Training for adults will again be available at a 90% discount from May

The fourth enrolment period for training under the adult education project “Improvement of the Professional Competence of Employed Persons” is scheduled for May this year. This time, employed residents will be able to choose training in 12 different sectors, as well as in eight lifelong learning competences.

The cultural sector will return to the range of training options, with courses in library work. Training will also be available in such sectors as the manufacture of textiles, clothing, leather and leather products; the food industry and agriculture; catering services and tourism; printing and media technologies; transport and logistics; energy; the chemical industry; construction; forestry; the manufacture of electronic and optical equipment; information and communication technologies; metalworking; mechanical engineering; and machine technology.

For the first time, it will also be possible to acquire training in lifelong learning competences. These include digital, entrepreneurial and sustainability competences; mathematical, scientific and technological competences; cultural awareness and expression; personal, social and learning-to-learn competences; as well as integrated competences and language competences in specific sectors. Employed people will also be able to acquire individual modules from licensed and accredited modular vocational education programmes. Completing such individual modules makes it possible to respond quickly and flexibly to the growing demand among employers for specific skills and abilities.

In May, any employed or self-employed resident aged 25 or over with incomplete or completed education will be able to apply for training, provided that they have not yet improved their professional competence under this project, as every employed person may receive education financed by EU funds and the state once. Adults aged 25 or over who are on parental leave while retaining their employment relationship may also apply for training.

EU funds and the state cover 90% of the training costs; the remaining 10% is the participant’s co-payment, which may also be covered by the employer. Training is free of charge for employed people who have the status of a low-income or disadvantaged person.

Since the project began in 2017, three enrolment rounds have already taken place, as a result of which 17,191 employed people have started adult education, with more than 11 thousand of them having already completed their studies. Latvia’s workforce is ready to learn throughout life, as demonstrated by the fact that 31% of all training participants are aged 45 or over—the project’s priority target group—while 20% are over 50. Statistics on participants in the first and second rounds show that 59% of those who completed their education were men, while half of all training participants had basic, secondary or vocational education.