Welcome to the Riga Graduate School of Law!
A new academic year has begun, full of promise of a rich and exciting learning experience for the 150 students who are joining RGSL this year.
Established in 1998, RGSL is a leading, internationally-oriented educational and research institute in the Baltic region. The School enjoys the support of important international donors and cooperates closely with the University of Latvia, which is the major shareholder. In addition to the growing resident faculty, it benefits from the cooperation with a large number of eminent scholars and practitioners, who generously devote their time and expertise to the activities of RGSL. The School is marvellously located in a historic property in the ‘art nouveau district’ of Riga and hosts an outstanding law library. All together, this provides a unique and inspirational setting for studies and research.
RGSL offers six master’s programs related to European and International Law. Specialisation areas include: Public International Law and Human Rights, European Union Law and Policy, Transborder Commercial Law, Legal Linguistics, and Law and Finance. These programmes attract students from Latvia and the Baltic region, but also to a large extent from EU neighbourhood countries, CIS states, and increasingly from the rest of Europe and overseas. The diverse composition of the student body is also one of the School’s main assets, as it contributes to building a highly stimulating learning environment for both students and teachers.
In view of the successful transition to democracy and consolidation of the rule of law in Latvia and neighbouring countries, RGSL is able to draw on a rich pool of experience of immense value to other countries undergoing a similar transition as well as to the continual integration of the enlarged European Union. A primary objective of RGSL is to contribute to the development of Latvia and the wider region by educating new generations of motivated and highly skilled young professionals. It is in this regard encouraging that application numbers to the RGSL master’s programs are on the rise.
While the RGSL master’s programmes are well established, building on more than a decade of excellence in post-graduate education, we are venturing into new territory with the commencement of two bachelor level programmes: one devoted to the study of Diplomacy and International Relations, the other to Law and Business. This is a very exciting development for RGSL, as it provides an occasion to expand our cooperation with leading scholars and experts in the local area and extend the offer of internationally oriented, English language studies to an increased number of motivated and talented young students.
As Rector of RGSL, I am greatly looking forward to the upcoming academic year, which we expect will also see the launching of study opportunities at PhD level. I look forward to welcoming the new students to our beautiful premises and to cooperating with our dynamic staff and academic faculty in further optimizing the potential of the School.
George Ulrich
Rector