RTU to collaborate with MIT

This week Riga Technical University (RTU) will sign a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This will enable Latvia to join a global community of higher education teaching staff, technology experts, researchers and policy experts and, with the support of MIT, to shape the innovation and research environment in Latvia.

The signing of the agreement will take place during the visit of the Ministry of Education and Science and RTU management to the USA from 13 to 17 September, visiting the University at Buffalo and MIT.

MIT has been a leading education and research institution in the world for many decades and aims to support and strengthen the capacity of other universities. That is why MIT has created a special unit, the Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL), to foster global cooperation and to encourage its members, which RTU will become. J-WEL offers a variety of educational activities such as seminars, research support, information exchange events, open to teaching staff, researchers, decision-makers and industry.

The memorandum foresees that any Latvian higher education institution will be able to benefit from MIT support, as an international centre of excellence for education and innovation will be established in Latvia. Its mission will be to promote educational excellence, transfer of international best practice, digital transformation and reform in Latvian higher education through MIT support. The centre will be operated by RTU Riga Business School (RBS) in cooperation with MIT.

“It is a great recognition for RTU and Latvia that we are becoming members of an elite higher education community and will be able to gain knowledge and experience from the world’s most outstanding teaching staff and scientists. We must use this opportunity to strengthen Latvian higher education and science to compete more globally,” said RTU Rector Leonīds Ribickis.

Minister of Education and Science Anita Muižniece stresses that cooperation with global centres of research excellence is important for the development of Latvian higher education and science.

“I am pleased that Latvian scientists, decision-makers and representatives of high-tech industries will have the opportunity to acquire high-level skills, which will then be used in the development of the Latvian economy,” said the Minister.

The memorandum will be signed by RTU Rector Leonīds Ribickis, with the participation of the Director of the Higher Education, Science and Innovation Department of the Ministry of Education Dmitrijs Stepanovs, RTU Vice-Rector for Development Artūrs Zeps, RTU RBS Director Jānis Grēviņš and the Director of the Technology Department of the Latvian Investment and Development Agency Lauma Muižniece.

In spring, RTU RBS started cooperation with MIT, wrote Labs of Latvia. Students can take international courses and enhance their competitiveness in financial management, logistics systems and supply chain management, statistics and data analysis. RBS is one of the few European higher education institutions to partner with MIT.

“The collaboration with MIT is a key addition to RBS’s offering, further developing and providing students with curricula developed at the world’s top universities. For RBS graduates, the cooperation will provide additional proof of the high quality of their education as they pursue careers in global companies,” RBS Director Jānis Grēviņš has previously emphasised.

RBS offers the opportunity to study MIT courses not only for its own students, but also for students of other Latvian higher education institutions.

Source: labsoflatvia.com