In a statement Anders Rydin, Chairman of the SSE Riga Foundation said that despite widespread media reports revealing that long-serving rector Anders Paalzow would have to step down because his Latvian language skills were deemed insufficient, it had still had no official communication on the matter.
Rydin's statement is reproduced below:
"Tuesday evening (January 24, 2017) Latvian media reported that the Latvian Ministry of Education and Science has decided not to present SSE Riga’s current Rector, Anders Paalzow, for prolongation of the Rectorship of SSE Riga referring to Dr.Paalzow’s insufficient skills of Latvian language.
The School has not as of today received any response in this issue despite the fact that the required documents were submitted to the Ministry beginning of September 2016.
The reappointment of the Rector was supported and approved by the Stockholm School of Economics as the founder and the Licensee of SSE Riga brand name, as well as the sole shareholder of SSE Riga – SSE Riga Foundation, including the Rector of the University of Latvia, Indrikis Muiznieks, and the President of the Stockholm School of Economics, Lars Strannegård representing the Supervisory Board of SSE Riga Foundation.
There has not been official communication from the Ministry of Education and Science @IZM_gov_lv
— SSE Riga (@SSE_Riga) January 25, 2017
However, in the contacts with the Ministry, through the Board of the SSE Riga Foundation, information was provided that for reasons not related to SSE Riga the issue of language might be a problem. As a consequence, the School has planned for this contingency. This, together with the School’s governance structure, will ensure that there will be no material impact neither in terms of personnel nor on the School as such. Anders Paalzow is going to continue his duties as rector and president.
According to the law the existing Rector shall continue to perform his duties until the government approves a new rector or approves re-election of the existing Rector. I.e. the resolution of the ministry does not terminate the rectorship.
LSM reported on the affair which also involved a decision not to appoint a new rector of the Riga Graduate School of Law, on January 24.