Sanda Liepiņa scholarship to support IT and business students established

Starting with the next academic year, Sanda Liepiņa will join the ranks of Riga Business School scholarship providers. She has established her own scholarship to support one young adult during the academic year in obtaining interdisciplinary education in IT and business administration. The scholarship during the 2022/2023 academic year will be equal to one year of tuition and the scholarship will be awarded to a Riga Business School first year student in the Bachelor of IT leadership program. the Riga Technical University Development Fund administers this scholarship.

Currently Sanda Liepiņa is the Global Lead and Program Manager at International Finance Corporation. She was the CEO of the Finance Latvia Association and has been also the State Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Science. Sanda Liepiņa is also the Chairperson of Riga Business School Advisory Board and Riga Technical University Council Member.

My decision to establish a scholarship and allocate it to a Bachelor of IT leadership program student from Riga Business School was based on several aspects. I see that Riga Business School is innovating education, striving to ensure the synergy of the IT sector and business administration to the utmost level. The Bachelor of IT leadership is a proof of that. At the same time I am aware that outstanding education is not cheap, therefore I want to help a determined young man or woman to achieve the excellent education goals here in Latvia

Sanda Liepiņa
Global Lead and Program Manager at International Finance Corporation

The Bachelor of IT leadership program was established in 2019 and is a new level interdisciplinary program in the region where business administration knowledge is combined with technology management creating a strong professional advantage in the labour market. Considering the long-standing successful cooperation of Riga Business School as a structural unit of RTU with the University at Buffalo State University of New York, USA, both in terms of program development, further education of academic staff and offering of the double diploma, University at Buffalo was chosen as the main cooperation partner for this program.

Currently the students of the Bachelor of IT leadership program have been accepted in internships or jobs in various intensity in companies like Citadele bank, Deloitte, EY, Giraffe 360, KPMG, Luminor, LVRTC, Nasdaq, TietoEvry, SEB, Uniso and others.

In cooperation with RTU Development Foundation and Vītols Fund, currently scholarships to 14 Riga Business School students are provided by SEB bank, Swedbank, Luminor, BluOr Bank, Citadele bank, TietoEvry, WeAreDots and Squalio.

To date, in the 2022/2023 academic year, yet another three providers of scholarships have joined – Squalio will offer an additional scholarship, IT company Uniso will join with new one-year scholarship and Sanda Liepiņa as an individual scholarship provider. Currently talks continue with yet another scholarship provider. 12 4th year students, two 3rd year students, as well as one 2nd year student and six 1st year students will be provided scholarships.

Scholarships from the finance and IT sectors have reached more than 210 000 euro. Scholarships for studies are offered for the students whose results and academic achievements are of a high level. The largest scholarships provider to Riga Business School up to now – SEB bank – in 2019 confirmed their commitment to provide scholarships to eight students of the IT leadership program within a seven years period.

Involvement of companies and private individuals working in Latvia in the promotion of high-level education is significant. We are very grateful to all companies that provide support for fees to outstanding students. We are definitely inviting other IT and finance sector companies to discover how they can support students.

Claudio Rivera
Riga Business School Deputy Director, Bachelor Program Director