Latvia fares reasonably well in the latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) education rankings produced by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and released December 3, though there is definite room for improvement, and bullying appears to be a serious area of concern.
The University of Latvia (LU), the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LLU) and Riga Technical University (RTU) have qualified for the "Times Higher Education" 2020 world university rankings by subject in life and physical sciences, according to the ranking data.
Supporters say that making it mandatory to write doctoral theses in English or some other foreign language would increase the international competitiveness of Latvian scientists, but more than 450 industry representatives have signed a letter categorically opposing such changes, according to Latvian Television (LTV).
Over 295 million euros have been invested in competitive education programs over the last 13 years to strengthen vocational education institutions in Latvia, reports Latvian Radio.
On Thursday, October 10, MPs rejected a request by the opposition Greens and Farmers' Union (ZZS) for the resignation from the Minister of Education and Science, Ilga Šuplinka (New Conservative Party).
The chaotic situation at the top of Latvia's pre-eminent educational institution grew further September 30 when the Administrative District Court suspended the Cabinet of Ministers' decision not to approve Indriķis Muižnieks as the University of Latvia rector, reported LETA.
The coalition cooperation council meeting on September 23 discussed the National Alliance's proposal on the amendments to the Education Law and agreed that there should be a full transition to the Latvian language in all education levels, said the secretary general of the National Alliance Raivis Zeltits, reported the LETA newswire.
The University of Latvia has been ranked from 801 to 1,000 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020 research.
The number of freshmen at Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) and the University of Latvia has increased this year, while it remains unchanged at other major universities.
Bags are being packed, shoes shined and flowers presented to teachers across Latvia September with the start of another school year on what is referred to as "Knowledge Day".
A row over who's going to be the next University of Latvia rector has advanced at the start of the new academic year as Indriķis Muižnieks has gone to court over the Cabinet of Ministers decision not to reappoint him at the post.
On Tuesday, August 27, the Cabinet of Ministers decided not approve Indriķis Muižnieks to continue in his position as Rector of the University of Latvia.
For the third consecutive year, the Latvia-based language technology company Tilde has won the “Olympics” of the machine translation technology – the WMT 2019 competition. This year Tilde's team participated with its machine translation technology for the English-Lithuanian language pair, outperforming online translation platforms such as Google, Microsoft, and others.
For the first time, Riga has been included in the annual list of the world’s best student cities compiled by the British Quacquarelli Symonds company, reported LETA on August 2.
Baiba Broka (National Alliance), suspected of involvement in corrupt practices, has decided to leave her post at the University of Latvia, according to information from LETA, July 30.
A government institution has found violations in the election of the new University of Latvia rector, but the government vote of instating Indriķis Muižnieks in his post will go ahead anyway, said Education Minister Ilga Šuplinska (New Conservative Party) July 17.
This year, 10 911 people have applied to do undergraduate degrees at one of 13 higher education institutions in Latvia. This is the highest number of applicants in the last five years, according to information provided by LETA on July 10.
Citizens who speak Latvian and Russian at home have expressed notably opposed views on the hypothetical possibility of forgoing minority schools and creating a system where all children attend common Latvian schools.
The Latvian Junior Doctors Association and the Latvian Medical Association disagree with the State Audit Office's view that the young doctor residencies are excessively long in Latvia.
The IT company “Accenture” is launching a women's IT training course, reported LSM's Latvian service on July 8.
Riga Stradiņš University (RSU), the University of Latvia (LU), and the Rīga Technical University (RTU) have raised the tuition fees for the 2019./2020. academic year, reported LETA on June 30.
Overall, 274 medical students will be graduating from the University of Latvia and Riga Stradiņš University in 2019. These include 83 out of the 100 medical students who began their students at the University of Latvia and are graduating on June 20. And 191 out of 230 scholarship students who began their studies at Rīga Stradiņš University six years ago and are graduating on June 28. One of them is Guntis Balodis, who related his journey to becoming a doctor on Latvian Radio on June 20.
The government on June 18 adopted draft amendments to regulations for teacher’s pay providing for raising the minimum monthly wage for teachers from EUR 710 to EUR 750 for a 30-hour working week, the LETA newswire reported.
Widespread cultural education is a major good, and it should not be changed, said the candidate for the post of Minister for Culture Nauris Puntulis in an interview with Latvian Television on June 11.
Knowledge is not the only thing that pupils and their parents expect from schools – the importance lies in linking learning and knowledge to real life. This can be inferred from the results of a survey conducted last year, said Zane Oliņa, the director of “Skola2030” (a program that aims to update the school curriculum) in an interview on Latvian Radio on June 5.
The three Baltic states share challenges in education such schools with a small number of students and the need to increase teachers’ salaries, but the capacity to address those challenges is notably different, it was admitted at the 25th Meeting of the Education Ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
This year, 13 schools and other educational institutions will be closed, while another 40 educational institutions will be affected by reorganization of one form or another, such as merger with another school, according to information released by the Ministry of Education and Science.
The Green Crows are back, and everyone is invited to watch.
The Latvian Education and Science Ministry has come up with a proposal on four regional "blocs" for schools with different requirements for the minimum number of pupils, reported the LETA newswire April 18.
Latvia has a surprising number of webcams watching everything from weather to eagle's nests, swampscapes, bird feeding stations and street robberies, and now a new location has joined that number.