Education and Science, Round Table, The Baltic Course No. 27

It has to mentioned from the start that we are talking about a specific “export product”, i.e. that of high education. The global market for this product is huge; the question is, why Latvia is not involved in this market and what are the potentials? There are some figures for comparative assessment: about 170 thousand foreign students are entering the UK each year; about 120-150 thousand students take up studies in such countries as Germany, France and Spain. About a million foreign students are in the US and there are about 80 thousand foreign students in Russia.

As to the new EU states, Poland and Czech Republic have their own concept for exports of higher education. Unfortunately, Latvia does not have such a strategy; the question is why and is there anything that the country can “sell” in this regard? Besides, why are most EU countries afraid of such an “export”?

It might be strange, but it seems that we are in fact afraid of high education export. It can be seen in the recent amendments to the country’s law on high education. Thus, the disposition of art. 6 on language requirements in education significantly reduce such “export”. Another article of this law on franchising in high education specifies that Latvian universities can take part in the process only in cooperation with high schools in other states. I wonder what kind of a serous university would use on a franchising background Latvian university’s program. Schiller’s university in the USA once made such an attempt, however it was done on a less developed educational market and in not really developed countries.

Our advantages

What kind of advantages are there in Latvia? For example, in the Baltic International Academy (BIA) there are about 30-40 per cent of all the foreign students coming to the country. I have to make it clear: students’ mobility is not at all an export of high education. Therefore, the final figures for Latvia are quire depressing: we export more students abroad than we attract for education in our country. Why so?

Common denominators

So, where do our potential “export” students are coming from? The answer is simple, they come from the East. And not from the Far East or Middle East but rather from “the East” which is connected to the former Soviet block.

The reason is such that, first, we are still “the part of the common whole” although already the “former” but still much closer than the Netherlands, Greece or Spain, etc.

Second, we are “abroad” and it’s the dream of all people from the Soviet time to go abroad. Third, we are better equipped with problems and potentials of both the past and present education which we are trying to create.

Facing risks

It’s a difficult question; there are some clear dangers (some of them are seen in the mentioned art.6 of the education law). We agree that all countries have to protect their national identity. However we are facing here some apparent problems.

First, another question: what is better for the country -a visiting construction worker or a student? Who would “love” this country more? The one who lives in a tent or one getting an education? Definitely, the latter. The student residing in our country, studying its language is a sort of educational agent: he will return to his home country but he would be probably for years to come an admirer of a country of his studies.

There is a small Air-navigation Institute in Latvia occupying the first place among other universities as to the number of foreign students. The reason for that was that it could preserve the legitimacy and traditions of the previously famous Riga Civil Aviation Technical School. The kids of those that graduated from this school some 20-30 years ago are presently coming to this institute for studies. Our Academy occupies the second place, although we have about 5-7 per cent of foreign students as to our total enrollment. There are foreign students in other Latvian universities as well, e.g. in Riga Stradina University, High Banking School due to rectors’ efforts. However, the number of foreign students is being reduced in Riga Technical University.

Presently existing threats around export of education and huge foreign students’ inflow into the country, to my mind, are not just and contradict both to main trends in Bologna’s process and general directions in European labour market developments. The treats that Russian students coming for studies to Latvia and that would reside here afterwards are groundless. They can earn more at home.

Some conclusions

Let’s have a look at the whole “picture”: we are facing a critical point in birth rates, we facing problems with Latvian labour force migration abroad and loosing employment. We have a warning statistics: the number of students’ enrolment in Latvian universities this year has reduced. Yesterday’s pupils already know how to earn money: they had a summer experience of quick earnings as season-workers. And they pose a question: why do a have to study if I can earn for living now even without any education. That means we are reducing stimuli for higher education. Therefore export of high education is presently for all of us a real compensating remedy mechanism to substitute for the students’ deficit. And this is a problem for all Latvian universities.

The Baltic Course 27, Autumn 2007