Latvia

For higher education institutions (HEIs), the requirements set out in the Law on Higher Education Institutions regarding the quality of scientific activity and the provision of doctoral study programmes are directly related to the assessment obtained. 

International assessments in Latvia were conducted in 2013 and 2019, each covering six years of prior performance, and a third cycle, which began in 2025, is currently underway.

Governance

The Ministry of Education and Science of Latvia oversees the international evaluation system, with procedures defined by the Republic of Latvia Cabinet Regulation No. 619 (2018). For all three assessment cycles (2013, 2019, and 2025), the organisation of the evaluations has been contracted to the Technopolis Group.

The international evaluation applies to institutions listed in the Register of Scientific Institutions. Participation is compulsory for all state-funded scientific institutions. Private scientific institutions that are not higher education institutions may participate voluntarily.

The methodology developed within the 2025 assessment framework will continue to be used in international evaluations of scientific institutions until 2031. After that, responsibility for the evaluation will be transferred to the Latvian Science Council.

Operation of the exercise

The international evaluation of scientific institutions focuses on the assessment of scholarly outputs, scientific impact, societal interaction, economic impact, research environment and infrastructure and development potential.

In Latvia’s international evaluation of scientific institutions, the scope and units of assessment encompass both:

• Units – usually administrative entities within the institution (e.g., faculties, departments, etc.), which are then presented to one of the 6 disciplinary panels: Natural Sciences, Engineering and Technology; Medical and Health Sciences, Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities; If an institution does not have several units, the institution itself is assessed as a unit;

• Institutions as a whole (consolidated institutional evaluation) – If a scientific institution participates in the evaluation with several units, a consolidated evaluation is given for the institution as a whole, in addition to the individual evaluations of each unit.

The international evaluation is based on informed peer review conducted by international expert groups organized into six disciplinary panels. Units are assessed using documentary evidence, selected research outputs, and site-visits. Key documentary inputs include self-assessment reports submitted by units, information from the National Research Information System (NRIS), selected research publications, general background information on the research, development and innovation system of Latvia and bibliometric data from the Scopus (If majority of publications submitted by a unit are not indexed in Scopus, the Web of Science database is also used).

On the procedural side, the evaluation begins with the establishment of expert groups and the preparation of documentary inputs to support their work. This is followed by a desk-based assessment carried out by individual expert group members. The first expert group meeting then takes place, where initial assessments and scores are agreed upon. After the meeting, site visits are conducted. Following the visits, the groups meet again to finalize assessments and scores. Expert groups then draft individual reports, which Technopolis shares with the evaluated units for fact-checking and collects feedback to share with the groups. After considering the units’ feedback, expert groups prepare their final reports, and Technopolis summarises the results in the Consolidated International Evaluation Report, which is publicly available.

Assessment follows a five-point scoring system for six evaluation criteria, with the overall score agreed upon by the panel after considering all available evidence.

For more detailed information on assessment criteria, see Section 4.

History, reviews and evaluations

Latvia’s international assessments of scientific institutions were first introduced in 2013 as the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) Latvia and the methodology used was loosely based on the former UK RAE model, adapted to the Latvian context. Assessments were conducted in 2013 and 2019, each covering six years of prior performance, with a third cycle, which began in 2025, currently underway. 

The approach has remained largely the same over the assessment cycles. The Ministry has not conducted any reviews or evaluations of the assessment approach. According to the expert who provided the information on the Latvian evaluation system, Anete Vingre, “In terms of the summative element of the assessment, the results have regularly been used to inform base funding allocation and mergers of institutions, facilitating system consolidation. In terms of the formative elements of the assessment, there is anecdotal evidence of evaluated units following up on panel recommendations to improve research performance and management”.

The Ministry has requested that the 2025 assessment be DORA and CoARA compliant. 

Last updated: November 2025 

Acknowledgement: Information provided by Anete Vingre.