Latvia

Quality Agency for Higher Education (AIKA)/ Academic Information Centre (AIC)

Contact Information

Street name: Vaļņu Street 2
Postal code and City: LV-1050, Riga
Country: Latvia
Phone/Fax: (+371) 67225155
E-mail: aika@aic.lv
Website: www.aika.lv
Introductory presentation:
AIKA_2021_01_19
Contact person: Jolanta Silka
Function of contact person: Deputy Head
Founding year: 2015
Legal status:
Non-profit foundation
International Links and membership: Registered on EQAR; Full member of ENQA, INQAAHE, ECA

The Quality Agency for Higher Education (AIKA) was established in 2015 as a department of a non-profit foundation Academic Information Centre. However the foundation Academic Information Centre was already established in 1994.
Currently there are 11 permanent employees in AIKA. The daily work of AIKA is managed by the Head and Deputy Head.

According to the Law on Institutions of Higher Education AIKA is the authorized institution which performs accreditation of higher education institutions and licensing of study programmes in Latvia as well as performs the accreditation of study directions (groups of study programmes). There is a permanent decision-making body, the Study Quality Committee, which consists of 7 members and is approved by the Higher Education Quality Assurance Council. The Study Quality Committee takes decisions on the licensing of study programmes and accreditation of study directions (groups of study programmes).

In addition to conducting quality assessments AIKA acts as a platform for exchange of information and capacity building for the higher education institutions and external experts, performs analysis at the system level and provides information and support to the higher education institutions and other stakeholders.

The mission of the agency is that it:
– promotes the improvement of quality of Latvian higher education and contributes to the development of quality culture and its maintenance in accordance with the standards and guidelines for quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area;
– carries out the expertise and provides reliable information on higher education quality assessment and development/improvement issues;
– is a credible partner of higher education institutions, policy makers, existing and potential students and other stakeholders in Latvia and abroad;
– its high reputation is provided by the professionalism of employees and experts, accumulated experience in the change management processes of higher education in Europe, including in Eastern and Central Europe.