Higher Education Systems and Institutions, Latvia

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of universities and higher education system in Latvia with a particular focus on its development over past 25 years, its funding, governance and academic profession. It discusses ongoing developments and specific features of Latvia’s higher education such as current funding reform to introduce performance-based funding, fragmentation of higher education institutions and employment system where academics have to be elected in their posts every six years. Since the re-establishment of Latvia’s independence in 1991, its higher education has undergone major transformations including modernization, internationalization and joining the European Union in 2004. Latvia has a population of two million and a territory of 64,573 square kilometres. After the establishment of independence in 1918, its main university, the University of Latvia, was established in 1919. It is estimated that after the annexation of Latvia to the Soviet Union in 1940, approximately 60% of scientists fled to the West, creating a considerable knowledge diaspora (Adamsone-Fiskovica et al., 2011). Since 1990, the higher education sector has expanded from 10 public and 2 private higher education institutions to 17 public and 15 private higher education institutions in 2016. The majority of students study in public higher education institutions, which had 56,788 students in 2016, while private institutions attracted 16,002 students.