The 2-year master’s programme in Semiotics provides interdisciplinary background and gives a theoretical base for application of semiotic ideas to a wide variety of disciplines and scientific study. The programme binds together the theory of semiotics and three core modules - cultural semiotics, biosemiotics and sociosemiotics. The programme also combines the major semiotic traditions of Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles S. Peirce with the leading contemporary and innovative thought.
Semiotics is the general study of sign processes, or semiosis. Semiosis makes the world meaningful. Today’s world, where processes have a disbalance of global and local dimension, challenges us to understand the need of individuals and societies for defining their identity. Semiotics is centrally relevant to achieve this understanding.
The Department of Semiotics at the University of Tartu is one of the most important centres of semiotics in Europe, with deep roots for cultural semiotics and biosemiotics. Names and work of Jakob von Uexküll and Juri Lotman, founder of world-renowned Tartu-Moscow Semiotics School, form the cornerstone of the Department of Semiotics at the University of Tartu. The Department of Semiotics also holds the memorial library of Thomas A. Sebeok, which was received as a donation.
NEW! Online info session 28.01.2020 at 1 pm (GMT+2). Get to know the programme and ask questions directly from the programme manager. Register here.
The tuition fee for fee paying students on this programme is 4,000 euros per year. Altogether 16 study places are available on the programme. On the basis of the admission results, 6 best applicants will be given tuition waivers: there is 1 tuition waiver available for EU/EEA/Swiss applicants and 5 tuition waivers available for applicants with other citizenships. Applicants do not have to apply for the tuition waiver separately, as they will be considered automatically for the competition.
NB! Applicants who are not citizens of the member states of the EU, EEA or Switzerland and do not hold a long-term residence permit in any of these countries are required to pay half of the semester fee after they have been informed of the admission decision (offer) via DreamApply. The official admission letter (necessary for visa application) will only be issued once the University of Tartu has received this payment. The second half of the semester fee is to be paid after the studies have started, by 20 September.
Information about the rules and conditions for tuition waivers as well as tuition fee payments is given here.
Information about other scholarships is available here.
"I had spent last year studying abroad in Estonia, and took some Semiotics courses. I felt the programme really helped expand on my previous knowledge and allow me to take an entirely new outlook on studying language and culture. I focus on studying minority languages and culture, and Semiotics allows me to look at culture and politics at an internal level."
Jason, International Student Ambassador from the USA
Contact Jason or any other International Student Ambassador to enquire about the life in Tartu or read their blog.
More student stories:
Semiotics, University of Tartu
This website uses cookies to improve your user experience. The university website does not process or collect personal data. This website uses Facebook Pixel and Google Analytics. Read more in the Data Protection Policy.