University of Latvia (LU)

The University of Latvia is one of the largest comprehensive and leading research universities in the Baltic States. It consists of 15,000 students, 13 faculties and more than 20 research institutes.The University offers more than 150 state-accredited academic and professional study programmes. At University of Latvia, research is conducted in over 50 research fields which represent four main areas of inquiry: the humanities, sciences, social sciences, and education sciences. The University of Latvia pays great attention to the development of international collaboration. At present the University of Latvia has signed more than 500 agreements with 326 institutions in 31 European countries within ERASMUS programme.

The University of Latvia (UL) was the first in the world to present the opportunity of obtaining higher education in the Latvian language. In its 12 faculties students could study the humanities (including Theology), the exact sciences as well as technical and natural sciences. The introduction of Latvian as the language of instruction did not mean that students of other nationalities were slighted. In the academic year 1937/38 out of the total of 6780 students that were studying in UL 86% were Latvians, 6.4% - Jewish, 3.8% - German, 2.8% - Russian, 0.4% - Polish, 0.3% Lithuanian, 0.3% - Estonian and 1% were students of other nationalities.

The University of Latvia has preserved its main goal – to be the centre of the Latvian intellectual life by formulating new tasks and goals. At present new faculties and study programmes have been created with the aim to improve the quality of the studies by focusing on scientific research activities. Over the ninety years of its existence, from a higher school of a hundred lecturers with less than one thousand students, the University of Latvia has evolved into one of the leading Latvian higher educational institutions with approximately 22 thousand students and more than 1,400 lecturers forming the teaching staff. The development of the University of Latvia is based on rich and extensive historical heritage as well as experience and is an ongoing process.

At UL, you can obtain an academic bachelor’s or master’s degree in humanities (philology, philosophy, history, theology a.o.), pedagogy, social sciences (economics, communication studies, political science, psychology, sociology, law, management a.o.), sciences (biology, physics, geography, geology, chemistry, mathematics, environmental science a.o.), and health sciences (pharmacy, nursing). The UL also offers professional qualifications or bachelor’s or master’s degree, including MD, qualifications of doctor, teacher, social worker, economist, translator/interpreter etc.

Doctoral study programmes offer a degree in biology, economics, computer science, demography, pharmacy, philology, philosophy, physics, geography, geology, engineering, law, chemistry, communication studies, medicine, mathematics, pedagogy, politics, psychology, sociology, theology and religious studies, management, linguistics, history, and environmental science.

The UL offers an opportunity to study interuniversity master’s programme “Educational Treatment of Diversity”, interuniversity master’s programme “Studies of the Baltic Sea Region”, master’s programme “European Studies” and other unique study programmes.

Each year, approximately 300 students of the UL study abroad with the help of international exchange programmes, thus perfecting their skills and abilities; in turn, the University of Latvia welcomes approx. 250 international students.

The University of Latvia pays great attention to the development of international collaboration in order to promote international identification and to strengthen good reputation.

The internationalization processes take place in the following areas:

In the course of 2014, the University of Latvia will host a range of interesting conferences some of which are:

February 6, 2014
International Scientific Conference "Contemporary Research in Phonetics and Phonology : Methods, Aspects and Problems"
Location: Latvian Academy of Sciences Akadēmijas laukums 1, Riga

March 20, 2014
Conference “General Linguistics: Language System and Language Use”

May 8, 2014
International Scientific Conference “New Challenges of Economic and Business Development - 2014”

June 29, 2014
ISSWOV 2014 conference

October 20, 2014
International Conference "Mapping Disciplinary History:Centers, Borderlands and Shared Spaces in Folkloristic Thought"

November 28, 2014
The 10th International Conference "The Changing Baltics: Cultures within Cultures"

For more information you can visit the "Events" site of the University.

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