The name of Kristaps Klauss, Executive Director of the Latvian Forest Industry Federation, has been linked to the Ventspils higher education institution since its inception. Therefore, as the university celebrates its 25th anniversary, we invited him for a conversation to look back at the past and map out future perspectives with insight, yet with a degree of detached objectivity.

We remember your father, Professor Andris Klauss, as one of the first faculty members of the university. You yourself were one of the first students, a graduate, and at one time a lecturer, and currently, the President of Latvia has chosen you as a representative on the university council – you are its chairman. What is your assessment of the university's quarter-century?

As some shared in their memories during the reunion, Ventspils University of Applied Sciences was not only a strategy for the city of Ventspils, but in a way, also a matter of pride, because the Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences had been established a couple of years earlier and it felt like – if Valmiera can do it, why can't Ventspils? Looking back, as befits Ventspils, it started with huge pomp; an unusually large amount of money for that time was invested, which other universities could only dream of. This also allowed for the recruitment of a stellar team. In the chosen fields of study, they were able to invite not only the strongest lecturers from Latvia but also look to the diaspora abroad. And for this very reason, now I am going to start talking like an old crab (laughs), but if you look at the first-year graduates and where their careers have taken them, those first years are the most striking. However, it must be taken into account that it was also a period of change, where our generation, including me, had a huge advantage entering the work environment, because knowing English and having computer skills was already a distinct advantage. Likewise, the late nineties were a time when it was possible to select the brightest minds during student admissions. The number of secondary school graduates at that time compared to today has changed dramatically. I think that when I enrolled at Ventspils University of Applied Sciences, there were five people competing for one state-funded spot. Graduates from all of Latvia's best secondary schools competed for them. So, based on this experience, we can draw a conclusion about what it looks like and what it provides when there is Swedish university quality in a region. (...)