Tallinn University was established on 18 March 2005 as the result of a merger of several universities (among which the Tallinn Pedagogical University was the biggest) and research institutes in Tallinn as well as the Estonian Academic Library. Having merged with such well-established institutes as the International Institute of Social Sciences and the Estonian Institute of Humanities, its main strengths lie in the fields of humanities and social sciences, but it also has a strong and constantly growing component of natural and exact sciences, as well as a long tradition of teacher training and educational research.

The university consists of 19 academic institutes and 5 colleges. It has around 10,000 students as well as close to 500 faculty members and research fellows — on the whole being the fastest-growing university in the country. In 2010, over 10,000 applications were submitted by student candidates; there were over 30 applicants per state-funded place in the most popular programs.

One of the main aims of the university is large-scale internationalization. With its academic degree programs and a number of shorter programs and courses offered in the English language, it is about to become the most international university in the Baltic area. Many academic positions are announced for international application and the university is prepared to host international visiting scholars on their sabbatical leaves or by other agreements.

Tallinn University currently maintains over 30 inter-university agreements with universities in Europe, U.S., Japan, China, Russia, and several other countries as well over 400 Erasmus exchange agreements with universities from all over the European Union. The university also organizes summer and winter schools (Tallinn Summer School, Tallinn Winter School) and other short-term courses for foreigners.