Record number of students admitted to RSU
The new academic year at Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) has begun with 1,500 freshmen, among them 510 international students – mostly from Germany, Sweden, Finland, and Norway.
In total, the University received individual 8,899 applications this year, which is 11% more than last year and the highest number in RSU's history. The number people who submitted applications reached an all-time high with 3,384 people applying to study at RSU.
Medicine is the most popular study programme at RSU and received a record number of applications, more than 1,400. This year RSU received 200 more applications than last year.
Among the social sciences programmes, Psychology is the most in-demand with 683 applications. This is an increase of 41% compared to last year. It is followed by International Marketing and Advertising with 321 applications (+25%).
Among the healthcare programmes, Nutrition is the most popular programme with 410 applications (+7%). Midwifery received 276 applications (+12%) and Audio Speech Therapy received 237 applications (+10%).
The largest competition this year was for the Nutrition programme with 22.7 applications per place, and in Midwifery with 16.2 applications per place. There were seven applications per place in the Medicine programme. The most competitive social sciences study programme was International Business and Sustainable Economy with 8.1 applications per place.
This summer, the number of new international students also reached an all-time high. A total of 1,161 applications were received from 76 countries, and 510 of the best students started their studies at RSU.
Students were also admitted to several new programmes, among them Police Work and Economic Security. For the first time, students were admitted to the Biostatistics master's programme, which provides students with an in-depth knowledge of statistical data processing methods, promotes understanding of the most common diseases, as well as epidemiological and clinical research.
The Social Work master's programme also deserves some recognition. This programme does not have any state-subsidies study places, therefore, this year RSU has worked in cooperation with local governments and agreed on financial support for students.