ESN Latvia
Encyclopedia
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| Sections | ESN Riga |
| Office | Riga Riga Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,... , Latvia Latvia Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden... |
| Founded in | 2003 |
| Board members | |
| Santa Jastrebova | buddy system coordinator |
| Madara Apsalone | National Representative of Latvia |
| Anastasija Belostocka | PR, trips |
| Linda Ribakova | finances, trips |
| Martins Misans | events, logistics, IT support |
ESN Latvia is part of a European wide Student organisation Erasmus Student Network
Erasmus Student Network
Erasmus Student Network is a European wide student organisation. Its goal is to support and develop student exchange. It is composed of over 12'000 members from more than 370 local sections in 36 countries in Higher Education Institutions, including universities, polytechnics, and university...
. It is build on "students helping students" principle that works for the creation of a mobile and flexible education environment by supporting and developing student exchange and providing an intercultural experience also to those students who cannot access a period abroad.
ESN Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
- the only official ESN representative institution in Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
- was established and registered as a legal entity in 2003 and is mainly collaborating with the University of Latvia
University of Latvia
University of Latvia is a university located in Riga, Latvia. Being established in 1919, University of Latvia is the biggest university in the Baltic states.-History:...
. Since 2007 ESN Riga is also cooperating with international departments of other universities in Latvia. ESN Riga is also actively collaborating with the National Academic Programme Agency of Latvia (ACA organization in Latvia ) and since October 2008 is a full member of the National Youth Council of Latvia
National Youth Council of Latvia
The National Youth Council of Latvia is an umbrella organization of 49 youth organizations in Latvia. Its mission is to improve the living conditions of young people and to represent the interests of youth organizations on national and international level...
(LJP)
History of ESN Riga
Latvia became the 25th country of ESN in 2003, when an active Latvian business student Gints Turlajs, who had just returned from studies in Denmark, went to Council of National Representatives meeting in VilniusVilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
to present his newly established ESN section candidate. Thus Gints Turlajs became also the first National Representative (NR) of Latvia. ESN Riga, by then and still the only ESN section in Latvia, was legally registered some month later, initially as ESN Latvia and was renamed as ESN Riga only in 2005. ESN Riga merged with a similar exchange student focused organization EsiLU from the University of Latvia and by next year it not only had a lot of local activities for students, but also took an active role in ESN International.
In the end of 2004 Natlaja Tocelovska – another ESN Riga leader – took over the position of NR. Soon afterwards she organized the International Board meeting in Riga. Latvia was represented by 5 people delegation in the following AGM Gdańsk and consequently Natalja Tocelovska was elected treasurer of ESN International. During Natalja's term as a treasurer in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, ESN Riga activist Inese Grate was NR of Latvia, but Natlaja still managed to do the president's job for ESN Riga and returned to the NR position after AGM Kraków.
By the summer of 2007 ESN Riga had well established relationships with the international department of the University of Latvia and the Students Union and large experience in organizing trips to Latvia and abroad, as well parties, cultural and sport events, and different other activities for exchange students. After four years of being president and three years of being NR Natalja Tocelovska left ESN to focus on her career and a new team – Santa Jastrebova, Madara Apsalone, Anastasija Belostocka, Linda Ribakova and Martins Misans- took over the leadership with broader vision of ESN Riga in Latvia and on international level, and Madara Apsalone became the new NR of Latvia.
The same summer ESN Riga started collaboration with the Academic Programme Agency (APA) of Latvia and soon extended communication also to other universities, with its activities targeting over 70 % of all the exchange students in Latvia. APA also helped ESN Riga to organize the first two day networking meeting for all the exchange students in Latvia called "Europe in one House", which under the name of "Goodbye party" later became a tradition for ending each semester.
In spring 2008 ESN Riga organized its first ever trip to Russia and decided to participate in the PRIME project. In summer ESN Riga released its first yearbook and in the following fall became a full member of the National Youth Council of Latvia. Youth Council highly evaluated ESN experience defending youth mobility
Social mobility
Social mobility refers to the movement of people in a population from one social class or economic level to another. It typically refers to vertical mobility -- movement of individuals or groups up from one socio-economic level to another, often by changing jobs or marrying; but can also refer to...
in Europe and in some month ESN people were already involved as experts in the National Youth Week of Latvia and "Young People within the building of a European knowledge based society" French Presidency in EU
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
conference.
Buddy system
Currently ESN Riga has well-developed and coordinated buddy system in the University of Latvia. All students, returning form exchange in other countries, are offered to share their experience becoming a part of ESN team and/or becoming buddies. Additionally ESN Riga team has decided to involve students just planning to go abroad for improving their language and multicultural team– working skills.Other activities
- Trips – so far students have been to different regions of Latvia, VilniusVilniusVilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
, TallinnTallinnTallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
, StockholmStockholmStockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
and Saint PetersburgSaint PetersburgSaint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea... - Seminars and trainings – usually one welcome and one semester ending seminar for 2 days somewhere outside Riga
- Cultural stuff – like Spanish, Arabian, African etc. nights, visiting opera, different museums and exhibitions
- Extreme and sport activities – like "Escape from USSR" game, paintballPaintballPaintball is a sport in which players compete, in teams or individually, to eliminate opponents by tagging them with capsules containing water soluble dye and gelatin shell outside propelled from a device called a paintball marker . Paintballs have a non-toxic, biodegradable, water soluble...
, skating and a team in the University sport games - Trainings for the new buddies
- Info meetings about exchange programsStudent exchange programA student exchange program generally could be defined as a program where students from secondary school or university choose to study abroad in partner institutions...
for students - Other activities and parties
PRIME
Despite 20 years of existence, the Erasmus ProgrammeErasmus Programme
The Erasmus Programme , a.k.a. Erasmus Project is a European Union student exchange programme established in 1987...
is far from being perfect: according to the ESN Survey 2007, about 50% of the Erasmus
Erasmus Programme
The Erasmus Programme , a.k.a. Erasmus Project is a European Union student exchange programme established in 1987...
students didn't get full recognition for their studies abroad.
For this reason, ESN International
Erasmus Student Network
Erasmus Student Network is a European wide student organisation. Its goal is to support and develop student exchange. It is composed of over 12'000 members from more than 370 local sections in 36 countries in Higher Education Institutions, including universities, polytechnics, and university...
upon request from the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
has developed the PRIME - Problems of Recognition In Making Erasmus - project: to identify obstacles towards recognition of studies abroad.
ESN Riga is participating in PRIME project and currently has conducted international coordinator's survey in 7 universities - the University of Latvia, the University of Liepāja
Liepaja
Liepāja ; ), is a republican city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea directly at 21°E. It is the largest city in the Kurzeme Region of Latvia, the third largest city in Latvia after Riga and Daugavpils and an important ice-free port...
, Riga Medical College, Riga Teacher Training and Educational Management Academy, Riga Stradiņš University, School of Business Administration Turiba, Vidzeme University College. National Academic Programme agency has given its support to the project and we are ready to organize the result dissemination conference in case the results are available before summer.
Coordinator Madara Apsalone
Give20
ESN Riga will organize activities for Give 20 in summer and fall of 2009.Coordinator Elina Vestere
ESN Riga / Latvia board
ESN Riga board consists of 5 board members:- Santa Jastrebova – buddy system coordinator, communications with students and the University of Latvia, communications with the Student's Council of the University of Latvia
- Madara Apsalone – National Representative of Latvia, international relations, communications with the National Academic Programme Agency and other universities, representative in the National Youth Council of Latvia, webmaster
- Anastasija Belostocka – PR, trips
- Linda Ribakova – finances, trips
- Martins Misans – events, logistics, IT support
Partners and memberships
The University of LatviaUniversity of Latvia
University of Latvia is a university located in Riga, Latvia. Being established in 1919, University of Latvia is the biggest university in the Baltic states.-History:...
– ESN Riga main partner since 2003. The University of Latvia welcomes annually 150-200 exchange students. ESN Riga has recently also developed good connections with the Student's Council of the University of Latvia.
Since the summer of 2007 ESN Riga is also closely collaborating with the National Academic Progrmme Agency (APA) of Latvia. APA also helped ESN Riga to develop contacts with international departments of other universities: the University of Liepāja
Liepaja
Liepāja ; ), is a republican city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea directly at 21°E. It is the largest city in the Kurzeme Region of Latvia, the third largest city in Latvia after Riga and Daugavpils and an important ice-free port...
, Riga Medical College, Riga Teacher Training and Educational Management Academy, Riga Technical University, Riga Stradiņš University, School of Business Administration Turiba, Stockholm School of Economics
Stockholm School of Economics
The Stockholm School of Economics or Handelshögskolan i Stockholm is one of Northern Europe's leading business schools. Its Masters in Management program is ranked no. 2 in Northern Europe and no. 13 in Europe by the Financial Times...
in Riga and Vidzeme
Vidzeme
Vidzeme is one of the historical and cultural regions of Latvia. Literally meaning "the Middle Land" it is situated in north-central Latvia north of the Daugava River...
University College.
ESN is also a full member of the National Youth Council of Latvia (LJP).
Useful links
- Website of ESN Riga
- Website of ESN International
- ERASMUS programmeErasmus programmeThe Erasmus Programme , a.k.a. Erasmus Project is a European Union student exchange programme established in 1987...
- Website of the University of Latvia
- Website of the Academic Programme Agency of Latvia
- Website of the National Youth Council of Latvia