Latvia is a pleasant and friendly country. Despite the fact that the average Latvian is not an open book and prefers to smile internally, we are adept at forming lifelong friendships. Latvia is not overburdened with massive megacities, enormous traffic congestion, or mile-long lineups. Instead, it provides a peaceful setting in which to study and work, where you can select how much nightlife or peace and quiet you want. Latvia ranks high on the Global peace index as a country with low crime rates, a stable political scene and almost zero natural disasters.
Bologna Process and 3-Cycle System
The Latvian higher education system is a part of the Bologna process and follows the 3-cycle system: • The first cycle includes short-cycle programs and academic or professional bachelor’s degree programs. • The second cycle includes academic or professional Master’s degree programs. • The third cycle includes doctoral degree programs.
Credit Point System
Latvia is using a national credit point system in higher education. One Latvian national credit point is defined as a one-week full-time study workload. The average full-time workload of an academic year in most higher education programmes is 40 credits. The Latvian credit point system is compatible with ECTS. • 1 credit point = 1,5 ECTS = 1 week full-time study workload • 1 academic year = 60 ECTS = 40 Latvian credit points Universities and other higher education institutions in Latvia run both academic and profession-al programmes, e.g. lawyer, teacher, translator, marine mechanic etc. Bachelor’s (in Latvian – bakalaurs) and master’s (in Latvian – maģistrs) degrees are awarded in both academic and professional higher education rogrammes. Graduates of both types of bachelor’s and master’s degrees have access to further studies.
