Riga Technical University

History, Affiliations and Rankings

Established in 1862, the institute was formerly known as Riga Polytechnicum and was one of the first polytechnic colleges in Russia. The institute offers programs in agriculture, chemistry, engineering, mechanics, trade, and architecture, in German. Riga Polytechnical Institute was re-established in 1958 by dividing the engineering faculties from the State University of Latvia. In 1990, it was renamed Riga Technical University. The University has affiliations with BSRUN, BALTECH, NORDTEK, and EUt+. RTU is the highest-rated Latvian higher education college in the Times Higher Education Rating in the 2020 Sustainability Assessment,  which assesses the performance of institutions in sustainable development, placed in the group of the highest-rated universities.

Infrastructure, Campuses and Courses

The Campus is home to a wide range of departments that a student may need – faculties, library, laboratories, students’ hostel, Students Parliament, Student Service Center, creative laboratories and interest centers, swimming pool, promenade, and a shopping center. The campus provides a vibrant social life. Students here can easily develop their talent by singing, dancing, acting, or playing music in one of the artistic groups of RTU or doing sports in one of RTU sports teams. Currently, there are five programs, taught in English at the Faculty from undergraduate to doctoral levels, faculties ranging from Civil Engineering to Aeronautics.

Accomplishments and Alumni 

Riga Technical University has more than 150 years of history as a center of scientific excellence and has Nobel prize awardees, prime ministers as former students. Riga Technical University has been awarded the European Quality Mark and EU Supplement Diploma award. The institute’s library is the oldest library in Latvia and has been accredited of national importance and has about 2 million units of information. The notable alumni are Wilhelm Ostwald – Nobel Prize in Chemistry, faculty 1881–1887, Alfred Rosenberg – German politician, Nazi Minister of Occupied Eastern Territories, executed for war crimes, alumnus and Paul Walden – chemist, invented ethyl ammonium nitrate as the first example of an ionic liquid, alumnus. 

Student Diversity and Visiting Companies

Riga Technical University values diversity in all its dimensions. The College has more than 14,300 student enrolments out of which about 27,600 are undergraduates and about 490 are docturals with about 561 faculty members on its premises. They have about 1,800 students hailing from all over the world on the campus. The male to female ratio is 65:35 at Riga Technical University making it a fairly gender-balanced university. Some of the leading recruiters at this institute are Amazon, Oracle, KPMG US, Google, and others.