History. The origin of social sciences studies at RSU

Discussion on developing social sciences studies alongside medical and healthcare studies at Rīga Stradiņš University (then – Medical Academy of Latvia, MAL) started back in 1997. Back then, responding to events in the higher education sector, a hot topic emerged – the question of obtaining the status of university and assigning the new name – Rīga Stradiņš University – to MAL.

The first step in this direction was made in February 1998, when the Senate of the Medical Academy of Latvia resolved to rename the institution, and one month later – to establish the Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS). In autumn of that year, 182 students were admitted in eight study programmes of the faculty. The objective of the faculty was to prepare specialists in social sciences who would be able to defend the interests of Latvia in the European context and promote its integration in the European Union.

Invaluable contribution to the establishment of FSS and further development of social sciences at RSU was made by the first dean of the faculty, Assistant Professor Ilze Ostrovska. Using best practice in European faculties as a foundation in the organising of studies, she adapted the module system – an approach that has become the signature of social sciences studies at RSU. The module system is focused on independent work, where the lecturer is mainly assigned the role of a consultant for study literature, adviser and expert. Each student acquires, in-depth, two study courses simultaneously, undertakes independent research, sits an exam and only then proceeds to the next study course.

In November 1999, the Faculty of Social Sciences was inherited by the Institute for European Integration (IEI), on the basis of which the Faculty of European Studies was established in 2002.

On 19 June 2002, for the first time in the history of the university, a graduation ceremony was held with 120 graduates obtaining a RSU diploma with a degree in social sciences. The first graduation and employer feedback on graduates was of great significance in the further development of social sciences studies, and consequently, in the autumn of 2002, 377 students were admitted to the Faculty of European Studies – twice as many as in 1998. That year, the first Master's students in social sciences studies also commenced their studies at RSU. 

In response to trends in the labour market and the rapid development of the faculty, a decision was made in 2007 to reform the Faculty of European Studies, by separating from it the communication and legal sciences study programmes and creating the Faculty of Communication and the Institute of Law, which became the Faculty of Law two years later.

In 2010, the first doctoral thesis in social sciences in the doctoral study programme Sociology was defended at RSU. Currently, the university implements five doctoral study programmes in social sciences.