Latvian Higher Education Research Articles

Quantitative Characteristics and Comparative Analysis of Higher Education Development Trends in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia

The article analyzes the trends of higher education in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in a comparative perspective taking into account such trends as the strengthening of statehood and membership in the EU and the Bologna process. The author identifies important trends in the higher education system of the three countries using fresh demographic data.

Report on the 21st international shock interaction symposium

The 21st International Shock Interaction Symposium (ISIS21) was held from August 3rd to August 8th, 2014, in Latvia. It was organized jointly by the Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Saint-Petersburg, Russia) and the University of Latvia (Riga). The Ioffe Institute and the University of Latvia enjoy long-term scientific cooperation. For the majority of shock reflection researchers, Latvia was a new country. For this reason, we decided to suggest Latvia as a possible venue for this symposium at the ISIS-20 in Stockholm 2 years ago. We are very grateful to the International Advisory Committee for their trust. As a logo for the planned Symposium, we selected the auseklis—the Latvian symbol of the morning star. In Latvian folk tradition, it bears the meaning of good will, and thus we thought to express our wishes of good luck to the event and its participants. The Symposium started in the heart of Latvia’s capital city, Riga, in the University of Latvia main building. The importance of this event for the academic life of the country was noted in the welcome speech by Mr. Igor Pimenov, Member of Parliament of Latvia, Secretary of the European Affairs Committee of Saeima. The next speech by Prof. Indriķis Muižnieks, vice-rector for research, gave an insight into the past and present of the University as a flagship of higher education in Latvia. Just to mention a remarkable fact, the opening ceremony of ISIS-21 took place exactly 100 years after Friedrich Zander, known alongside Ernst Mach as the inventor of optical Mach-Zander interferometers, received his diploma of graduation from the University of Latvia (at that time known as Riga Polytechnic) in the walls of the very same building on 19 Raiņa boulevard, Riga.

Employers’ involvement in the development of professional higher education Latvian experience and challenges

The aim of this article is to update lately (since the 2009th year) changes in educational policy-makers, employers and professional education cooperative institutional framework outlining the involvement of employers in the increasing importance of education development issues in Latvian. The employers are actively involved in the development of professional higher education in Latvia, thus trying to the maximum extent to solve the problems of human resources availability and employment in all the branches of the economy. In general, this creates conditions for the achievement of the aim of the EU strategy “Europe 2020” to raise the importance of education and to correspond to the demands of the labour market in Latvia.

Pirmosios studijų pakopos studentų bendrosios anglų kalbos pasiekimai

Languages share a content common to all people; however, Languages share a content common to all people; however, they differ with regard to their specific and nation-dependent phonetic means used to express it. These phonetic means grant a particular sound to each language. A phonetic system is usually based on segmental units: phonemes, syllables and syntagms. The main units of a phonetic system are closely interrelated with super-segmental or supra-segmental units, namely intonation and word stress. The present study overviews the newest tendencies in the phonetic system of the Latvian language developed due to articulatory and acoustic influence of other languages, usually English, German and Russian. The conclusions drawn in the study are based on rich teaching experience at Liepaja, Klaipėda and Vytautas Magnus Universities. It can be generalized that for successful communication both written and oral forms of language are used. When trying to integrate into any institute of higher education in Latvia, foreign teachers and students have to pay attention to the specificity of Latvian phonetic means as, for example, the stress on the first syllable. The acquisition of specific features in Latvian phonetics is influenced not only by phonetic properties of one’s native language, but also by various linguistic and extra-linguistic contextual factors. A current tendency that can be observed in Latvia is a growing number of Latvians who have good communicative competence of several languages and are well acquainted with the history and culture of different countries. Their presence in the society increases the possibilities of expanding international contacts and communication and thus intensifying the aforementioned influence on the phonetic structure of the Latvian language. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7220/2335-2027.1.9

The Analysis of Rating Data of the Latvian Higher Education Institutions Using Clustering

Рейтинговые данные высших школ Латвии опубликованы пятый раз подряд. За основу рейтинга взята методология, использующая 10 критериев или индикаторов оценки. В исследовании произведена попытка сгруппировать высшие школы с помощью алгоритма кластеризации k-means и убедиться в соответствии такого распределения математически вычисленному месту высших школ в рейтинговой таблице. Целью исследования являлись характеристики изменения количества кластеров и оценка качества кластеризации. В качестве исходных данных использовались только численные значения индикаторов рейтинговой таблицы за 2012 год, не учитывались географические, социальные и другие аспекты, а также место высшей школы в таблице. Последовательно выбирая количество кластеров в пределах от 2 до 10 и применяя алгоритм кластеризации k-means, были получены соответствующие кластеры с входящими в них высшими школами. Для проверки достоверности результатов кластеризации был вычислен показатель качества - индекс Рэнда. После кластеризации рейтинговых данных и вычисления индекса кластеризации оптимальной была признана структура из 8 кластеров. Результаты исследования показали, что высшие школы в кластерах распределены соответственно мере „близости” значений индикаторов. Такой анализ рейтингов с помощью кластеризации может использоваться как дополнительное средство к традиционным методам обработки данных.

Consumer Citizenship Education for Sustainable Development in Higher Education in Latvia

Consumer Citizenship Education for Sustainable Development in Higher Education in Latvia

WESTERN EXPERIENCE IN THE AREA OF PRIORITY OF HIGH-QUALITY HIGHER EDUCATION

The paper contains research results of contemporary foreign experience of the most developed countries on providing a strategic priority of high-quality higher education, including the growth of the role of continuity and creativity elements in it. The paper deals with the nowadays tendencies that are favourable to the increase of high-quality training of higher qualification specialists. These tendencies are based on a close integration of areas of higher education and science, and include the development of regional mechanisms of scientific and educational clusters, inherent to the majority of the most developed countries. There are also formulated some recommendations favouring the development of scientific and educational potential of Latvian higher education, finding itself in a situation of a deep crisis.

INVOLVEMENT OF FOREIGN STUDENTS IN LATVIAN UNIVERSITIES: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

At the moment, the Latvian higher education sector experiences the period of “crisis”, therefore it is necessary to find new challenges. Higher education institutions sense the influence of state fiscal policy, i.e. reduction of financing, those meanings when near years is to legislate for studious students decrease. For future activity there is pegging of pay students from others states. In Latvian higher education sector and for state economy in total this gives constitutive acquisition increase of students, science and innovation, as well as foreign states financial resources in state economy.

Flipping burgers or flipping pages? Student employment and academic attainment in post-Soviet Latvia

Latvian higher education has undergone a dramatic transition since 1991. This study employs a survey of nearly 1000 social science students studying in 13 different institutions in Latvia to consider the impact of the increase in the number of students who are working while studying. Evidence indicates employment has a strong and significant negative impact on school performance, and the negative impact increases as weekly hours worked increase. This manifests itself through reduced class attendance and reduced time spent in independent study. Finally, we find that the probability of student employment is most significantly affected by the availability of financial aid, gender, ethnicity, and age.

Life Lessons Learned from a Fulbright Scholarship in Latvia

In this article, a summary is given of a school psychologist's personal and professional experiences in 1997 as the first Fulbright scholar at the Liepaja Pedagogical Higher School in the former Soviet Republic of Latvia. Topics addressed include the application process for the Fulbright Scholarship, cultural experiences in housing arrangements and daily life in Latvia, professional activities as a Fulbright scholar and reflections on cultural differences in the Latvian higher education system. Encouragement is given to future Fulbright Scholars who are able to assist at the Liepaja Pedagogical University in Liepaja, Latvia in order to increase international understanding.