International accreditation experts commend RSU's Health Care study direction

The information submission stage for the Health Care study direction implemented at Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) has been successfully completed – RSU has submitted documents for evaluation to the Quality Agency for Higher Education and received a visit by a group of international accreditation experts.

During their visit on 13-17 November, the group of experts met with more than 300 people: RSU lecturers, students, graduates, employers' representatives, study programme directors, representatives of faculty and university management, and acquainted themselves with the material and technical facilities at the RSU Main Building, the Pharmaceutical Education and Research Centre, preclinical and clinical facilities at the Faculty of Dentistry, the Medical Education Technology Centre (METC), the Institute of Anatomy and Anthropology, the RSU Anatomy Museum, as well as the University’s Liepāja Branch.

The group of accreditation experts included representatives from Klaipeda University, the University of Eastern Finland, the University of Malta, the Mediterranean Institute of Life Sciences of Croatia, Akaki Tsereteli State University of Georgia, as well as the Employers' Confederation of Latvia, Daugavpils University, the Latvian Student Union, Riga First Medical College of the University of Latvia, and the Quality Agency for Higher Education.

The participants discussed the quality assurance of the study process, the compliance of programmes to the regulatory framework, the inclusion of research in study programmes, the educational development of the programme’s academic staff provided by the Centre for Educational Growth, they evaluated library resources and support provided by RSU to lecturers and students, the international mobility of students and lecturers, the feedback system from employers and graduates, as well as many other issues.

RSU Rector Prof. Aigars Pētersons praised the work done by his peers: ‘On behalf of the RSU administration, I express my sincere gratitude to everyone who participated in preparing for the visit. Our mission is to offer excellent, inclusive, and sustainable education opportunities. Accrediting our largest study direction, Health Care, is a significant step towards this goal.’

A significant amount of work has been invested in preparing for accreditation since January 2022 under the leadership of the staff at the Centre for Educational Growth. Descriptions of the study direction and programmes were prepared with annexes numbering about 36,000 pages in both Latvian and English. The main contributors were programme directors, faculty representatives, academic, and administrative units.

Following the visit, the group of external experts will continue to review the documents and prepare a final opinion by February 2024. RSU will afterwards draft an implementation plan for the experts' recommendations and an accreditation application. A decision on the new accreditation term must be made by 7 May 2024.