About Brīvā universitāte

The NGO Brīvā Universitāte was created on the territory of the Republic of Latvia to support and develop independent education in the countries of the former USSR and Eastern Europe.

The reason for the creation of the Free University is the need to teach academic knowledge without any administrative restrictions, the development of free, independent science outside of a political context, and defending the right to express one's professional and scientific opinion.

Why did we open Brīvā Universitāte specifically in Latvia? Riga has always been perceived as a serious intellectual, cultural, and educational center, so the creation of an NGO and the University specifically here is quite logical and justified.

Of course, this is not the first experience. Free universities have appeared at different times in different countries. But the reason for their independent status has always been the desire to move out from under someone's patronage. Thus, at the end of the 19th century, the creation of the free universities of Amsterdam and Brussels was a reaction to Catholic dominance.

In 1948, as a result of the division of Germany into zones of foreign control, the Free University of Berlin was created in West Berlin; its charter took into account all the mistakes of state influence on the old Berlin University, guaranteed distance between the educational institution and the state, and ensured the independence of academic education and science.

The Free University supported by us offers students free programs and courses in various scientific fields, attracting leading specialists, scientists, and professors from well-known European and American universities. All university programs are taught remotely using modern means of communication.

The first wave of courses was launched in early September 2020. The initiative proved to be quite resonant; more than 6,000 applications from students from all over the world were submitted for the 20 announced courses.

We are outside of any ideology and borders. The "Free University" is academic knowledge and academic science.

The Free University has no classrooms or campus. The university's professors live in different countries, and the student audience stretches from Sakhalin, through Europe, to the United States of America. During the first academic year, the Free University provided knowledge to more than 700 students; today the university has 7 faculties, where more than 120 courses are taught. We intend to develop intensively in order to give students a quality education and develop modern science.