A year and a half ago the Higher education center, established jointly by seven Latvian universities, opened doors in Chennai and has started attracting more and more Indians to Latvian universities.
For example, the Riga International School of Economics and Business Administration expects to admit about 10 to 15 students from India, said a representative of the university, Poļina Naidenko.
The total number or foreign students will be known only when the academic year kicks off. However, deputy rector of the Rīga Technical University, Igors Tipāns, said that the number of new students from India will be more than 200 at the very least. The Rīga Technical University has created a similar center in Sri Lanka and plans to accept at least 20 students from there. According to Tipāns, it is a very good result.
"I think that this year - practically the first year after the center was established - there'll be at least 20 students from Sri Lanka, so it has paid for itself already," said Tipāns.
He also added that opening centers in other countries is not that expensive, and that he would be glad to cooperate with other Latvian universities. They should be patient, though, as the results aren't blazing fast.
"You have to wait for a year or two for obvious results, but I think that any university with a study program in English could find good students in countries like India and Sri Lanka," said Tipāns.
