Certification procedures for dental students from abroad have been improved

On September 12 the Latvian government, after lengthy discussions, supported the several times postponed amendments to the regulations set by the Cabinet of Ministers*, which aimed to improve the certification procedures for dental students from abroad. The new regulations provide that foreign students will no longer need to certify knowledge of the state language during the first certification process.

The previous procedure foresaw that foreign students who have completed the study programme in English and are not planning on working in Latvia still could not be certified if they had not been given a certificate of knowledge of the state language of at least C1 level.

Amendments approved by the Latvian government to the regulations set by the Cabinet of Ministers resolves the long-standing problem for foreign students who have completed the dental programme in English. The problem was raised this year by students and over 900 Riga Stradiņš University students signed an official letter addressed to the government. The Latvian Students’ Association values positively the fact that the combined petition of dental students from Riga Stradiņš University, the University of Latvia, students’ self-governments and the representatives of both universities has been taken into consideration and the government has acted upon and changed the certification procedure.

The amendments to the regulatory enactments also provide for the removal of the requirement that the certification of the state language is necessary during the first certification process.

*The Cabinet of Ministers Regulation of December 18, 2012 No. 943 “Procedures for the Certification of Medical Persons”, The Cabinet of Ministers Regulation of May 24, 2016 No. 317 “Procedures for Establishment, Replenishment and Maintenance of the Register of Medical Persons and Medical Support Persons”, The Cabinet of Ministers Regulation of March 8, 2005 No. 170 “Regulations on the Register of Medical Institutions”, The Cabinet of Ministers Regulation of December 20, 2016. No. 827 “Procedure for the recognition of professional qualifications for permanent professional activities in the Republic of Latvia”, “Amendments to the regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers of March 28, 2017 No. 168 “Procedure for the Provision of Short-term Professional Services in the Regulated Profession in the Republic of Latvia”

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