Recent regulations in Latvian national legislation concerning higher education suggested a wider use of foreign languages when studying. However, the Student Council of the University of Latvia supported the proposal only as long as it concerned the official EU languages, considered as more beneficial.
According to Artis Ozoliņš, the head of the Student Council, the proposal of the increase in the part of curriculum delivered in the official EU languages was very welcome since it could attract academic staff and students from abroad, and moreover, it would also encourage many study programmes of the University of Latvia to continue increasing that part of their curriculum which could be delivered in English.
Furthermore, the Student Council supported the proposal that also exams, qualification tests, bachelor and master theses could be written in the official EU languages. According to Ozoliņš, it would in many cases ease the students’ life since they would not need to translate their work into another language, it would encourage their participation in the international fora and, what is more, it could pave the way for creation of publications.
Student Council also supported the idea of providing free-of-charge Latvian language classes, as well as classes in Latvian history and culture, thus helping foreign students to integrate while spending their study terms in Latvia.
Meanwhile, there are some problems to be faced. First, there is a lack of professional local academic staff who could teach in the official EU languages, and in order to attract academic staff from abroad, extra financing is needed. Second, it should be noted that a wider use of the official EU languages could disencourage the development of science terminology within the Latvian language.