Transfer from Rīga Stradiņš University: Where to Continue Medicine or Dentistry in 2026

What is Rīga Stradiņš University and what does it teach in English?

Rīga Stradiņš University is a state university in Riga, the capital of Latvia. It opened on 1 September 1950 as the Rīga Medical Institute and took its present name in 1998. It teaches Medicine in English as a six-year programme worth 360 ECTS and leading to the Medical Doctor degree, and it teaches Dentistry in English over five years. Latvia joined the European Union in 2004.

The Medicine programme is accredited until 28 May 2030. Clinical teaching runs through Riga hospitals, with patient contact from the third year and simulation training at the university's Medical Education Technology Centre. The Faculty of Dentistry has belonged to the Association for Dental Education in Europe since 2001. Alongside the two medical degrees the university also runs short preparatory courses in medicine for international applicants: four weeks, 120 academic hours, 980 EUR in 2026. Those courses are not a degree programme.

Can you transfer from Rīga Stradiņš University to another university?

Yes. A student enrolled at Rīga Stradiņš University in Riga, Latvia can move to another medical or dental faculty and continue the same subject rather than starting again. Medschool Experts organises transfers of exactly this kind and is the leading specialist for study transfers in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and veterinary medicine.

The mechanics are straightforward once someone reviews your record. Every semester you have already completed in Riga is a set of credits and examinations, and the receiving university decides which of them map onto its own curriculum. That decision is what sets your entry year. Our job is to put your record in front of the universities where it will be valued most highly. Our Latvia-specific guide, changing university in Latvia without losing time, covers the country context in more depth.

Why do students transfer from Rīga Stradiņš University?

Five reasons come up again and again in our consultations with students in Riga, Latvia. None of them is a criticism of Rīga Stradiņš University. They are questions of fit, money and long-term planning, and they usually appear somewhere between the second and the fourth year of study.

1. Cost. Tuition of 13,500 EUR per year for medicine or 15,500 EUR per year for dentistry, plus Riga living costs, is a heavy load to carry for five or six years. A more affordable university solves it.
2. Exam fit. Some students hit a wall on one or two specific subjects. A university whose examination format and pace suit them better often unblocks the whole degree. We are specialists in this situation and we help.
3. Individual circumstances. Difficulties with a particular professor, a family situation at home, health, or simply a city that never became home. These are real and they stop people continuing.
4. A career in the United States. Students aiming at the USMLE and a United States residency need a curriculum built for it.
5. A career in Germany. Some universities prepare especially well for German licensing and allow the final practical year to be done in Germany.

Where can Rīga Stradiņš University students transfer to?

Students leaving Rīga Stradiņš University in Riga, Latvia have four main directions, and the right one depends entirely on the goal. Medschool Experts works with the world's largest choice of official partner universities, so the table below is a starting point rather than the full list. Dentistry students are limited to faculties that actually teach dentistry.

Two points matter for dentistry in particular. Foča and Niš both teach dentistry in English, and Varna teaches Dental Medicine in English as a programme leading to a Master-doctor in Dental Medicine, a qualification its faculty states allows practice across the European Union. Mostar teaches medicine only, as do the Caribbean schools. If dentistry is your subject, our guide to dentistry transfers and credit recognition in Europe explains how dental credits are assessed. The full list of places we work with sits on our partner universities page.

How much can a Rīga Stradiņš University student save by transferring?

Take a medical student in Riga, Latvia at 13,500 EUR tuition per year for 2026/2027, using the 1,200 EUR per month the university itself recommends as a minimum living budget. That is roughly 27,900 EUR a year. At the Faculty of Medicine Foča the comparable figure is about 7,500 EUR a year for tuition plus living costs, a difference of about 20,000 EUR annually.

Over three remaining years the gap between Riga and Foča is in the region of 60,000 EUR. Niš sits between the two. Dentistry in Riga costs 2,000 EUR more per year than medicine, so the arithmetic is even starker for dental students. None of this says Riga is expensive for what it offers. It says the same degree can be finished for less.

Which year can you enter after leaving Rīga Stradiņš University?

There is no fixed ceiling. We frequently achieve high placements for students transferring from Rīga Stradiņš University in Riga, Latvia, often into year four or year five, and every case is reviewed individually. The aim is always the highest possible entry with no loss of time, or as little as can be managed.

As a rule of thumb, usually no more than two examinations may still be outstanding, and the ECTS attached to them has to stay below a maximum. Beyond that, what decides the outcome is the detail of your transcript: which semesters are closed, which subjects were passed, how the receiving faculty maps its own curriculum onto yours. We do not guess at this. Send us the record and we check it.

How does a transfer from Rīga Stradiņš University work with Medschool Experts?

Four steps, and you stay enrolled at Rīga Stradiņš University in Riga, Latvia until a new place is confirmed. Nobody should give up a study place on a hope. The sequence below is the same one we have used for more than 500 placements.

1. Free consultation. We talk through your year of study, your subject, your budget and your career goal. No cost, no obligation.
2. Record review. You send your transcript and we assess where the highest entry year is realistic.
3. Placement offer. We come back with the universities that fit, the entry year each one can offer, and what it costs.
4. Switch with a plan. You decide, we handle the process with the university, and you move once everything is secured.

What that looks like from the student side is on our student stories page, and the scope of what we do is described under our services.

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Does an EU degree from Latvia change what a transfer from Rīga Stradiņš University should look like?

It does, and it is worth understanding before you move. Latvia is a European Union member state, so a medical or dental qualification awarded in Riga falls under Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications, the framework that gives listed medical and dental diplomas automatic recognition across the Union.

If that framework matters to your plan, the cleanest transfer keeps you inside it. Among our partner universities, Medical University Varna in Bulgaria is an EU option for medicine, dental medicine and pharmacy, and students there can complete the final practical year in Germany through Medschool Experts. Universities outside the European Union, such as Foča and Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina or Niš in Serbia, follow a different recognition route in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It is a well-trodden route and many of our students take it, including students who specifically want Foča because of how well it prepares for practice in Germany. The point is simply that the two paths are not identical, and the decision should be made deliberately rather than discovered afterwards. Ask us, and we will map your case against the country you want to work in.

When should Rīga Stradiņš University students start planning a transfer?

Earlier than most people do. The best moment to look at a transfer from Rīga Stradiņš University in Riga, Latvia is at the end of a semester in which your examinations are closed, because a clean transcript is what buys you a high entry year. Waiting until a resit has been failed twice narrows the options.

Practically, that means the winter or summer examination period of your second, third or fourth year. Students who talk to us a semester before they intend to move almost always land better than those who call in a panic in August. There is also no cost to finding out. A conversation now costs you nothing and tells you exactly what your record is worth.