Over the years, the Riga Polytechnic Institute evolved and expanded its academic offerings, becoming one of the leading technical universities in the region.

It offered degrees in agriculture, chemistry, engineering, mechanics, trade and architecture, with education in German.

Now all men from the age of 21 had to serve fifteen years, six in Imperial Russian Army and nine in the reserve.

[6] When World War I started in 1914, the Riga Polytechnical Institute was evacuated to Moscow and worked there until 1918.

Riga Polytechnical Institute was re-established in 1958 by splitting off the engineering departments from the State University of Latvia.

It was founded in 1991, in close cooperation with the State University of New York at Buffalo (USA) and the University of Ottawa (Canada), and it was the first higher education institution in the Baltic states that offered Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs in English.

The education standards and structure are adopted from the North-American style MBA, which contains case studies, working in groups, and active participation in classrooms.

In March 2017, RTU announced that it had won the first place among universities in Latvia in the international U-Multirank rating.

The same evaluation was given to the university for bachelor's programs in English, for self-created or spin-off companies, for the post-doctoral study process and creativity in science.

Some of its most notable graduates are the Latvian-born Nobel Prize laureate Wilhelm Ostwald, the legendary Mayor of Riga George Armitstead, the former President of Latvia Andris Bērziņš, Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis and many others who have earned distinction in science and society.