RIGA, July 11 (Xinhua) -- The number of would-be students filing their applications for enrollment at Latvia's universities has grown this year, representatives of the Baltic country's higher education institutions informed Wednesday.

This year, all Latvian universities together have received enrollment applications from a total of 10,047 candidates.

Latvia's 12 leading universities included in a single enrolment system reported 8,147 study applications for the academic year 2018/2019, up from 8,034 applications received a year ago.

Riga Stradins University (RSU), which is one of the most popular Latvian universities among foreign medical students but is not included in the single enrollment system, saw the number of enrollment applications grow 15 percent against last year to 1,900 this year.

The University of Latvia received the highest number of enrollment applications, with 3,491 would-be students applying to its study programs. Riga Technical University (RTU) emerged as the second most popular university with 2,388 enrollment applications received this year.

The study programs in highest demand this year include law studies, computer sciences and medical studies provided by the University of Latvia.

Diana Liepniece, a representative of the Latvian Education and Science Ministry, said on public radio that in recent years the government has been gradually increasing funding for young people studying engineering, mathematics and IT in view of looming shortages of professionals in these areas.