Follow Latvia Immigration, and learn about Latvian education: The Latvian government provides free primary, middle, and high school education. More than 90% of children in the country attend state schools. Compulsory education is nine years, and most students attend public universities. In addition to public schools, there are also private primary schools, secondary schools, and universities.
According to data recently released by the Latvian Ministry of Education and Science, there are 496 university students per 10,000 people in Latvia, ranking third in the world, behind only Canada and the United States. It is reported that Canada ranks first in the world with 580 university students per 10,000 people, while the United States ranks second with 520. In 1990, there were 172 university students per 10,000 people in Latvia. The year with the lowest proportion of university students was 1993, when the indicator was 138 people, with a total of 375,000 university students. Since 1996, the number of university students in Latvia has increased sharply. This academic year, the number of university students in the country reached nearly 119,000.
Among the three Baltic states in Northeast Europe, Latvia also has the highest number of Chinese students. With affordable tuition, low entry barriers, and English-taught programs, it attracts many junior college graduates to pursue master's degrees every year. Latvia actively cultivates its relationships with Western countries and China, and joined the European Union and NATO in 2004. Its university degrees are recognized worldwide.
Among the universities in Latvia, the one that offers the most English-taught degree programs is the Riga Technical University, located in the capital, which also hosts the largest number of Chinese students. The university offers bachelor's/master's degree programs in computer systems, civil engineering, management, geodesy, telecommunications, and production engineering taught in English.
To encourage international students from all over the world to study in the country, in addition to English instruction and affordable tuition, admission requirements for international students have also been lowered. Even for world-class universities like Riga Technical University, the English requirement is only TOEFL 200 (500) or IELTS 5. It is worth mentioning that many Chinese students who have completed a 3-year junior college diploma in China have successfully enrolled in the university's master's programs (or after one year of bridging courses to a bachelor's degree, then pursuing a master's degree).