NEWS

Rector of Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences - Vice President of European University E³UDRES² Association

09 December 2023

At the beginning of December, the rector of Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences (ViA) Agnese Dāvidsone was elected to the position of vice-president of the European University E³UDRES² Association, and she will fulfill these duties for the next three years.

The European University E³UDRES² is a network of higher education institutions located in Europe that have decided to cooperate in research, teaching, innovation, etc. areas. ViA E³UDRES² operates from 2020. In the autumn of this year, the European Commission approved the project, which foresees Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences' participation in this network in the following years as well. ViA is one of the nine partner universities operating in E³UDRES², and the only professional higher education institution from Latvia.

“E³UDRES² is a unique international opportunity not only for our faculty but also for students. While studying at ViA, the young person will simultaneously get an education at the European University. It is an opportunity to receive international practice and knowledge. On the other hand, E³UDRES² provides new experience, innovations, joint European-wide projects and initiatives for teaching staff and employees," informed A. Dāvidsone. "Working under the leadership of the E³UDRES² association, I hope to develop not only this alliance of universities and universities as a global network, but also to strengthen the role and opportunities of Vidzeme University."

Taking into account the assessment of the European Commission and the granted support of approximately 14.4 million, the work of the E³UDRES² alliance will continue until 2027. In the next stage, the main emphasis will be placed on strengthening the already existing cooperation of nine full-fledged partner universities. This allows ViA to continue to be an active creator of its future university together with eight other universities in Europe that share a long-term vision, mission, values , and basic operating principles.

The main missions for research and study development from October 2023 are "Health, well-being, and social inclusion", "Digital solutions and (applied) deep technologies", "Flexible economy and innovations" and "Creative industries for regional identity". E³UDRES² will also continue to strengthen its interaction with regional ecosystems, entrepreneurs, and innovators to further develop joint E³UDRES² Open Innovation Hubs.

Scientists from the Baltic states and Norway have started building a database of information on the Baltic states including gross domestic product (GDP) figures that will cover the past 100 years

10 March 2021

In May 2021, Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences (hereinafter – ViA) with partners from Universities of Tartu and Vilnius as well as the Norwegian School of Economics began working on an ambitious research project within the framework of the Baltic Research Program. The project “Quantitative data about societal and economic transformations in the regions of the three Baltic States during the last hundred years for the analysis of historical transformations and the overcoming of future challenges” (BALTIC100)” will preserve quantitative data by creating a data repository reflecting social and economic transformations in the three Baltic regions over the last hundred years in order to provide a quantitative analysis of a long-term development trends in the region since 1920.

The project leader is Gatis Krūmiņš, a leading researcher at ViA. His explanation concerning the topicality of the project: “We have managed to gather a strong, interdisciplinary team of scientists from the Baltics and Scandinavia that will work to increase the knowledge base concerning our countries. And this is not just a question of economics. This knowledge will allow us to analyze historical events which are still interpreted tendentiously by various parties for various reasons. For example, events in the Baltic states during the occupation of the USSR."

The project involves experienced researchers from Estonia (Olaf Mertelsmann and Martin Klesment, University of Tartu), Lithuania (Zenon Norkus, Vilnius University) and Norway (Ola Honningdal Grytten, Norwegian School of Economics), as well as young scientists who will develop their doctoral dissertations during the project. A statistical data repository will be created, where data series on demographic and socio-economic development indicators will be available up to the regional level. This repository will serve as an open source of reliable information for planning and forecasting different scenarios in regional policy-making as well as for media literacy and strategic communication needs. The project plans to prepare a collective monograph and eight high-quality research papers to be published in international publishing houses.

The Baltic100 project is one of the projects of the Baltic Research Program financially supported by the European Economic Area (EEA) grants. The implementation of the project started on May 1, 2021, with funding in the amount of 999092,70 euros available until 2024.