Rankings: The 4 best universities in Latvia for 2025/2026
by Aleksejs Bergmanis
With low tuition fees, reasonable living costs, and a welcoming environment for international students, Latvia is gaining attention as an affordable and high-quality study destination in Northern Europe.
Located in the Baltics, the country offers a growing selection of English-taught degrees, particularly in fields like business, engineering, IT, and health sciences.
The rankings below presents the best universities in Latvia for international students, based on academic reputation, programme variety, international partnerships, and student support services. Among the top institutions are University of Latvia and Riga Technical University, both located in the capital city, Riga. These universities offer a wide range of Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes in English and participate actively in European exchange and research initiatives.
Latvia combines strong academic foundations with an enjoyable student lifestyle. Cities like Riga, with its mix of historic charm and modern culture, provide a great environment for study and everyday life.
| University | QS Ranking 2025 | THE Ranking 2025 | ARWU Ranking 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riga Technical University | 721 | 1001 | – |
| University of Latvia | 781 | 1001 | – |
| R朝ga Stradi邸 University | 951 | 1501 | – |
| Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies | – | 1501 | – |
The QS World University Rankings are among the most important, most-referenced rankings. The QS ranking relies heavily on its academic survey, asking thousands of academics worldwide about the reputation of universities.
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings (or the THE Rankings for short) compile a wide range of statistics. Equal weight is put on teaching quality, research excellence, and research impact through citations (meaning how often a universitys research is referenced elsewhere).
The Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University (often just Shanghai Ranking, or ARWU) focuses on research output and quality, for example measured by the number of published and cited scientific papers and the number of staff or alumni winning the Nobel Prize or Fields Medal.
Although a small nation, there are many universities in Latvia, with a broad range of study programmes in English - and especially many at the Bachelor’s level.
Read more about studying in Latvia
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