Nowadays, students expect that their university will not only provide a valuable source of practical knowledge for them, but will also be ready to offer appropriate distance learning opportunities both on a daily basis to diversify and enrich the study process experience and during global pandemic crises, which will probably be the reality of their lives in the next decades. The novelty and topicality of this study is justified by the need to assess the COVID-19 pandemic impact on the European Union higher education system and its adaptability to switch from traditional to remote study forms. The objectives of the study were: 1) to analyse the need to improve digital skills in the European Union by investigating the achievements of the Digital Economy and Society Index; 2) to assess the current digital environment of Latvian public universities and conduct an in-depth study of the digital environment of Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies. The research methodology is based on the desk study, social survey, comparative analysis and logical construction research methods. The results of the study revealed the digital gap that still exists between the more developed Nordic European countries and the less developed Southern and Eastern European countries. However, detailed analysis of the situation in Latvia leads to the conclusion that Latvian higher education institutions have significantly increased the amount of digital content in both external and internal communication systems and can offer competitive educational services that comply with the contemporary education requirements.
Hemp is a very valuable plant because each part of it can be used in many ways. It can be used to produce innovative products for building construction, chemical industry, medicine, textile production, consumption, and agriculture. In the article, the authors have aggregated the information about hemp cultivation and processing sector development in the European Union and Latvia and have described its cultivation possibilities, technological processes, and processing capabilities. The aim of the present article was to reveal the topicalities of hemp industry development in the European Union and Latvia. The tasks of the research were to present an overall description of hemp industry development trends in the European Union and to characterize hemp industry development in Latvia focusing on the national support activities and hemp cultivation and processing opportunities. The authors of the article have performed an extensive secondary data analysis to summarize the most important activities that should be done at the national scale to further enhance the development of hemp industry in Latvia.
The European Union data surveys give evidence of the growing trend of population ageing in the Member States. The aim of the study was to analyse the social structure of population in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland in comparison with the average population in the EU-27 and present recommendations for policy makers for further improvement of the social policy development in these countries. The authors used monographic method to study theoretical aspects of society aging and welfare and statistical data analysis of secondary data aggregated by Eurostat reports, Eurobarometer survey and databases of national institutions. The analysis of the society aging indicators in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland clearly shows that the policy makers of these countries so far have been mainly focusing on unpopular measures -either increasing taxes or raising the retirement age, which have caused citizens' dissatisfaction with the existing social policy that does not provide any hopes for the existing and becoming pensioners to approximate to successful aging. The authors consider that the national institutions responsible for society's welfare issues should further encourage socially innovative solutions by finding unusual ideas for obtaining multidimensional support, including the assistance provided by policy-makers and involving local agents to enhance inclusion of the aged population in the labour market, especially in creating jobs for themselves, being able to retain employment as temporary workers or being encouraged to work in other professions.
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