Student at Regional Higher Education Institution - Customer or Provider?

The period of transition from centrally planned to market economy in Latvia has brought various new trends in the system of higher education. The transition itself has had ups and downs, and on the background of the world economic crises and its consequences, the topic of the efficiency and effectiveness of the system of higher education is very important. Twenty years after regaining of independence and experience of free market economy still there is no clear understanding of how economy and particularly labour market interferes with higher education market among neither politicians nor administrators. Misunderstanding of basics undermines the success of planned reforms and expected improvements. So, the aim of the descriptive analytical research of literature with some case studies is the clarification of the notion of customer in higher education as well as the clarification of a wider understanding of the role of a student and a graduate in the economic development of a region and the state. The key figure of the system of higher education is a student, often viewed as a customer or client. However, the relations between a student and a higher education institution have complex and long term impact that shall be analysed from comprehensive economic point of view. Student is a customer of higher education and simultaneously an investor that directly and indirectly brings resources to a region. But student should become also a developer of a region and a state as the economic impact of higher education goes far beyond training and research.