The school was once again renamed to State Art Institute of the Estonian SSR (SAIE/Estonian abbreviation for ERKI). The educational system acquired new features and subject divisions characteristic of a Soviet university, including three main cycles – social sciences, general and theoretical art subjects and practical art subjects. In 1949 the department of architecture was transferred from Tallinn Polytechnical Institute (now Tallinn University of Technology) to ERKI, forming a new field together with interior architecture.