Education and Science Ministry urges universities to strengthen their responsibility in admitting foreign students

RIGA - The Ministry of Education and Science (MES) is proposing to strengthen the responsibility of universities in the admission and study process of foreign students.

The ministry has prepared proposals to amend the Immigration Law and the Higher Education Law in order to strengthen the supervision of the study process. Among other things, it is planned to stipulate that a foreign student who has been expelled from a Latvian higher education institution will have to return to his or her home country before reapplying to study in Latvia. It is also planned to set a minimum average grade of at least 60 percent in profiling subjects.

It is also planned that a university will be prevented from inviting new students if more than 30 percent of those previously invited have been refused a visa. The Cabinet of Ministers' regulations will provide for internationally recognized certificates for English language proficiency, as well as a requirement for foreign students to master Latvian at least at A2 level.

The ministry is also working on a strategy for internationalization of higher education. It will identify target countries for attracting foreign students and strengthen a data-driven approach to assessing the international quality of education and research and tracking the labor market progress of foreign graduates.

Riga Technical University (RTU) has outlined new directions in its internationalization policy, emphasizing higher quality, safety and targeted attraction of foreign students, the university told LETA.

RTU said it is gradually reducing the number of third-country students while increasing the number of students from the European Union (EU), the European Economic Area (EEA) and countries of economic cooperation and development. The university is also raising the entrance examination requirements to select motivated applicants with a good knowledge of science subjects. It also plans to increase the proportion of Masters and PhD students.

RTU Rector Talis Juhna said that the university is focusing on attracting talent and has set a goal to be among the top 500 universities in international rankings in the future. Currently, students from 106 countries study at RTU, and foreign students make up about a fifth of the total student population.

In the academic year 2025/2026, around 4,000 mobility students started their studies at Latvian universities, 2.4 percent more than a year earlier, according to the latest data from the Central Statistical Office.

A total of 11,900 students currently study in Latvia who have received their previous education abroad. Most of them are studying for master's and bachelor's degrees, most often in social sciences, business and law, healthcare and social welfare, as well as natural sciences, mathematics and computer science.

Most students come to Latvia from India, Uzbekistan, Sweden, Ukraine and Germany. Almost half of all mobility students study at RTU and Riga Stradins University.

As reported earlier, the Ministry of the Interior has also prepared and submitted a package of proposals to amend the Immigration Law, including a proposal to require universities to notify the State Border Guard of third-country students who unjustifiably miss lectures for at least three days instead of the current 14, the ministry told LETA.

The proposals have been submitted to the Saeima for the third reading of the draft law.

The ministry explains that some of the proposals complement the action plan for strengthening control over third-country nationals, which has already been developed by the Interior Ministry and approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.