University of Latvia develops interdisciplinary study programs in English

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To ensure internationally competitive education at the University of Latvia (LU), a change is being implemented in the study program offer, LU representatives said on July 7.

Five new study programs are being developed at the Faculty of Humanities instead of the previous 14.

"Aware of the current trends in humanities education, we will have developed high-quality, interesting study content, extending the opportunities for both local and foreign students," said Professor Indra Karapetjana, Dean of the LU Faculty of Humanities.

A new addition is the three-year academic Bachelor's study program "Eastern-Western intercultural studies".

It aims to prepare specialists able to operate in a global intercultural environment, with the knowledge of the Eastern and Western languages, intercultural competence and practical skills in the regional and local culture of Asia and the West.

"Intercultural vision is a valuable skill in the global context, allowing to understand a number of cultures, to detect risks of intercultural relations, to be a mediator in different cultures, to recognize the wanted and undesirable actions in different situations," said professor Jānis Priede.

A cross-disciplinary approach is also envisaged in the new 3-year academic bachelor's study program under the leadership of Jana Kuzmina, associate professor of English, European languages and Business Studies.

“This is the only interdisciplinary study program of this kind in Latvia, which combines linguistics and literary science studies with specialization in English, and business studies. The study program, taught in  English, provides extensive job opportunities. In addition, students have the opportunity to learn a second foreign language at a high level, such as Swedish or Norwegian, Spanish, French or German," said Kuzmina.

Currently, under the leadership of Professor Zigrīda Vinčela, a new academic Master's study program in English is also being developed, bringing together linguistics and literature with practical research.

Establishment of study programs is carried out within a project of the development of internationally competitive and economy-boosting studies at LU.   The project's co-operation partners are Daugavpils University, Riga Stradiņš University, Riga Technical University, Latvian Academy of Arts, Tartu University.

The development, licensing, authorization and accreditation of all new study programs is expected to be completed by November 2023.

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