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International

The Faculty of Humanities at the University of Latvia (FH UL) is a prominent and respected participant in the international education and research landscape. The Faculty’s active involvement in international collaborations is evident through its participation in research projects, exchanges of students and academic personnel, partnerships with foreign faculty members, and diverse cooperation with educational and research organizations across Europe, Asia, and beyond. FH UL aims to enhance scientific capacity and increase its international visibility by promoting mobility among academic staff and students, as well as facilitating active participation in international collaboration networks and research consortias.

Erasmus+ combines several current European Union (EU) support programs (including Comenius, Leonardo da Vinci, Grundtvig, Erasmus, Jean Monnet, Study Visits sub-programs, Erasmus Mundus, Tempus, etc.) into a single programme and replaces them with one programme.

Erasmus+ programme partnering countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Turkey and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

There are four main mobility programmes:

Every year, the faculty extends existing ERASMUS+ cooperation agreements with foreign universities and signs new ones.

Students are offered the opportunity to study for a semester at one of the selected partner universities, while academic staff are offered the opportunity to lecture at one of the partner universities.  The most active cooperations are with Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Spain, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. UL also has bilateral cooperation agreements with China, Japan, Korea, and other countries.

UL FH international coordinator: lecturer Jekaterina Čerņevska, jekaterina.cernevska@lu.lv 

FORTHEM Alliance aims to transform and shape the future of the European higher education and research area. The nine universities have therefore established a education, research, innovation and transfer connecting, student-centred and inclusive European University with a strong regional anchoring.

FORTHEM works diligently to implement the "knowledge square" in the respective regions, to enhance innovative, student-centred pedagogies in all nine universities, and to ensure that multidisciplinarity, multiculturality and multilingualism are substantial features of education, research and innovation. FORTHEM melds the unique assets of each partner university into a greater whole to provide excellent transnational experiences for all students and staff.

FORTHEM partnering universities:

FORTHEM portal.

The NORDPLUS Network in Philosophy currently provides grant support for four kinds of academic mobility:

  1. long-term student mobility (study abroad) for one semester (possibly renewable to cover an academic year);
  2. short-term student mobility of 1-2 months duration;
  3. express student mobility to cover study periods of 2-4 weeks;
  4. teaching staff mobility (1 week and up to 2 months, but typically 2-4 weeks).  

Conditions for student mobility of types (1) and (2) and (3): the host institution must be in a different country than the student's home institution and must be a partner institution in the network. Study abroad must yield ECTS credits that will be recognized toward the student's degree at the home institution (in general 30 credits for a semester, and 5-15 credits for express and short-term mobility). Study abroad at the BA or MA levels is eligible for financial support through Nordplus.

Conditions for teaching staff mobility: visiting teaching staff (who must also move between countries) are expected to teach at least 8 hours per week (although the precise teaching load is a matter of agreement between the visiting teacher and the host institution), and the teaching should be, or be a part of, a course that students take for ECTS credits. Since Nordplus is nominally an academic exchange framework, visiting teachers are viewed as being on salary at their home institution and are not normally paid teaching fees by the host school (subject to individual agreements) and never through Nordplus.

Contact person: associate professor Artis Svece (FH UL, The Department of Philosophy and Ethics), artis.svece@lu.lv  

The faculty's members work closely with various embassies in Latvia and foreign institutes and foundations. FH UL cooperates with embassies to implement various support programs, provide practical assistance with teaching materials, develop language courses, promote cooperation between specialists, organize events, offer scholarships and internships to students, and provide other initiatives.

FH UL closely cooperates with the embassies of Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Czech Republic, Russia, the USA, Canada, Greece, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Columbia, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Korea, China, etc.

The Faculty of Humanities cooperates with various institutions in Europe and worldwide, as well as with foreign institutes and funds in Latvia, in the implementation of programmes, attraction of academic staff and in other spheres.

  • For instance, the professional MA programme “Conference Interpreting” closely cooperates with the European Parliament (the memorandum of cooperation between the European Parliament and the University of Latvia) and the European Commission. It includes the pedagogical help for students, videoconferences, student visit to various institutions, subsidiary programme, lectures of the academic staff of the University of Latvia in various translation services, etc.
     
  • Implementation of Asian studies in close cooperation (support studies) with the Academy of Korean Studies, Korea Fund, Japan Fund, Confucius Institute, etc.
     
  • German Studies are supported by Goethe Institute in Riga, the Baltic-German University Liaison Office (cooperation in science, organization of events, general support of German language and culture studies, etc), German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) (cooperation in staff exchange), etc.
     
  • Romance Studies are supported by the French Institute in Latvia (the cooperation in science, organization of events, general support of French language and culture studies), etc.
     
  • In cooperation with Embassy of Spain, the Instituto Cervantes and AECID (the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation), the academic work of guest lectures is secured in the frames of the Spanish module of the BA programme. Moreover, the cooperation is successfully used to organize events, popularize Spanish language and culture studies, as well as in translation and edition of literary texts, in staff exchange.
     
  • Acquisition of the Greek language and culture in cooperation with the European Society of Modern Greek Studies (ΕΕΣΝ), Thessaloniki Institute of Balkan Studies (Greek language/culture summer school scholarships), with the Greek Culture and Sport Ministry (support in various projects), etc.
     
  • Finno-Ugric Studies cooperate with the National Education Agency of Finland (EDUFI) in delegation of Finnish language and culture guest lecturers for independent work in BA in Finno-Ugric Studies. The cooperation is also used for the support of guest lecturers, trainees that are included into the pedagogical process, for the financial support for students who learn Finnish and want to participate in summer schools in Finnish HEI. The cooperation with the Estonian fund “Archimedes” helps to invite guest lectures of the Estonian language and culture for the independent work in the frames of BA in Finno-Ugric Studies. Moreover, this cooperation includes the attraction of guest lecturers for particular courses, as well as the financial support for students who learn Estonian and would like to participate in winter and summer courses in Estonian HEI.
     
  • The acquisition of the Swedish language and culture in cooperation with the Swedish Institute (general support for Swedish language and culture studies); the cooperation with the society “Latvia Sweden” (mutual support in events devoted to Swedish traditional holidays in Riga and Latvia), etc.
     
  • The acquisition of the Slavic languages and cultures in cooperation with the Russian Literature Institute (Saint-Petersburg), Gorky Institute of World Literature (Moscow), etc.
     
  • The cooperation with various funds, for instance, the USA fund Wenner Gren in implementation of Baltic Anthropology Graduate School, and many other partners.

FH UL has a stable representation in local and international sector organizations, professional associations, and editorial boards of high-level jounals.