Medicine (EN), professional programme (Medical Doctor’s Degree)

About the course

A six-year (12-semester, 360 ECTS) programme in Riga, taught in English and leading to a Medical Doctor’s Degree. Clinical practice starts in year 3.

Entry requirements for Irish students

• There is no written entrance exam. EU/EEA applicants need a secondary school diploma (the Leaving Certificate) with Biology and Chemistry, each at a minimum of 6 on Latvia’s 10-point scale. The university ranks applicants on English (20%), Chemistry (40%) and Biology (40%). If you did not take Biology and Chemistry, it uses Natural Sciences at 80%. The university does not publish how Leaving Cert grades convert to its 10-point scale, so ask admissions about this. These rules are for the 2026/27 intake.
• The university’s pages disagree on the interview. The programme page lists an online interview for all applicants. The application portal describes it as mandatory for non-EU applicants. Expect a short online interview and confirm this for 2027.
• English: TOEFL iBT 80 or IELTS 6.0 (or equivalent). You do not need a test if you finished secondary school in an English-speaking country, including Ireland. The SAT (minimum 1200) is needed only if you finished secondary school outside the EU/EEA/Switzerland, so it does not apply to Leaving Cert students.

Working in Ireland afterwards

Because your medical degree comes from an EU/EEA country, the Medical Council of Ireland can recognise it automatically under EU Directive 2005/36/EC, as long as it is listed in Annex V (point 5.1.1). If that listing says the degree must come with an internship or state-exam certificate from your home country, you need to have that too, and you must also show your current professional standing and meet the English-language requirements. Graduates of EU/EEA medical schools may apply to the HSE for Irish intern posts, but only if their home-country degree does not already count as complete training. In older HSE intern guides (e.g., the 2022 guide), only graduates from medical schools in Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Iceland and Slovenia could apply. Graduates from other EEA countries (and Italians holding the ‘abilitante’ degree) were told they are not eligible, because they qualify directly for General registration. Applicants who need no work permit were matched before those who do. Please check the current eligibility list in the HSE intern guide for the year you apply. We could not confirm it for the July 2027 intake because the current HSE guide pages are password-protected.

How to apply

1. Check your subjectsTake Biology, Chemistry and English for the Leaving Cert. For the 2026 intake these subjects made up the whole ranking score (40% Chemistry, 40% Biology, 20% English).
2. Apply onlineApply at apply.lu.lv. For 2026 the EU/EEA deadline for Medicine was 16 August 2026. Upload your diploma and transcripts (in English and the original language), passport and photo, and pay the EUR 170 application fee.
3. Interview if askedBe ready for a short online interview. The university’s pages list one for this programme.
4. Accept and enrolIf you get an offer, pay the EUR 170 registration fee and the first-year tuition fee, then arrive in Riga before studies start at the end of August.

Costs

• EUR 11,850 for year 1 (2026/27 intake), the same for EU/EEA and non-EU students. The fee rises each year: EUR 12,120 (year 2), EUR 12,720 (years 3 and 4), EUR 13,320 (year 5) and EUR 14,610 (year 6), EUR 77,340 in total. You also pay a non-refundable application fee of EUR 170 and a non-refundable registration fee of EUR 170. The EUR 500 refundable deposit applies only to non-EU students. Check the 2027 fees when they are published.

At a glance