On 1 March, President of Latvia Egils Levits had a remote meeting with Chair of Latvian Rectors Council Rūta Muktupāvela and Secretary-General Jānis Bernāts, which focused on latest developments in higher education.
President of Latvia asked Rectors Council for its opinion on changes in the Law on Higher Education Institutions, which went through the second reading in the Saeima on 24 February. Proposed amendments focus on new internal governance model for universities and new university typology.
Chair Muktupāvela praised Saeima Education, Culture and Science Committee for doing a good job on the new Law on Higher Education Institutions. Rectors Council specifically appreciated the dialogue between the legislator and sector representatives in the legislative process.
President of Latvia agreed with Rūta Muktupāvela and said that Committee has done a good job and proposed amendments to the Law on Higher Education Institutions will significantly change how these institutions are governed. He underlined that the role of scientific activities at universities should also change considerably. According to Egils Levits, university reform triggered by new legal framework should gradually continue into the next phase where a new Higher Education and Science Law is adopted, and there should be no delays.
President and representatives of the Rectors Council then moved on to discussing university governance model. President of Latvia said it is important to have a thorough, in-depth discussion on university councils before bill goes into the final reading to have clearer vision for council composition criteria and their role.
On other priorities of higher education, Jānis Bernāts underlined that Rectors Council considers that more funding from European Recovery and Resilience Facility should be invested in research and science, which is strategically important for sustainable development of Latvia. According to Mr Bernāts, short-term needs should be funded from national budget, while European Union investments should address sustainable development needs.
Chair of the Council touched upon impact of COVID-19 on higher education. Rūta Muktupāvela mentioned that universities had to cope with additional workload and costs resulting from remote learning and other practical problems, for example, the need to extend the academic year for those studying acting or dance and other programmes that cannot be delivered remotely with same success.
Chair Muktupāvela thanked President Levits for supporting science, research and education. She also invited President to attend one of Councils meetings in future.