Attracting international students to Latvia Metropolis Conference - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Attracting international students to Latvia

li C f 20 3 Metropolis Conference 2013, Tampere 10.09.2013.

Author: Kristīne Bērziņa, expert of the EMN LV NCP

THE OFFICE OF CITIZENSHIP AND MIGRATION AFFAIRS, LATVIAN CONTACT POINT OF THE EMN

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Institutions involved Ministry of Education and Science:

• State Education Development Agency
• Academic Information Centre
• Academic Information Centre

Ministry of Foreign Affairs incl diplomatic and consular Ministry of Foreign Affairs, incl. diplomatic and consular missions abroad Ministry of Interior

• Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs
• State Border Guard

THE OFFICE OF CITIZENSHIP AND MIGRATION AFFAIRS, LATVIAN CONTACT POINT OF THE EMN

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Policy and strategy Education: Education:

• Main action – internationalisation of higher education and increase of

the international competitiveness

• Main aim – proportion of foreign students to 10% from total
• Each institution can define its’ own policy, strategy, target countries
• Different policy for state financed institutions regarding language use

in study programmes

Immigration:

• Based on the common EU policy (implementation of the Directive

2004/114/EC)

THE OFFICE OF CITIZENSHIP AND MIGRATION AFFAIRS, LATVIAN CONTACT POINT OF THE EMN

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Legislation Education Law, Law on Institutions of Higher Education

l l i f h C bi f Mi i

• relevant regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers

I i ti L Immigration Law

• relevant regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers

THE OFFICE OF CITIZENSHIP AND MIGRATION AFFAIRS, LATVIAN CONTACT POINT OF THE EMN

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System of higher education

Doctoral studies

(3‐4 years)

Master studies Academic (2 years) Professional (1‐2 years) Bachelor studies Academic (3 4 years) Professional 2nd level (3‐4 years) 2nd level (4 years) College education 1st level (2‐3 years)

THE OFFICE OF CITIZENSHIP AND MIGRATION AFFAIRS, LATVIAN CONTACT POINT OF THE EMN

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Statistics I Total number of students, 2006‐2012

Data source: Ministry of Education and Science y

140000

129503 127050 125350

120000

125350 112555 103782 97035

100000

97035 94474

80000 2006/2007. 2007./2008. 2008./2009. 2009./2010. 2010./2011. 2011./2012. 2012./2013. THE OFFICE OF CITIZENSHIP AND MIGRATION AFFAIRS, LATVIAN CONTACT POINT OF THE EMN

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Statistics II Dissemination of foreign students in the institutions of higher education, academic year 2012/2013 education, academic year 2012/2013

Data source: Ministry of Education and Science

Institution of higher education Total number of foreign students Number of third‐ country nationals TOP‐5 citizenships foreign students country nationals

Riga Stradins University (state) 784 20 (3%) Sri Lanka, Israel, Turkey, University of Latvia (state) 540 171 (32%) Turkey, Russia, Sri Lanka, Montenegro, Pakistan Riga Technical University (state) 414 327 (79%) Uzbekistan, India, Turkey, Nigeria, Egypt Baltic International Academy (private) 377 297 (79%) Russia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus Business School “Turība” (private) 278 215 (77%) Uzbekistan, India, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Belarus Riga Aeronavigation Institute (private) 182 179 (98%) Russia(134), Kazakhstan, Georgia, Ukraine Ukraine Stockholm School of Economics in Riga (private) 158 42 (27%) Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia Information Systems Management 141 137 (97%) Ukraine, Russia, Belarus,

THE OFFICE OF CITIZENSHIP AND MIGRATION AFFAIRS, LATVIAN CONTACT POINT OF THE EMN

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Practical measures for attraction Participation in education exhibitions Use of services of agents of education Use of services of agents of education Information availability via different sources Study fees Study fees Scholarships based on international agreements

THE OFFICE OF CITIZENSHIP AND MIGRATION AFFAIRS, LATVIAN CONTACT POINT OF THE EMN

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Statistics III Number of international students, 2006‐2012

Data source: Ministry of Education and Science y

3000 3500

2717 3493

2500 3000

1949 2717

1500 2000

1425 1492 1583 1715 994 1058 1303 1778

500 1000

761 826 894 994 1058

2006./2007. 2007./2008. 2008./2009. 2009./2010. 2010./2011. 2011./2012. 2012./2013. THE OFFICE OF CITIZENSHIP AND MIGRATION AFFAIRS, LATVIAN CONTACT POINT OF THE EMN

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Total number of foreign students Number of students from third countries

Immigration to Latvia For short‐term (not exceeding 90 days) education – visa

• facilitations provided by the Visa Code are taken into account

For long‐term education – temporary residence permit

• granted for the entire period of studies
• only for full‐time students, pupils of accredited institutions and for

student or pupil exchange student or pupil exchange

• for preparation courses (if the study programme provides for such)

THE OFFICE OF CITIZENSHIP AND MIGRATION AFFAIRS, LATVIAN CONTACT POINT OF THE EMN

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Immigration to Latvia: procedures I First stage:

• Educational institution approves an invitation(certifies that it assumes

ibilit f th i it ) a responsibility for the invitee)

• Student applies for residence permit by submitting necessary

documents to the respective diplomatic or consular mission outside the Schengen Zone (there are some exceptions)

• The Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs examines documents

and adopts a decision within 30 days (by paying higher state fee – and adopts a decision within 30 days (by paying higher state fee – within 10 or 5 working days)

THE OFFICE OF CITIZENSHIP AND MIGRATION AFFAIRS, LATVIAN CONTACT POINT OF THE EMN

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Immigration to Latvia: procedures II Second stage:

• student applies for a national visa in order to entry to Latvia and to

receive a residence permit

• consular authority examines all submitted documents for a
• consular authority examines all submitted documents for a

visa, assesses risks of illegal immigration

May be cases for a visa when the decision on granting y g g residence permit is positive, but the issuance of visa is refused Third stage:

• student should arrive to the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs

to receive the residence permit

THE OFFICE OF CITIZENSHIP AND MIGRATION AFFAIRS, LATVIAN CONTACT POINT OF THE EMN

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Immigration to Latvia: statistics First‐time residence permits for education reasons, 2008‐2012

Data source: Eurostat, for 2012 – OCMA

900 824 600 700 800 400 500 600 346 296 459 200 300 400 154 221 212 296 100 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

THE OFFICE OF CITIZENSHIP AND MIGRATION AFFAIRS, LATVIAN CONTACT POINT OF THE EMN

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2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Immigration to Latvia: rights Right to work (20 h per week) Family reunification (spouses, minor children):

• spouses do not have a right to work;
• payment of full state fee for the examination of the documents for

spouses; p ;

• children have rights to acquire a free education.

No rights to receive state social allowances and healthcare (health insurance policy)

THE OFFICE OF CITIZENSHIP AND MIGRATION AFFAIRS, LATVIAN CONTACT POINT OF THE EMN

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Main challenges and possible solutions I Lack of diplomatic and consular missions abroad p

Solution: sending mission to the third country in cooperation with the other EU MS (first experience in 2012, India): l 88 li f h

• total 88 applicants, from them:

13 refused; 18 do not proceed further; 18 do not proceed further; 27 withdrawn or residence permit was not renewed; 30 issued and are in force.

Cooperation agreements between institutions ‐ increase of b l f d responsibility of education institutions

THE OFFICE OF CITIZENSHIP AND MIGRATION AFFAIRS, LATVIAN CONTACT POINT OF THE EMN

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Main challenges and possible solutions II Residence permit and visa application is not merged into one p pp g procedure

• allows immigration institutions effectively combat irregular migration

Capacity of state institutions during admission procedures

b i i f ll d i

• submission of all documents on time

Recognition procedure of education documents Recognition procedure of education documents

• problems to check the authenticity of submitted documents
• different education systems, falsified documents

y ,

• problematic states – Nigeria, Cameroon, India (some

regions), Pakistan, Nepal

THE OFFICE OF CITIZENSHIP AND MIGRATION AFFAIRS, LATVIAN CONTACT POINT OF THE EMN

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Thank You very much for Your attention!

Author: Kristīne BĒRZIŅA

EXPERT OF THE EMN LV NCP E‐mail: emn@pmlp.gov.lv Web: www.emn.lv

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