Latvia: Making educational excellence a reality

A key priority of the Government of Latvia is to reorganise and improve the country’s education system and infrastructure, with a focus on supporting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects. The Government aims to promote a better balance in the supply of places in higher education, while matching the curricula with the country’s economic development and labour market needs.

In 2017 and 2018, the CEB approved two loans, to the University of Latvia and to Riga Technical University, which focus on STEM subjects. These funds are helping to create state-of-the-art learning and research spaces which, as well as providing Latvians with a high-quality education, will enable the country to attract more international students.

A world class ambition

The University of Latvia (UL) was founded in 1919 as the national university. Today it is the largest of 55 higher education institutions in Latvia, its mission to promote higher education, research excellence and national development.

UL’s Development Strategy 2020 is to be one of the leading science universities in the Baltic region and to be regarded as one of the leading research and innovation centres in Europe and the world.

The €12 million loan, approved by the CEB in November 2017 is the first between the CEB and UL, and has been used to part-finance the second development phase of the University’s Academic Centre. This includes the construction of a new House of Science and a new House of Letters, and the acquisition of related equipment.

The House of Science opened in January 2019, and soon after won an architecture prize in the 2019 ‘Best Building of the Year in Latvia’ competition. The 20,019 m2 seven-storey building hosts various STEM-related institutes, Faculties of Medicine, Physics and Mathematics, as well as laboratories, auditoria, staff rooms and libraries.

The House of Letters, which is due to open in 2023, will be an eight-storey 26,000 m2 building which will house a number of Faculties and institutes of social and humanitarian sciences including, Business, Management and Economics, Social Sciences, Pedagogy, Psychology and Art, as well as a student business innovation centre.

These state-of-the-art, energy-efficient facilities are set to revitalise the experience of studying and working at UL. Over 15,000 students and 1,000 academic staff will benefit from the enhancements, which will also enable UL to host an additional 1,000 students by the completion of the project, and a further 1,000 by 2026.

The rector of the University of Latvia, professor Indriķis Muižnieks, welcomes the cooperation with CEB and stresses that CEB support is not just financial assistance in the implementation of development programmes: “The fact that the CEB has granted a loan after a thorough assessment of the development plans of the University of Latvia shows that we have done a great job in developing our vision of the future, confirms that the path we have chosen has been appreciated by experts recognised throughout Europe. 

Now I can safely say that the new Academic Centre of the University of Latvia is the most modern and innovative in the Baltic region. 

We are creating the University of Latvia as an ideal place for studies and science, which contributes not only to the development of the university itself, but to the development of the whole country and society.”

Latvia’s oldest university looks to the future

Riga Technical University (RTU) is Latvia’s oldest university and one of the two largest higher education institutions in the country. It has nine faculties and 15,000 students (one-fifth of the total number of higher education students in Latvia).

RTU’s vision is to become the leading university of science and innovation in the Baltic States. In recent years it has been spearheading a major modernisation programme of its buildings and equipment with support from the EU.

A €15 million CEB loan, approved in November 2018, is now supporting the second stage of this programme. One of the renovations is already completed, Faculty of Civil Engineering, and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Transport and Aeronautics is operational. The ongoing investments include:

• the construction of the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology
• the construction of the Public Auditoriums
• the creation of a Science and Innovation Centre.

The work will benefit around 7,300 students - almost half of the RTU’s student population.

Commenting on the RTU loan, Governor Rolf Wenzel said: “Education is a tool that gives young people the opportunity to develop themselves, thrive, and help to build inclusive, prosperous societies. This is why financing projects in all levels of education is of major importance to the CEB.

“We are proud to be financing the ongoing modernisation of RTU infrastructure, which will benefit the university’s staff and students and strengthen the quality and competitiveness of Latvia’s higher education as a whole.”

Commenting on RTU development, RTU Vice-rector for Finance prof. Ingars Eriņš said: “In order to ensure the development of the country in the coming decades, RTU purposefully works on the modernization and improvement of the university environment, not only to ensure a modern study and research environment, but also to ensure the development of research platforms, new and innovative products and technological solutions.”