeal due to missing the deadline for submitting the dispute/appeal. If the deadline for contesting does not fall on a working day, the deadline ends on the first working day following the deadline for contesting.
  
  
• As a result of the dispute procedure, a new review of the disputed matter does not always and in any case mean a more positive result from the student's point of view compared to the previous one. For example, in a situation where, as a result of the dispute procedure initiated due to contesting the exam result, it is decided that it is justified to evaluate the student's exam performance a second time, as a result of the second evaluation, the exam result may either increase, remain the same, or decrease.
  
  
• Certain differences arise from the general appeal procedure when challenging decisions related to doctoral studies, so a doctoral student must familiarize himself with and know the requirements set forth in Tallinn University's rules for defending doctoral studies and doctoral theses. 

Find out about the procedure for contesting decisions in the study organization regulations of Tallinn University.

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Phone: +372 640 9129

Email: isic@esindus.ee