To provide an insight into the study process and to gain an idea of the modern and international education opportunities in Latvia in English, high school students from all over Latvia were invited to participate in the three-week program “RBS Greenhouse 2024” at Riga Business School as a unit of Riga Technical University. This free opportunity for high school students is in its third year and brings together active, purposeful, and enterprising young people. This year, 96 participants were selected from 104 applications, of which 77 completed the program. The most applications were from Riga State Gymnasium No. 1, Riga State Gymnasium No. 2, and Riga Zolitude Gymnasium. Among the participants were high schoolers from Daugavpils, Cēsis, Valmiera, Sigulda, Ogre, Madona, Liepāja, and other cities.
The main prize of the RBS Greenhouse 2024 program – a scholarship covering 100% of the tuition fee for the first year – was awarded to Ralfs Savielis, a 12th-grade student at the Latvian Science Distance Learning High School. Four young people – Aleksandra Pikeringa, Kirills Rubans, Kārlis Pabērzs, and Jānis Strauss – received a 20% discount for their first year of studies at Riga Business School, representing Riga State Gymnasium No. 1, Riga Secondary School No. 95, Riga Jugla Secondary School, and the Distance Learning Secondary School “Riga Commercial School”.
The program allowed young people to experience and try out international and modern education programs that are equivalent to or even exceed the offerings of some foreign universities. In the first two weeks of the RBS Greenhouse program, students attended lectures led by international lecturers, as well as workshops by experts from leading companies in Latvia such as SEB Bank, Peero, and Emergn, excursions to Tet and Luminor, as well as other valuable events. In the third week of the program, students worked on challenges developed by the technology company Tietoevry, competing for scholarships and other prizes. This year, the challenges were related to the use of artificial intelligence in ensuring the sustainability and more effective operation of the IT industry.
Students who participated in the RBS Greenhouse program received additional evaluation points, which will be added to their results in the Riga Business School entrance exam, thus giving them additional opportunities to join the best students and receive Riga Business School scholarships. The goal of Riga Business School is to inspire young people to choose modern business and technology management education for leadership in a technology-based environment here in Latvia.
Claudio Rivera, Director of Riga Business School: “RBS Greenhouse is one of the few opportunities to see the daily life of a bachelor’s program very closely – lecturers provide insight into lecture formats, there is an opportunity to meet companies from various industries, visit their premises, create practical projects, and, of course, experience a real “elevator pitch”, presenting oneself or one’s idea in 45 seconds in the elevator of the Radisson Blu Latvia hotel. Our goal is to create a study experience that will be remembered for a lifetime.”
The RBS Greenhouse program is divided into two tracks, and high school students are given the opportunity to choose one of the two tracks or attend lectures and workshops from both modules based on their interests. In the “Business Management” track, students were introduced to topics such as innovation, leadership, ideation, and prototyping. The “Computer Science and Organizational Technologies” track also included leadership-related topics, but the focus in this track was on IT topics – data analysis and programming. After two weeks of training, students, with the support of a student mentor, worked on real business challenges faced by the technology company Tietoevry.
At the end of the program, students received promotional prizes from RBS Greenhouse supporters. This year, the RBS Greenhouse program was supported by Peero, SEB Bank, Tet, Luminor, Tietoevry, Radisson Blu Latvia, Dārza limonāde, Ezītis Miglā, Čili Pizza, 360moments.lv. The program’s informational partner is IR Magazine.
RBS was founded in 1991 in collaboration with RTU, the University at Buffalo (USA), and the University of Ottawa (Canada). RBS offers education in English in MBA programs, where students earn a globally recognized master’s degree in business and organizational management, and in bachelor’s programs, where they earn a bachelor’s degree in international business management or computer science and organizational technologies.
