President of Latvia Egils Levits met with rectors and staff of several universities at the Riga Castle on October 4th. According to the President, ‘Latvia needs a national-level vision for the future of higher learning institutions in 2030. Vision should give us a clear understanding of national-level approach to development of physical and humanitarian sciences. It should also identify sources for adequate funding to higher education’. Such strategy driven by the legal framework would form a vision, which is a good starting point for public consultation on the future development of higher education and ways of reducing administrative burden faced by educational and scientific establishments, Egils Levits also indicated.
Participants of the meeting exchanged views on recent changes in the Law on Higher Education Institutions (University Law) and work on other related legislative initiatives: Research University Law and Higher Learning and Research Law. Discussion also focused on the role and efficiency of the Council of Higher Education, and ways of strengthening its capacity. University representatives praised the Ministry of Education and Science for its efforts to build a more constructive partnership with universities.
With regard to appointment of council members at 16 state universities, President of Latvia and universities agreed that best candidates need to be approached. To find the best nominations, application process must be as open as possible. This would also help avoid exclusive selection criteria. It is also important to avoid situations where potential members formally qualify, but their academic performance is below standards.
Participants: Rūta Muktupāvela, Chair of Latvian Rectors Council, Rector of Latvian Academy of Culture, Aldis Baumanis, Chair of the Latvian Association of Private Universities, Rector of the Turība University, Andris Teikmanis, Chair of the Higher Education Council of Latvia, Artūrs Zeps, Vice Rector for Strategic development, Riga Technical University, Executive Director, Association of Latvian Universities, and Gatis Krūmiņš, Rector of Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences.