Higher education – priority direction for India–Latvia bilateral cooperation

To foster and expand cooperation between Latvia and India, on 24 May the Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia in cooperation with the Ministry of External Affairs of India and the Embassy of India to Sweden and Latvia held the first India–Latvia Business Conference. Minister for Economics Arvils Ašeradens outlined the priority directions for promoting mutual cooperation: higher education, innovations, R&D, ICT, logistics and transport.

In the opening speech India’s Minister of State for External Affairs Mobashar Jawed Akbar emphasised the interest of Indian students to pursue their education in Latvia, noting that currently there are 750 Indian students in diverse higher education establishments in Latvia. The minister encouraged young people from Latvia to opt for studies in India due to the growing international competitiveness of Indian universities over the last decade.

At the higher education panel of the business conference RSU director of the International Department Baiba Pētersone (pictured) gave a presentation on the multicultural and up-to-date study environment of Rīga Stradiņš University and the opportunities to acquire an education in English. Tatjana Muravska – the director of Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence of the University of Latvia analysed partnerships with foreign universities for developing the European study direction whereby the international consultant of Tallinn University of Technology Leon Miller shared his cooperation experience with Indian universities.

India’s Minister of State for External Affairs Mobashar Jawed Akbar noted that despite the distance between Latvia and India in terms of kilometres, for him, due to the rapid development of the transport and communication infrastructure, physical distance is no longer an obstacle.

At present there are 45 Indian medical students at RSU. Indian students, together with students from Sri Lanka and other Asian countries have joined to form the RSU Asian society.