Universities in Latvia
The accredited register as Latvia's quality agency holds it — with the registered Latvian name, which is the one your documents have to match.
Where this list comes from
What this page lists, and the choice behind it. Latvia's Higher Education Quality Agency — Augstākās izglītības kvalitātes aģentūra, AIKA — runs an e-platform that the Ministry of Education and Science points to as the place to find the universities, colleges, study fields and study programmes registered in Latvia. Its “Accredited” list returns 42 entries. Twenty of them are named as colleges, and colleges in Latvia deliver first-level professional higher education, as the Ministry's own description of the system sets out. The remaining 22 are the higher education institutions, and those are what this page lists. It deliberately does not list only the five institutions legally titled universitāte, and the next paragraph is why.
Six institutions say “University” in English and “augstskola” in Latvian. The register holds each institution under its registered Latvian name and shows an English name beside it. Five of the 22 are registered under a Latvian name containing universitāte: Latvijas Universitāte, Rīgas Tehniskā universitāte, Rīgas Stradiņa universitāte, Latvijas Biozinātņu un tehnoloģiju universitāte and Daugavpils Universitāte. Six more present an English name containing University while the register records an augstskola — Ventspils Augstskola as “Ventspils University College”, Biznesa augstskola Turība as “Turība University”, Vidzemes Augstskola as “Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences”, Ekonomikas un kultūras augstskola as “EKA University of Applied Sciences”, Biznesa, mākslas un tehnoloģiju augstskola “RISEBA” as “RISEBA University of Applied Sciences”, and Rīgas Ziemeļvalstu augstskola as “Riga Nordic University”. All eleven are accredited, and none of this makes any of them suspect. It matters for a narrower and more practical reason: the Latvian name is the one the register holds, and it is the name a ministry, an employer or a credential evaluator will be matching your diploma against. Both names are printed below for every institution, so you can check either way round.
The law defines four types of institution; the register mostly leaves the field blank. Section 3 of the Law on Institutions of Higher Education states that “there shall be the following types of higher education institutions: universities of science, universities of arts and culture, universities of applied sciences, and higher education institutions of applied sciences”, and that “the type of a higher education institution shall be determined by its founder”. The e-platform has a Type field for exactly this. On 2 October 2026 it was filled for three of the 22 institutions and empty for the other nineteen. We print it where the register carries it and omit it where it does not, rather than deducing a statutory type from an institution's name. If the type matters to your plans, ask the institution to state it in writing.
How this list was built. The accredited list was read in full on 2 October 2026 — three pages, 42 entries — and then each of the 22 institution records was opened individually on the register. Every name, registration code, legal status, accreditation date and website below comes off that institution's own register page rather than off a summary. The registration code is the field worth keeping: it is a number, it does not change when an institution restyles its English name, and the register can be searched with it. The legal-status field is recorded in Latvian, and we print the register's own term rather than paraphrase a legal term of art into English.
Link check, and four addresses we did not publish. Every website the register records was requested on 2 October 2026. Sixteen returned HTTP 200. Two — Rīgas Tehniskā universitāte and Ventspils Augstskola — refused automated requests with full browser headers, so their addresses are published on the strength of the register entry rather than our own fetch. Two failed outright and are therefore not linked below: the address recorded for Rīgas Juridiskā augstskola (Riga Graduate School of Law) redirects to a hostname that did not resolve from our environment, and the address recorded for Rīgas Ziemeļvalstu augstskola (Riga Nordic University) served an expired TLS certificate. For two further institutions — Transporta un sakaru institūts and Rīgas Ekonomikas augstskola – Stockholm School of Economics in Riga — the register records no website at all, and we have not substituted one we found elsewhere. In all four cases the register entry is linked instead. For three state institutions the register records no website and the Ministry of Education and Science's own list does; those three are marked individually.
Latvia's 22 accredited higher education institutions
Alphabetically by the English name the register shows, which is the register's own order. This is not a ranking and no order here implies quality. The 20 accredited colleges are a separate category and are not listed here; the register link in the sidebar shows all 42 entries.
Academy of Luther
Registration code 3394802695Registered as Nodibinājums “Lutera Akadēmija”.
Location: Rīga
- Legal status, as the register records it:
- Nodibinājums
- Accreditation date:
- 07.06.2012
Art Academy of Latvia
Registration code 3392301471Registered as Latvijas Mākslas akadēmija.
Location: Rīga
- Legal status, as the register records it:
- Atvasināta publiskā persona
- Accreditation date:
- 14.06.2001
Baltic International Academy
Registration code 3394800009Registered as Sabiedrība ar ierobežotu atbildību “BALTIJAS STARPTAUTISKĀ AKADĒMIJA”.
Location: Rīga
- Legal status, as the register records it:
- Komercsabiedrība
- Accreditation date:
- 12.11.1999
Daugavpils University
Registration code 2793000222Registered as Daugavpils Universitāte.
Location: Daugavpils
- Type recorded on the register:
- University of Applied Sciences
- Legal status, as the register records it:
- Atvasināta publiskā persona
- Accreditation date:
- 29.01.2004
One of the three institutions whose statutory Type field the register actually fills, and the only one of the five registered as a universitāte to carry it. The register records the type as University of Applied Sciences while the registered name is Daugavpils Universitāte — a useful reminder that the name and the statutory type are separate fields answering separate questions. Checked 2026-10-02.
EKA University of Applied Sciences
Registration code 3394800214Registered as Ekonomikas un kultūras augstskola.
Location: Rīga
- Legal status, as the register records it:
- Komercsabiedrība
- Accreditation date:
- 16.11.2006
European Christian Academy
Registration code 2994801398Registered as EIROPAS KRISTĪGĀ AKADĒMIJA.
Location: Jūrmala
- Legal status, as the register records it:
- Komercsabiedrība
- Accreditation date:
- 12.12.1997
The register records this institution's address over plain http at www.kra.lv; that address resolves to the secure address linked here, which is what we publish. Checked 2026-10-02.
Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music
Registration code 3392301472Registered as Jāzepa Vītola Latvijas Mūzikas akadēmija.
Location: Rīga
- Legal status, as the register records it:
- Atvasināta publiskā persona
- Accreditation date:
- 22.11.2001
Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies
Registration code 2891101568Registered as Latvijas Biozinātņu un tehnoloģiju universitāte.
Location: Jelgava
- Legal status, as the register records it:
- Atvasināta publiskā persona
- Accreditation date:
- 25.10.2001
Latvian Academy of Culture
Registration code 3392301524Registered as Latvijas Kultūras akadēmija.
Location: Rīga
- Legal status, as the register records it:
- Atvasināta publiskā persona
- Accreditation date:
- 14.06.2001
The AIKA register records no website for this institution. The address above is the one the Ministry of Education and Science publishes on its own list of higher education institutions, which is linked in the sidebar. Checked 2026-10-02.
National Defence Academy of Latvia
Registration code 3394400217Registered as Latvijas Nacionālā aizsardzības akadēmija.
Location: Rīga
- Legal status, as the register records it:
- Valsts iestāde
- Accreditation date:
- 13.06.2002
The AIKA register records no website for this institution. The address above is the one the Ministry of Education and Science publishes on its own list of higher education institutions, which is linked in the sidebar. Checked 2026-10-02.
Riga Aeronautical Institute
Registration code 3394801470Registered as Rīgas Aeronavigācijas institūts.
Location: Rīga
- Legal status, as the register records it:
- Komercsabiedrība
- Accreditation date:
- 08.03.2001
Riga Graduate School of Law
Registration code 3394802425Registered as Sabiedrība ar ierobežotu atbildību “Rīgas Juridiskā augstskola”.
Location: Rīga
- Legal status, as the register records it:
- Komercsabiedrība
- Accreditation date:
- 19.01.2006
No website is linked here. The register records www.rgsl.edu.lv, and on 2026-10-02 the address without the www prefix returned a redirect to that hostname, which did not resolve from our environment. The institution is accredited on the register either way, so use the register entry below and ask the institution for its current address rather than treating a search-engine result as the official one.
Riga Nordic University
Registration code 3394800183Registered as Rīgas Ziemeļvalstu augstskola.
Location: Rīga
- Legal status, as the register records it:
- Komercsabiedrība
- Accreditation date:
- 14.11.2002
One of the six whose English name says University while the register records an augstskola. No website is linked here: the address the register records, www.isma.lv, served an expired TLS certificate on 2026-10-02, so a browser will warn before loading it and we will not send you through that. Use the register entry below.
Rīga Stradiņš University
Registration code 3391702042Registered as Rīgas Stradiņa universitāte.
Location: Rīga
- Legal status, as the register records it:
- Atvasināta publiskā persona
- Accreditation date:
- 13.12.2001
The AIKA register records no website for this institution. The address above is the one the Ministry of Education and Science publishes on its own list of higher education institutions, which is linked in the sidebar. Checked 2026-10-02.
Riga Technical University
Registration code 3391000709Registered as Rīgas Tehniskā universitāte.
Location: Rīga
- Legal status, as the register records it:
- Atvasināta publiskā persona
- Accreditation date:
- 12.07.2001
This address refused an automated request on 2026-10-02 and so is published on the strength of the register entry rather than our own fetch. That is bot protection on a live site, not evidence that anything is wrong with it.
RISEBA University of Applied Sciences
Registration code 3393802029Registered as Biznesa, mākslas un tehnoloģiju augstskola “RISEBA”.
Location: Rīga
- Type recorded on the register:
- University of Applied Sciences
- Legal status, as the register records it:
- Komercsabiedrība
- Accreditation date:
- 28.04.2000
Stockholm School of Economics in Riga
Registration code 3394802920Registered as Rīgas Ekonomikas augstskola – STOCKHOLM SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS IN RIGA.
Location: Rīga
- Legal status, as the register records it:
- Komercsabiedrība
- Accreditation date:
- 14.06.1996
The register records no website for this institution, and we have not substituted one found elsewhere. Note the registered Latvian name: it is a single registered entity carrying both the Latvian and the English form, which is why a document may show either. Checked 2026-10-02.
Transport and Telecommunication Institute
Registration code 3393801782Registered as Transporta un sakaru institūts.
Location: Rīga
- Type recorded on the register:
- University of Applied Sciences
- Legal status, as the register records it:
- Komercsabiedrība
- Accreditation date:
- 24.01.2002
One of the three institutions whose statutory Type field the register fills. The register records no website for it, and we have not substituted one found elsewhere — use the register entry below and ask the institution for its current address in writing. Checked 2026-10-02.
Turība University
Registration code 3394800213Registered as Biznesa augstskola Turība.
Location: Rīga
- Legal status, as the register records it:
- Komercsabiedrība
- Accreditation date:
- 08.05.1997
One of the six whose English name says University while the register records an augstskola — here, Biznesa augstskola Turība. Checked 2026-10-02.
University of Latvia
Registration code 3391000218Registered as Latvijas Universitāte.
Location: Rīga
- Legal status, as the register records it:
- Atvasināta publiskā persona
- Accreditation date:
- 06.08.1999
Ventspils University College
Registration code 3294001570Registered as Ventspils Augstskola.
Location: Ventspils
- Legal status, as the register records it:
- Atvasināta publiskā persona
- Accreditation date:
- 10.12.1999
One of the six whose English name contains University while the register records an augstskola; here the English name says College as well, which is a third word for the same entity. The address refused an automated request on 2026-10-02 and is published on the strength of the register entry rather than our own fetch. Checked 2026-10-02.
Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences
Registration code 2594001659Registered as Vidzemes Augstskola.
Location: Valmiera
- Legal status, as the register records it:
- Atvasināta publiskā persona
- Accreditation date:
- 17.01.2002
One of the six whose English name says University while the register records an augstskola — here, Vidzemes Augstskola. The register records its address in Valmiera; 17 of the 22 institutions on this list are registered in Rīga. Checked 2026-10-02.
How to check a Latvian institution before you pay anything
Every step below is done on the quality agency's own platform or a ministry page, not on ours. Run it on any institution, including the ones listed above.
- Find the institution on the AIKA e-platform and search by the registered Latvian name or by the registration code, not by the English name. The register is held in Latvian, and an English name can be restyled without the registration changing.
- Confirm it appears under “Accredited” and not under “Not accredited” or “Liquidated”. The e-platform separates those, and that separation is the entire point of the register.
- Find your own study programme on the register's study-programme list under that institution. An accredited institution can still be offering a programme that is not licensed, and the programme — not the institution — is what your diploma will name.
- Look at whether the registered Latvian name says universitāte or augstskola, and whether the Type field is filled. If you need the statutory type and the field is empty, ask the institution in writing rather than inferring it from the English name.
- Take fees, entry requirements, English-language requirements and application deadlines from the institution's own admissions pages. None of them appear on any register, including this page.
What this page deliberately does not tell you
There are no tuition figures, living-cost estimates, entry grades, English-test scores, application deadlines or ranking positions here, and there will not be. Every one of those is set per programme and revised at least annually, so a number copied onto a third-party page is wrong within months and is worse than no number at all — it looks authoritative while being stale.
We also do not publish the establishment date the register carries for each institution. That date is the date of the entity the register holds, and it is not always the founding year the institution itself uses — two different facts that look like one number, and printing them as one would create a false comparison across the list. The rectors' names, telephone numbers and street addresses the register carries are likewise the institution's to publish, and are left on the register where they belong.
Each institution's own site is linked above wherever a first-party source gives one, and that is where the changing answers live. What we can usefully hold still is the part that does not change every intake: the registered name, the registration code, the accreditation date, and where to confirm all three.
Common questions
- How many universities are there in Latvia?
- It depends which question you are really asking, and the register lets you see both answers. Latvia's accredited register holds 42 entries: 22 higher education institutions and 20 colleges. Of the 22 institutions, five are registered under a Latvian name containing universitāte — Latvijas Universitāte, Rīgas Tehniskā universitāte, Rīgas Stradiņa universitāte, Latvijas Biozinātņu un tehnoloģiju universitāte and Daugavpils Universitāte. Six more present an English name containing University while the register records an augstskola. This page lists all 22 with both names so you can answer either question from the same list.
- An institution calls itself a University in English but the register says augstskola. Is it a real institution?
- If it appears under “Accredited” on the AIKA e-platform, yes — accreditation is the test, not the choice of English word. Latvian higher education includes universities, academies, institutes and augstskolas, and an augstskola is a different category rather than a lesser one. The reason we print the Latvian name anyway is practical: your diploma, your transcript and the register itself carry that name, so it is the one a foreign ministry or employer will be matching. Knowing both names in advance saves an argument later.
- What is the registration code, and why print it beside every name?
- It is the identifier the register holds for the institution. It is worth more to you than the name because it is stable: an institution can restyle its English name, merge a faculty or change its web address without the registration code changing, and you can search the register with the code directly. If the code on an offer letter does not match the code on the register entry for the institution you think you applied to, that is the discrepancy to resolve before you pay anything.
- The law says there are four types of higher education institution. Why does this page not say which type each one is?
- Because the register does not. Section 3 of the Law on Institutions of Higher Education sets out four types — universities of science, universities of arts and culture, universities of applied sciences, and higher education institutions of applied sciences — and leaves the type to the institution's founder. The e-platform has a field for it, and on 2 October 2026 that field was filled for three of the 22 institutions and empty for nineteen. We print what the register carries. Deducing a statutory type from a name would be guessing with a legal term, which is exactly what this page exists to avoid.
- Why are the colleges not listed on this page?
- Because they are a different category and mixing them in would make the list less useful, not more. Latvia's accredited register holds 20 colleges alongside the 22 higher education institutions, and colleges deliver first-level professional higher education. A college is a legitimate route and may be the right one for you; it is simply not what someone searching for universities in Latvia is asking about. The register link in the sidebar shows all 42 entries in one list.
- Do you publish tuition fees, entry scores or rankings for Latvian institutions?
- No. Fees are set per programme and revised annually, entry and language requirements are set per programme, and we do not publish ranking positions at all. Anything priced, scored or dated belongs on the institution's own admissions page, which is linked wherever a first-party source gives one. What we publish is the part that stays still: the registered name, the code and the accreditation.