Riga Technical University

Riga Technical University
Rīgas Tehniskā universitāte
Type Public
Established 1862 [154 years ago]
Students 16, 900 (2008)
Location Riga, Latvia
Affiliations BSRUN, BALTECH
Website http://www.rtu.lv/
Main building on Latvian Rifleman Square.

Riga Technical University (RTU) (Latvian: Rīgas Tehniskā universitāte) is the oldest technical university in the Baltics established on October 14, 1862. It is Located in Riga, Latvia it was previously known as Riga Polytechnical Institute and Riga Polytechnicum.

Riga Polytechnical Institute, 1862–1918

Riga Polytechnicum was first established in 1862 and was the first polytechnical institute in Imperial Russia. It offered degrees in agriculture, chemistry, engineering, mechanics, trade and architecture, with education in German. In 1896, it was renamed Riga Polytechnical Institute and the language of instruction was changed to Russian.

When World War I started in 1914, the Riga Polytechnical Institute was evacuated to Moscow and worked there until 1918. After that, part of the faculty returned to Latvia and joined the newly established University of Latvia. Others stayed in Russia and taught at universities there.

Riga Technical University, 1958–present

Riga Polytechnical Institute was re-established in 1958 by splitting off the engineering departments from the State University of Latvia. In 1990, it was renamed to Riga Technical University. The university currently consists of 9 faculties:

As of 2003, it had 17,281 students.

Riga Business School

The Riga Business School is a management–education institution within Riga Technical University. It was founded in 1991, in close cooperation with the State University of New York at Buffalo (USA) and the University of Ottawa (Canada), and it was the first higher education institution in the Baltic states that offered Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs in English.[1]

The school currently has more than 800 MBA graduates, mostly middle- and upper-level level managers both in Latvia and abroad. The education standards and structure are adopted from the North-American style MBA, which contains case studies, working in groups, and active participation in classrooms.

Ranking

Riga Technical University is ranked in the 800+ bracket in Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2016-2017.[2] It has been ranked 64th among EECA (Eastern Europe and Central Asia) universities, making it the second highest ranking university in Latvia (behind the University of Latvia) and the 7th in the Baltic states.[3] The Webometrics ranking also places RTU as Latvia's second best university after UoL.[4]

Notable faculty and alumni

Some of its most notable graduates are the Latvian-born Nobel Prize laureate Wilhelm Ostwald, the legendary Mayor of Riga George Armitstead, the President of Latvia Andris Bērziņš, Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis and many others who have earned distinction in science and society.

Wilhelm Ostwald

Wilhelm Ostwald by Nicola Perscheid
Born Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald
(1853-09-02)2 September 1853
Riga, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire (now Latvia)
Died 4 April 1932(1932-04-04) (aged 78)
Großbothen near Leipzig, Germany
Nationality Baltic German by birth. Prussian, German (after 1871)
Fields Physical chemistry
Institutions University of Dorpat
Riga_Technical_University
University of Leipzig

References

  1. ↑ Riga Business School. "History of RBS".
  2. ↑ "Tallinn University of Technology Profile". Times Higher Education University Rankings. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  3. ↑ "QS University Rankings: EECA 2016". 2016-06-08. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
  4. ↑ "Latvia | Ranking Web of Universities". www.webometrics.info. Retrieved 2016-08-17.

Coordinates: 56°56′50″N 24°06′17″E / 56.9472°N 24.1047°E / 56.9472; 24.1047

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