College of Accountancy and Finance
Project “Increasing the Value of Academic Personnel - Conditions, Planning Necessity and Strategy of Actions”, project ID no. 8.2.2.0/18/A/024

One of the most important tasks of the European Social Fund project is to increase the capacity of the College of Accounting and Finance in academic and scientific work. This intermediate task interacts with attracting new lecturers to the CAF. Last year, two new lecturers started working at the college within the project - a foreign guest lecturer, Dr.oec. Aurēlija Kustiene and lecturer of accounting courses, BIA doctoral student Renāte Zujeva.
A significant contribution to the improvement of CAF study documents has been made within the framework of the project activity 2 “Involvement of foreign academic staff in the study process”. Dr.oec. A. Kustiene (Aleksandras Stulginskis University and Klaipeda State University of Applied Sciences) read practical study courses in audit, research methodology and evaluated several methodological documents related to the study course, taking into account the experience of Lithuanian higher education institutions, preparation of proposals for editorial and structural changes in study documents, as well as integration requirements of the latest  regulatory enactments in Latvia.
Within the framework of Activity 1, in R.Zujeva's lectures students have the opportunity to discuss and model various financial situations of companies,
which also promotes knowledge transfer in business and promotes the development of smart economy        in general, especially considering that many students work in different companies in Latvia.  
Besides academic work at CAF, R. Zujeva works on the preparation of the doctoral thesis, as well participates in conferences and publishes research results.

The sub-activity 3.2 of the third project activity “English language training for academic staff” – improving English language skills of the staff of the College of Accountancy and Finance (CAF)  - ended in October 2020. The aim of the training was to increase the professional English language knowledge and skills of the academic staff in finance and accounting in order to promote the work of lecturers in the international environment, as well as to enhance work on scientific articles.Three GFK lecturers - J.Bojarenko, I.Strautiņa and A.Tjurina, within the framework of this activity, increased their financial English language skills, both oral, written and textual comprehension, in order to be able to apply the acquired knowledge and skills in academic work in lectures and research. The training was provided by the Center for Applied Linguistics of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Latvia and took place at 4a Visvalža Street, Riga. The course was led by LU professor Gunta Roziņa.
Within the framework of this activity, a set of professional English methodological materials related to economics and accounting has been created, which will be used by other CAF lecturers in the future for the management of the study process.
The newly acquired knowledge and skills of the lecturers were confirmed in the final examination. In the course of it, the lecturers were able to successfully analyze a certain socio-economic problem, also using financial accounting skills, and substantiate their opinion. Thus, it confirmed that during the course English language terminology, vocabulary and terminology related to the topic, less commonly used grammar forms, use of oral and written language in the field of finance and accounting were successfully developed. Consequently, 3.2. The aim and quantitative task of the sub-activity “English language training of the academic staff” (100 academic hours within the professional development program of the training) has been fulfilled.
The second significant contribution of the project to the capacity rise of the academic staff is the internship of lecturers in Latvian companies, project activity 3.1. Five CAF lecturers have acquired new knowledge and competencies in several companies. Lecturers I.Jespere and I.Strautiņa did an internship at Ltd “Datorzinību centrs” - a company that provided an opportunity to acquire skills in practical aspects of computer accounting, while lecturer J.Bojarenko did an internship at Ltd “Consensus Debets” – to improve important experience in accounting organization control.
In cooperation with Ltd “LZRA Izglītības centrs” CAF lecturers I.Jespere, A.Streļča and A.Tjurina were provided the possibility to get acquainted with the specifics of the work of sworn auditors - regulatory framework, functions, working methods and practical course.
An important contribution of the project is the expansion of the lecturers' experience in the joint stock company "Regional Investment Bank". I.Strautiņa and A.Tjurina learned about the practical accounting and financial aspects of this bank.
In total, between January and November 2019, five CAF lecturers have spent 200 hours on raising their qualification.The acquired knowledge, skills and social contacts will be useful in updating the content of study courses, in accordance with modern economic transformations and development priorities, in methodological work, scientific research work and study work, supplementing study materials with practical tasks.
The project is completed on November 4, 2020. Its total duration was 24 months. In total, one doctoral student, one foreign lecturer and five GFK lecturers - academic staff - received support in the project. The project complies with the Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013. 1303/2013 regarding the horizontal principle “Equal opportunities”, ensuring that in the selection of the project target group there are no restrictions in the selection of foreign academic staff in the field of gender, disability, age and ethnicity, the principles of equal opportunities were respected. The project activities were implemented in appropriately adapted premises, providing the necessary equipment and information technology. Procurement (market research) ensured their publicity and non-restrictive rules.
The project has successfully implemented the planned activities: Activity 1 “Involvement of Doctoral Students in Academic Work”, Activity 2 “Employment of Foreign Academic Staff in the Study Process”, Activity 3 “Improvement of Academic Staff Competence” and achieved the project goal - to strengthen the Ltd. “College of Accountancy and Finance ”as a higher education institution in the areas of strategic specialization of academic staff.
The total funding of the project is EUR 95,500.00, of which the co-financing granted by the ESF funds is EUR 81,175.00, or 85%, and the national public funding is EUR 14,325.00, or 15%.
The implementation of the project will have a direct impact on the development of human resources in smart specialization sectors and the economy as a whole.
November, 2020.