Latvia’s parliament has approved changes to the Law on Higher Education, permitting foreign academic staff of a higher education institution, except lecturer and assistant, to work for six years without adequate knowledge of the Latvian language.
The draft law initiated by the President of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs, was approved by 76 members of the country’s parliament on Thursday, October 24, while only eight were against the amendments, Schengen.News reports.
Based on the recent amendments, a person without adequate knowledge of the national language will be elected only once for a period of six years.
According to a report from the public broadcasting of Latvia LSM, a higher education institution in Latvia will offer an opportunity for a foreign person elected to the position of academic staff in order to learn the state language.
After six years, the person will be eligible for election to an academic position at the same or another higher education institution, provided they obtained a document of proficiency in the state language to the extent provided by the Cabinet of Ministers.
For a period of two months, the Cabinet of Ministers is required to issue these regulations for the implementation of this draft law.
According to the authors of the draft law, among the factors leading to the openness of higher education institutions are the requirements for proficiency in the national language.
“Several important studies have pointed out that the existing strict requirements may in some cases create obstacles to the international competitiveness of our higher education and science.” Authors of the draft law
The proposal by National Alliance MPs that internationals should be obliged to learn the Latvian language during the six-year period was rejected by the parliament.
Number of Foreign Workers in Latvia Almost Doubled
Based on the figures provided previously by the Latvian Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, the foreign workforce in Latvia more than doubled since 2015.
As of August this year, the number of residence permits issued by Latvia to foreign workers nearly doubled, reaching 15,558, marking a notable increase compared to 6,694 registered in 2015.
The increase in international workers emerges from the shortage of local workers.
The EURES report of 2023 noted that Latvia is dealing with labour shortages in 37 occupations.
The country is attempting to apply new changes in order to bring in a larger number of internationals.
Source: https://schengen.news/latvia-to-allow-foreign-academic-staff-to-work-for-6-years-without-adequate-language-proficiency/
