05 - Latvia - Types of institution
In Latvia, tertiary education is provided by:
- university type institutions,
- non-university type institutions,
- colleges.
The
Law on Higher Education Institutions distinguishes university-type and
non-university-type institutions. While non-university-type
institutions run professional programmes, universities often offer both
academic and professional programmes. The law defines four determinant
criteria for a university status:
- 1) implementation of bachelor, master and doctor study programmes; assertion of doctoral thesis occurs annually,
- 2) at least half of persons elected in academic posts hold a doctor’s degree,
- 3) issues scientific publications and
- 4)
establishes scientific institutions or units in the main scientific
disciplines corresponding to the implemented study programmes.
See also section
6.2.
on the requirement regarding the proportion of academic staff holding doctor’s degree in non-university type institutions.
Colleges
may function under higher educational institutions and also as
independent institutions. Colleges provide first-level higher
professional education, counted as the first phase of the second-level
professional higher education programmes mastered in a higher education
institution. Though they provide higher education, colleges themselves
are considered not as higher education institutions, but vocational
education institutions.
There are public and private (i.e.
established by legal persons as defined by the legislation) higher
education institutions.
The
size of institutions differs substantially. There is a higher education
institution with a number of students as small as 30, while the biggest
university had enrolment of around 30 000 students in 2004.
Eurydice - the information network on education in Europe
Date: 2009
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