Foreign Students in Latvia to Face Restrictions on Receiving State Scholarships 0 21

The aim of the amendments is to align the provision of scholarships with the priorities of the country's foreign policy and economy, as well as to eliminate ambiguities in regulation. The Ministry of Education and Science (MoES) points to the need to attract qualified labor and to respond flexibly to crises, including the war in Ukraine, with regular reviews of the list of countries receiving support and the conditions for granting scholarships.

The amendments to the law on higher education institutions, which came into force this spring, stipulate that state scholarships for studying in Latvia may be granted not only to foreigners studying under international agreements but also to any foreign student. At the same time, the government has been given broader powers to determine the types of scholarships, their amounts, and the criteria for their provision.

The regulation plans to clearly define the types of scholarships, their amounts, and terminology, bringing this in line with the law on higher education institutions. It is also proposed to establish that a foreigner cannot simultaneously receive more than one scholarship funded from the state budget of Latvia. If multiple scholarships are awarded, the student will have to choose one.

It is also planned to expand the mechanism for selecting countries: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economics (MoE) will each be able to nominate up to five priority countries for their respective areas, whose citizens may apply for scholarships. In turn, the MoES, in cooperation with the MoE, will annually determine priority study programs by November 1, taking into account labor market and economic needs.

The amendments also provide for changes in the criteria for the qualitative assessment of scholarship applications. In the future, it will be taken into account whether the applicant comes from a priority country and whether they are studying in a priority program. These criteria are planned to be applied starting from the 2027/2028 academic year.

At the same time, the administration procedure will be clarified, including the regulation of appeals against decisions, which will be fully aligned with the Administrative Procedure Law, as well as the terminology in the regulation and its annexes will be agreed upon.

If the amendments come into force by the end of this year, the new system of country and study program priorities will be fully implemented from the 2027/2028 academic year, as stated in the annotation to the draft amendments.

In the 2025/2026 academic year, state scholarships in Latvia were awarded to 99 students from 23 countries, according to a summary from the Education Development Agency.

The most scholarships were received by students from Ukraine – 14 scholarship holders. They are followed by Azerbaijan and Germany – ten each, Finland and Uzbekistan – nine each, Turkey – seven, and Italy – five scholarship recipients.

Students from other countries will also receive scholarships.