OG: Meridian Group was founded in 1994. We started as a language school, that was the idea. We were teaching English – English was in demand and both founders graduated from linguistic universities, in English and German. We managed to get the best teachers from the town, it was something new and well it went very successfully – we had contracts with corporate clients and juniors.

“We came up with the idea of sending students abroad. It was completely new, in the ‘90s”

In a year, we came up with the idea of sending students abroad, first juniors in groups. It was something completely new at that time, in the ‘90s. So we sent our first group to the UK in 1996, and it was also then that we rented a car and went around England trying to find – as we thought – the best English schools. We have been working with some of them since then, and slowly but surely we have established our portfolio of schools. We also started participating in workshops and it helped a lot.

Today, Meridian Group still has two language schools, but 90% of our business is education abroad. From that, I would say that about 80% is connected with the UK, so we send the biggest numbers from the Baltic language schools. Juniors are a very big part of our business – we are the only company sending groups of juniors on a weekly basis during the summer. So we have contracts with an airline company that we sign a year ahead.

The PIE: With airline contracts there must be a lot of planning ahead.

OG: [Having so many students] makes us organised, and plan everything in advance. So by December we have our plan and we print our materials: our summer brochures, our boarding schools brochures. Today, boarding schools and universities are also a big part of our work.

The PIE: What’s the ratio of undergraduates to postgraduates you work with?

OG: Most of them are undergraduates. Postgraduates do come to us for counselling because counselling is free, but after they get the information they don’t come back – which is understandable. This is what university is about: searching for information and using the information.

The PIE: Why are boarding schools popular?

OG: They are popular because parents consider them a door to a top university. Boarding because students need boarding – they can be traditional boarding schools, they can be independent sixth form colleges, but the thing is that many top UK universities do not consider the Latvian certificate of secondary education as a qualification which is enough to go straight to university. With our school-leaving certificate, we can’t go to Oxbridge, to UCL, to LSE, to Bath University, to Bristol. Some universities do consider you but the risk is bigger if you apply from Latvia.

“Boarding schools are popular because parents consider them a door to a top university”

It’s not only because of that; it’s also because many parents are disappointed by our system of education. You understand, 25 years ago we had another system, the Soviet system. So during these years we’ve tried to change it completely – we are not always successful, unfortunately.

The PIE: What are the main problems with education in Latvia – is it quality?

OG: Yes, the quality of teaching – sciences, maths, not the language. Everything’s OK with the language. It’s quality, and parents are also attracted by the idea that students may have lots of activities on campus, so schools are not just about teaching; they’re about developing the whole character, the whole personality. It’s very different to what we have in our schools.

The atmosphere is different too – I have to admit in our schools, 90%, maybe even more, of teachers are women. We don’t have men in our schools.

The PIE: Why is that?

OG: Teachers’ salaries are very low and unfortunately, the teaching profession has become very unpopular, so it’s a huge problem.

So these are the reasons. Parents want to offer the world to their children. They see that boarding school is the first step towards it.

The PIE: You mentioned that interest in going to overseas universities is growing too?

OG: Yes, absolutely – the tendency has been there for several years. Before we joined the EU, none of the universities accepted our students, but since 2004, when we joined the EU, slowly but surely, more and more universities have started accepting our school leavers. And the opportunities of internships or work they get in the UK can’t be compared to the ones they get in Latvia.

“We are a small country, so there are not many places in Latvia to go to study”

Students want to leave home when they go to university; we are a small country, so there are not many places in Latvia to go to study. It’s not only the UK, the Netherlands is quite popular, Denmark, which have first of all different programmes in English. And they have reasonable prices – Denmark is free of charge. In the UK, our students don’t pay up front – we get a student loan. Of course with Brexit, it’s a big question.

The PIE: Are students concerned about Brexit?

OG: Yes. We do our best to calm them down, to explain that we can’t guarantee anything. But at the same time, if all of us are hesitating in what we are saying and if we don’t sound confident, we will lose our business.

The PIE: Do you think it’s done any damage to the UK’s reputation, in terms of students feeling welcome?

OG: We don’t feel that. We’ve never thought that. I don’t see that people look at it from this perspective, that students are not welcome. Many universities after voting sent us letters that EU students are still welcome. It’s more about laws in the country – whether they will still be eligible for a student loan, work opportunities, visas. At the same time, we all understand that for the next two years, there will hardly be any more changes and so what we can do is sit and wait.

The PIE: And what do most Latvian students study?

OG: If you see the list of programmes our students applied to, last year you will see everything: biochemistry, engineering, art, biomedical programmes, economics, all kinds of things. However, I have to say we probably have a bigger number for art than some other countries. We have lots of students interested in art and we have very strong art music schools for school children and they want to progress to study these subjects further. Nobody applies for medicine because it’s impossible – medical schools reject us.

“Nobody applies for medicine because it’s impossible – medical schools reject us”

The PIE: Whenever they graduate, do they go back to Latvia to work?

OG: We see 50/50. A lot of things happen apart from studies, they fall in love, they get married, they have their internships where they continue working. At the same time, if you go to Latvian banks you will see lots of UK university graduates; you will see them working in financial companies, insurance companies, and as engineers. Many Latvian politicians have degrees from other universities where they studied in other countries.

The PIE: You mentioned Canada before. Are you seeing interest to study there increasing?

OG: Yes, we see that the interest is slowly but surely coming back. Canada is known as a very friendly country, more now for foreigners. It’s very open in terms of immigration if people want to live and work there, and there’s quite a big Latvian community in Canada so people have relatives and friends. Canada is popular. It’s always been popular, but since Latvia joined the EU interest has decreased.

The PIE: Do students go to Canada for university?

OG: For everything, for language schools as well, and colleges of further education, which are easier. You can get a degree there or you can go to university through this college. And also the fees [are lower than at a university].

The PIE: Would you say most Latvian students go through agents or do a lot go on their own?

OG: I think both. When they are school leavers, many of them go through agents because there’s a lot of paperwork, there are lots of formalities. And of course they get lots of practical information from agents that’s not just about applying to university: applying to accommodation, air tickets, transfer, even what you take with you. So I presume most school leavers apply through agents.