The Ministry of Education and Science has defined the principles of good practice on attracting international students and delivering studies. The quality of higher education offered by Latvian higher education institutions is the main objective of such principles. The Agreement on Good Practice of Attracting International Students and Delivering Studies has been signed between the Ministry and higher education institutions, which respect and ensure high quality studies and standards for all students, meanwhile building up the reputation of higher education of Latvia.
With this Agreement, the higher education institutions have undertaken to comply with the criteria and principles of the Agreement fostering good practice in attracting international students and ensuring the delivery of a high-quality study process. Each higher education institution promises to observe good faith and ethical principles, providing only true information in marketing activities and advertising campaigns for international students.
Each higher education institution ensures that information about its profile and self-assessment is available on the U-Multirank platform created by the European Commission in order to compare the performances of higher education institutions.
The higher education institutions, which have signed and respect the principles of the Agreement, are invited to participate in education fairs and marketing events promoting education export and internationalisation funded by the state budget, as well as to represent the country at state or Ministry-level international visits.
In the 2017/2018 academic year, the percentage of international students in the higher education institutions of Latvia is 11% of the total number of students. Over the last four years, the number of international students has almost doubled – from 4 457 students in the 2014/2015 academic year to 8 806 students in the 2017/2018 academic year. In 2018, the majority of incoming students are from India, Uzbekistan and Germany.
The Agreement on Good Practice of Attracting International Students and Delivering Studies has been signed by:
Daugavpils University
EKA University of Applied Sciences
Riga Stradins University
Riga Technical University
University of Latvia
Art Academy of Latvia
BA School of Business and Finance
Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music
Latvian Academy of Culture
Latvian Maritime Academy
Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LLU)
Riga Graduate School of Law
RISEBA University of Applied Sciences
Stockholm School of Economics in Riga
“Turiba” University College
University of Liepaja
Ventspils University College
Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences