International Cooperation

ERASMUS POLICY STATEMENT

Riga Medical College of the University of Latvia is continuously contributing towards the key values of Erasmus Charter for Higher Education through developing those professional and personal skills that are vital for Health Care professionals in a European multicultural society; promoting and developing long-term and sustainable partnerships and thematic networks with partner universities and labor market players across Europe and partner countries. We aim to continuously improve the international profile and recognition of Health Care studies through active involvement in mobility projects and international activities. Under the Erasmus+, the University College currently has 45 Erasmus partners in 21 countries, offering exchange to students and staff in 4 professional higher education study programs – Nursing, Physician Assistant, Massage and Hydrotherapy, and Dispensing Optician. The partnerships are reviewed and evaluated, with the aim to strengthen each relationship. During the period 2014-2020, the university college has balanced the amount of incoming and outgoing Health Care students, developed its learning, working and social environment, created perspective partnerships with local clinics and social centers to develop the placements for incoming students, and built the capacity in international projects. The objective of participation in Erasmus+ program is to continue the improvement of quality and relevance of Health Care education, high-skill professionalism, research activities, and increase competence and motivation of students and teachers. The participation in Erasmus+ projects is building awareness about different Health Care systems and equipping students and teachers with the skills that are necessary to meet all the future challenges of providing care in a transcultural society. The international experience is fostering positive changes – improvement of study and training process, motivation for applied research and development of pedagogical methods, while strengthening the quality assurance mechanisms.

Riga Medical College of the University of Latvia has adopted and ratified the development strategy that defines values of the University College: excellence, openness and respect for diversity, creativity, intelligence, competence, professionalism, human, responsibility. The development strategy is a strong overarching support for internationalization and modernization. The document promotes incoming and outgoing student and staff mobilities, which is essential to the institutional development. The mobility and general international cooperation is one of the central strategic objectives, where student and staff exchange is explicitly and consistently promoted and supported. Internationalization is aimed to assure quality and align professional qualifications of Health Care education and observe how they interlink and comply with the overarching framework of qualifications of the European Higher Education Area.

The activities and partnership projects where Riga Medical College of the University of Latvia is involved are based on identified academic needs, according to study programs and expected learning outcomes for students. Therefore subject and geographical priorities are given to assure optimal benefits for project participants. Incentives to staff involvement in international activities are seen as an important aspect of the professional development of the academic and administrative staff members and of the modernization of the University College. The future aim is to define staff mobility activities as a key component in annual staff performance assessments. The Erasmus community membership provides local academic society with international perspective and helps to continuously update, evaluate and amend institutional internationalization and modernization plans to assure high quality study process.

Through active participation in the Erasmus Program the University College aims to fulfil its strategic objectives and meet the vision of University College: “Riga Medical College of the University of Latvia is a recognized higher education institution that implements first-level professional higher education study programs, preparing competent specialists in the field of health care, whose acquired knowledge, skills, competencies and attitudes meet the needs of Latvian economy and promotes the international competitiveness of graduates.”

Institutional ECTS coordinator: director Aksels Roshofs