RSU highlights growth, innovation, and international collaboration at annual Academic Meeting

Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) held its traditional Academic Meeting on 28 September in the Great Hall of the University. To start the meeting, Rector Prof. Aigars Petersons, thanked the staff of the University for all their hard work over the past year.

The Rector then reiterated the University's mission and vision – the values of the University are people, teamwork, results, and loyalty.

There are currently 10,467 students studying at RSU, and 2,501 new students have joined the University this year. The total number of applicants increased by 11% compared to last year. Among the incoming freshmen there are 510 international students, the majority of which are from Sweden, Germany, and Finland.

RSU currently offers a total of 57 study programmes in Latvian and seven in English. This year, students were admitted to four new study programmes for the first time: Biostatistics, Economic Security, Economic Security Protection, and Policing. A new study course in Military Medicine has been developed in cooperation with experts from the Ministry of Defence and NATO. The share of international guest lecturers at RSU increases every year and last year made up 23% of lecturers at RSU.

By 6 February 2024, RSU will have completed its internal consolidation, replacing the current nine faculties with five (the Faculty of Pharmacy, the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Health and Sports, the Faculty of Dentistry, and the Faculty of Social Sciences) and the Department of Residency. The external consolidation – the integration of the Latvian Academy of Sport Education into RSU – should be completed by 1 January 2026.

RSU has established 10 medical education centres in Germany, three in Israel, one in Italy and one in Portugal. This cooperation gives RSU students the opportunity to practice with the best specialists in the most modern medical institutions abroad. Cooperation is ongoing with 167 medical institutions in Riga and the regions, which provides students with internships and helps address the shortage of medical professionals outside the capital.

RSU is a strong, international research organisation with high quality standards. Last year there were 525 high-quality publications, a number that has almost doubled over two years.

RSU continues to invest in development and infrastructure. This year the University opened the Pharmaceutical Education and Research Centre at 21 Konsula iela and a study centre at the Riga East Clinical University Hospital, which is the largest study base (2000 m²) of any hospital in Latvia. Future projects include extensive renovations to the RSU Sports Centre and other significant projects.

In the survey TOP Employer 2022 by CV-Online Latvia, a leading online recruitment company, RSU won the main award in the public sector category – best employer out of 50 companies from the public sector – a d was ranked 30th in the overall list of employers from all sectors.

At the end of the event, the audience was entertained by a musical performance by actress Rēzija Kalniņa and guitarist Kaspars Zemītis. The Academic Meeting closed with an informal reception in the RSU canteen.