Latvia: from Part II - Country University Governance Profiles

Latvia, a country of almost two million people, is a high-income country. A substantial risk for economic development of the country is population decline. Prior to 2021, higher education sector in Latvia consisted of six universities, 21 non-university type of institutions offering Bachelor’s degrees, two branch institutions of foreign HEIs, and 25 colleges which offered first level or short cycle higher education higher. In 2021, amendments to the Law on Higher Education Establishments came into effects distinguishing between research universities, universities of arts and culture, universities of applied sciences and non-university type of institutions of applied sciences. In 2020, approximately 60 percent of enrolled students paid tuition fees. There is dual track tuition policy. The 2021 amendments introduced boards as the primary authoritative body at HEIs. For example, The Board of a research university consists of 11 members. Five of them are internal staff nominated by the Senate. The President of the country nominates one representative who is not linked to the university. The remaining five members of the board are external (not university employees).