In late September, 36 Latvian leaders of education, industry policy and companies participated in the program led by the Educational Innovation Laboratory in Boston, United States of America, to promote the cooperation of Latvian higher education institutions with entrepreneurs and policymakers in the development of innovations under the leadership of the best universities in the world, as well as learn and discuss examples of cooperation based on science integration of solutions in business.
During the program, its participants received practical advice and examples of cooperation from the world's best universities - the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the J-WEL (Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab) center under its umbrella, as well as Harvard University. Universities shared practical experience on how to build cooperation with companies, non-governmental organizations and private financiers in the development and commercialization of innovations.
Three partners cooperate in the creation and daily operation of the educational innovation laboratory - the Ministry of Education and Science (IZM), RTU Riga Business School (RBS) and the main strategic partner of the initiative – the MIT Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL).
Santa Šmīdlere, State Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Culture: «Our goal, by supporting this program at the national level, is to build a strong and excellence-oriented team of higher education leaders. »
Now, the realization of the importance of education is especially pronounced. Life expectancy, technologies, global challenges make everyone aware of the need for continuous learning, therefore further revitalizing the higher education reform and increasing efficiency and leadership development will be on the ministry's agenda.
RTU Rector Tālis Juhna: «I am pleased that this program brought together education leaders and policymakers in Boston so that we could jointly search for growth scenarios for Latvia. We are partners in an elite higher education community and draw knowledge and experience from the world's finest faculty and scholars. We will use the acquired knowledge to strengthen Latvia's higher education and science in order to be able to compete at the global level and achieve high results.»
Director of RTU RBS, Claudio Rivera: «I am grateful that the friendship with MIT J-WEL started in 2019 and the cooperation agreement signed later now allow Latvian education leaders and experts to gain practical experience in various fields of activity of the world's best universities - both for cooperation with industry and in scientific both in operation and in attracting funding. We are the only MIT J-WEL partner in the Baltic States, but based on our own experience, we want the education sector as a whole to have the opportunity to draw inspiration from the best.»
After RTU RBS signed a three-year cooperation memorandum with MIT structural unit J-WEL on September 16, 2021, the creation of the Latvian Education Leaders Program in Latvia was started. On the other hand, on June 3, 2022, representatives of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, RTU and MIT J-WEL signed a letter of intent on the establishment of an Educational Innovation Laboratory in Latvia to promote support for economic development through higher education and science.
MIT J-WEL is an educational laboratory under the umbrella of MIT, one of the world's most powerful universities. This center is MIT's initiative to foster collaboration with other universities around the world to promote educational innovation, as well as to work with its partners to promote excellence and transformation in education around the world.
The program is implemented within the framework of the agreement concluded between RTU and the Central Finance and Contracts Agency on the implementation of the project «Support for RTU international cooperation projects in research and innovation» (1.1.1.5/18/I/008).
