Education and Science, Latvia, Law and Regulations

LETA was told at the Education and Science Ministry that Education and Science Minister Karlis Sadurskis (Unity) believes that it is necessary to revise the legislation regulating the work of SSE Riga and RGSL.

In the minister’s opinion, the legislation is no longer suits current needs and the actual situation and should therefore be revised and amended.

The revision of these laws might also result in a long-term solution to the issue of higher education institutions’ administrative governance. The respective amendments might be proposed soon, starting a dialogue with the parties concerned.

As reported, the Education and Science Ministry has already refused to approve Mel Kenny as rector of Riga Graduate School of Law (RGSL) and said it would not reappoint Anders Paalzow as SSE Riga rector because of their insufficient command of the Latvian language.

The Cabinet of Ministers regulations require from university rectors high proficiency in the Latvian language. Until now the Education and Science Ministry had closed its eyes to the poor command of Latvian by the rectors of the two universities but recently it announced that this arrangement could not last forever and the schools had to be prepared for this.

Today, however, Sadurskis said that Paalzow's reappointment as rector of the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga is possible.

The minister told journalists following a meeting of the Unity faction in Saeima today that he has a plan but did not elaborate, citing lack of time.

“There is a plan. I think that we are very close to a result that will satisfy the school and its graduates. The solution will be both legal and good for the competitiveness of the Latvian education environment,” the minister promised.