https://doi.org/10.22364/htqe.2023.32 | 401-417 | PDF

Latvian Policy for Higher Education Export

Karīna Svētiņa, Rita Kiseļova, Ruta Svētiņa
University of Latvia, Latvia

Abstract. Attracting international students is carried out by state institutions, higher education institutions and commercial agencies. Therefore, the practice of attraction is considered in the context of the reputation of the state, an added value that has not been reflected in scientific publications on attracting international students. The goal of this research is to present the policy of attracting international students to Latvia in the context of the country’s reputation over a period of five years from 2017 to 2022. The research question is to identify changes in the attraction policy. The research method applied involved interviewing representatives of institutions related to attracting international students in 2017 (in person), 2021 and 2022 (remotely). The common goal of the interviews was to clarify the practice of attracting international students of the relevant institution in the context of the country’s reputation, cooperation with other institutions involved, institutions’ level of involvement, and the division of responsibility. Document analysis was carried out to evaluate the Agreement on Good Practice of Attracting International Students and Delivering Studies (published in 2017 and updated in 2022). Latvia’s experience in attracting international students will be useful to other countries in the context of reputation. The most important results are related to the promotion of cooperation between the institutions involved, the systematization of procedures, and compliance with high-quality, transparent and ethical principles in the process of attracting international students.

Keywords: attraction policy, export of higher education, international education, international students, reputation of the state

Karīna Svētiņa – Corresponding author: jansonekarina@inbox.lv; 0037126709882, PhD student, Faculty of Education, Psychology and Art, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia 
orcid.org/0000-0003-4266-1096

Rita Kiseļova – Senior researcher, Institute for Educational Research, Faculty of Education, Psychology and Art, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia 
orcid.org/0000-0001-6536-9982

Ruta Svētiņa – lecturer, teacher of ESP, Centre for Applied Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia


In: Human, Technologies and Quality of Education, 2023. Proceedings of Scientific Papers = Cilvēks, tehnoloģijas un izglītības kvalitāte, 2023. Rakstu krājums
Riga, University of Latvia, 2023. 796 p. Ed. L. Daniela
https://doi.org/10.22364/htqe.2023
ISBN 978-9934-36-116-6