Latvian citizens who have voluntarily applied for and completed the National Defence Service (NDS) will be paid by the state also for part-time study programmes, the government decided on Tuesday.
Amendments to the Cabinet of Ministers Regulation “Procedure for Financing Universities and Colleges from State Budget Funds” provide for financing from state budget funds part-time studies for Latvian citizens who have volunteered for national defence service and have completed it by the end of their service term, provided that the students meet the admission requirements of the university and study programme.
Currently, the State finances full-time studies, as well as part-time studies in the study programmes of the study group “Education” and at Riga Stradiņš University and the University of Latvia for training specialists in the study programmes of the consortium “Internal Security Academy”.
The Ministry of Education and Science explains that in the process of admission to universities and colleges for the academic year 2024/2025, some state higher education institutions found difficulties in admitting citizens who had completed national defence service to part-time study programmes.
Having assessed the 2024/2025 academic year enrolment process at universities and colleges and trends in the enrolment of citizens who have completed national defence service, the Ministry of Education and Science has concluded that it is necessary to provide state funding for Latvian citizens who have voluntarily applied for and completed national defence service to study also in part-time study programmes.
As reported, 51 of the 245 young people who completed the first National Defence Service recruitment continue to develop their skills
by choosing full-time studies at higher education institutions financed by the State.
The Ministry of Defence informed that the most popular universities are Riga Technical University, where 18 of the young people who have completed national defence service are studying, and the University of Latvia, where 15 students are studying in different programmes.
Six are also studying at Riga Stradiņš University, five at the Latvian University of Life Sciences and Technologies, and three are continuing their military careers as officers at the Latvian National Defence Academy.
One youngster is studying at Daugavpils Medical College of Daugavpils University, one at the Latvian Academy of Culture, one at Rēzekne Academy of Technologies and one at Ventspils University College. During the application period in July and August, the state universities and colleges received a total of more than 100 applications from soldiers who had completed their national defence service.