Student Visas: High Refusal Rates Impact Admissions

The University of Information Systems Management, or ISMA, which has now changed its name to Riga Nordic University, is one of the private universities with a large number of foreign students, but at the same time – with a particularly high rate of visa refusals. “de facto” available data of the Ministry of Education and Science show that the percentage of rejections in large universities (RTU, LU, RSU) in 2024 is relatively low (around 5-6%). In contrast, it is significantly higher in some private educational institutions. For the Baltic International Academy (BSA), the proportion of rejections in 2024 was 23.5%, and for the Riga Nordic University – 31%. In addition, this university has had a high rejection rate for a long time: in the last six years it has not been below 30%, but in 2020 it reached 54%.