RSU Becomes First Latvian Institution of Higher Education to Win Right to Participate in Joint Erasmus+ Master’s Study Programme

The European Commission’s Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency in the 2020 competition approved Erasmus Mundus Joint Master draft programme European Joint Master in Social Work with Children and Youth. Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) will participate in the programme as a project partner.

Zane Gailīte, representative of the State Education Development Agency (VIAA): “This is a significant achievement for Latvia, because throughout the Erasmus+ implementation period (2014–2020), no Latvian institution of higher education had managed to get in any of the approved Erasmus Mundus consortia for the implementation of joint Master’s programmes.”

The project coordinator is Lithuanian institution of higher education Mykolas Romeris University (Mykolo Romerio Universitetas), but the cooperation partners are from Latvia (RSU), Portugal (Instituto Universitário de Lisboa) and Slovakia (Katolícka Univerzita v Ružomberku). The project funding is 2,434,000 euros. According to VIAA, Erasmus Mundus joint Master’s programmes are high quality joint study programmes implemented by high-level consortia of institutions of higher education from at least three countries of the Erasmus+ program to raise the profile of European higher education excellence in the world.

Ilze Trapenciere, head of RSU Master’s study programme Social Work with Children and Youth: “We have been jointly organizing and managing this study programme for six years in collaboration with Mykolas Romeris University. It is the only joint degree programme of its kind among universities of the European Union. Studies in this programme are conducted in English.”

The programme was created in response to the growing demand in the labour market for specialists highly qualified in social work with children and young people who would be able to work in child and youth day care centres, juvenile institutions, youth policy in municipalities, as well as develop occupational guidance services for children and youth, to plan, organize, manage and evaluate the process of social work in a multicultural environment not only in Latvia and Lithuania, but also in other European Union countries, etc.

In this joint degree Master’s programme supported by the European Commission, students will have the opportunity to:

• acquire diverse knowledge in the field of social work with children and youth;
• gain multicultural experience in an international study environment;
• gain international experience in social work with children;
• receive support from the European Commission for studies.