The President of Latvia pays a visit to Rīga Stradiņš University

On March 5, the President of Latvia Raimonds Vējonis paid a visit to Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU). During the visit the president was given a tour of the medical Education Technology Centre and the Pre-clinical training room at the Faculty of Dentistry to learn about the experience that RSU has gained in using simulation equipment for medical training. The president gave a positive assessment of the opportunities offered by the Great Hall to host international conferences and charity concerts and pointed out RSU achievements in higher education export, its contribution to practical medicine and research activity. 

During the visit, RSU management informed Mr. Vējonis of the university’s key figures and achievements. RSU rector Aigars Pētersons emphasised the need for increased state support for higher education and science, including RSU infrastructure development. 

The RSU rector shared his opinion that state funding should be linked to the quality of study programmes and the number of students and indicated that there are still no state-funded study places for RSU social sciences study programmes, notwithstanding the high interest and outstanding study quality.

In response to the question asked by the President of Latvia Raimonds Vējonis on the attracting of medical staff to regional hospitals outside Riga, RSU management indicated that in cooperation with the supervisory authorities and medical treatment institutions a number of incentives have been introduced for the motivating of graduates to work in regional areas and remain in Latvia. 

"The cooperation between universities and colleges must be strengthened”, the RSU rector pointed out, noting that the current cooperation between RSU and colleges has been successful. There is also a need for state-level incentives to facilitate closer involvement of the university hospitals in the RSU study process.

During the visit, the RSU rector also emphasised that bearing in mind the contribution made by the RSU Faculty of Law to the educating of police officers and its future plans for infrastructure development, renewal of the Police Academy would be inadmissible. He also highlighted the necessity for finally regulating the certification of international dental students, as the current uncertainty is detrimental to Latvia’s reputation.

The President of Latvia Mr. Vējonis reaffirmed that RSU study programmes have confirmed their international competitiveness, “As the university with the richest experience in educating international students, RSU has a chance and an obligation to continue work on enhancing the international competitiveness of our education system”, the president noted during his meeting with RSU management.