Purpose of the paper is to assess contribution of the European Fishery Fund (EFF) and European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) in the development of coastal areas. The article reviews particulars of implementation of the Fishery Funds in various planning periods, in more detail analysing the implementation impact in the period of 2014−2020, based on analysis of the needs, goals and projects of the current period. Even though the European Fishery Fund (EFF) in Latvia is being implemented since 2007, there is a lack of scientific publications on its impact on the coastal development. EMFF for the period 2013−2020 has a dual role in the development of coastal areas – as a development tool of the fishery sector and as a development tool of communities in the fishery areas. It is implemented by using communityled local development (CLLD/LEADER) approach. In case of Latvia, a multi-fund approach – EFF/EMFF and European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) is already being used for two planning periods. We conclude that the impact of EFF/EMFF on the development of coastal areas is more directed at development of infrastructure of the coastal communities but is less engaged in the fishery development matters - accordingly increasing other activities and preserving historic and cultural heritage for development of tourism and place of residence in the coastal area in interaction and in addition to EAFRD rural development measures of the coastal areas.

The social environment of a university, which is comprised of students, teaching staff and parents, play an essential role in the educational process. Students’ decisions, learning and attainment could be considerably affected by relationships with their coursemates in particular. The present research therefore aims to examine students’ expectations towards their coursemates in the academic environment in Latvia. The research surveyed 979 students at Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (2016–2018). The research has found that for students, the study process involves not only learning but also common events with their coursemates as well as informal relationships. Comparing the role of coursemates and the informal influence of parents and teaching staff, the respondents preferred the involvement of their coursemates. Larger differences in opinion were found for the informal role of teaching staff in learning. Of the respondents, 47% expected teaching staff to be friends, while 29% slightly agreed that the teaching staff had to be authorities and knowledgeable specialists, which indicated that it was important for some students to disassociate formal relationships from informal ones between students and teaching staff. The dispersion of opinions that could be observed for some variables might be explained by the specifics of the programmes the students represented. Statistically significant differences in opinion were found between bioscience and engineering students in relation to the attitude of teaching staff to students, parental support and coursemate support in learning (p is less than 0.05) – the bioscience students more often favoured informal relationship aspects.

This paper summarizes the results of a theoretical study as well as practically oriented research about the concept of managing the social sphere of the village and considers the problem-perspective field of development the social infrastructure management in the villages of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The chosen topic is relevant as an insufficiently studied scientific problem, and also has practical significance for the well-being and stable development of rural areas. The study describes the scheme of management of the rural social infrastructure in the Republic of Kazakhstan from the standpoint of object-subject, methods and results. Interviews of the rural population were conducted about the satisfaction with the rural social infrastructure and attitude towards the work of local governance. Rural settlements of Mangystau oblast currently have an average not significant level of social infrastructure development and the level of satisfaction of residents in different areas with its condition varies from very low to sufficient. The most important principles for the development of definition of rural social infrastructure management and its functions have been highlighted with the help of a comparative analysis of various approaches. According to the results of the study, it was concluded that the development of promising directions of management the rural social infrastructure requires a comprehensive study and evaluation of the facilities, mechanism and principles of this management and the identification of its current problems with regional development tasks.

The variety of study methods used at universities still is conservative and more pragmatic, but there is an increasing tendency to change study methodology to more and more student-centred and to focus on the students’ ability to become valuable workforce for SMEs. The necessity for development of study methods clearly demonstrates the research problem. At the same time, universities are facing pressure from governmental authorities to internationalize – student and teacher mobility, international partners and projects are highly recommended. The main process at universities is the study process. But also internationalization should support the study process and students in achieving practice-based learning outcomes. Facing these challenges, NOBANET network of universities has elaborated and piloted the study method Cross-Border Assignments (CBA) linking students’ future ability to successfully incorporate in the job market and the requirement for internationalization of studies. The aim of this article is to introduce and assess the CBA as a method to involve student work and students to engage in entrepreneurship problems. The authors have collected and analysed feedback of 10 CBAs implemented in 6 different universities. The feedback was received by using questionnaires with mainly closed questions. The results show that companies are satisfied with students’ work and they also appreciate teachers. The main conclusion about assessment of this method gives valuable contribution to scientific literature as a description of modern study method and good practice in linking HEIs and SMEs. Gratitude is expressed to the Nordic Council of Ministers for funding NOBANET project and project EKOSOC-LV, part 5.2.2. and INTERFRAME-LV.

Social innovations are recognized as one of the most promising innovations in solving social problems in rural areas. When assessing the creation of social innovation, it should be noted that not only the goal and the result but also the whole process of creation of social innovation is important. The analysis of theoretical and practical research has revealed that traditional methods of solving problems in rural areas are not working, which consequently leads to search for innovative solutions. The most obvious social problems in rural areas, such as an aging society, youth departure, lack of breakthrough and innovative ideas, etc. can be noticed when assessing factors of social environment. At this stage, the solutions sought through the prism of social innovation can become those that will ensure the wellbeing of the rural area and support people living there. Social innovation is widely spread at the level of the European Union; however, in Lithuania, social innovation is taking just the first steps. The article analyses the case of Sėlynė village in Rokiškis region, during which social innovation that succeeded to unite rural community has been created. The article aims to analyse the process of creation of social innovation in rural areas from the theoretical point of view and to present the case of Sėlynė village of Rokiškis region. The main problem is the complex understanding of the creation process of social innovation.

The economic situation of Lithuanian agricultural sector faces with challenges in regards to family farms’ income instability and income discrepancies between family farms. The aim of this paper is to assess the economic sustainability of Lithuanian sector at farm level across farm size classes in terms of physical size and by specialization. Furthermore, as the sustainability construction index method was employed as basis to conduct the research, the methodology aspects related to the number of indicators included in the set of indicators and the estimation of thresholds of sustainability intervals were empirically analysed. The findings of economic sub-index assessment indicates very good level of Lithuanian family farms as 68% of the sample farms were defined by medium level of economic sustainability. The assessment of family farms’ economic sustainability by specialization revealed that the horticulture farms performed the highest economic sustainability and, at the other end of spectrum, the COP farms achieved the lowest economic sustainability. As regards the physical size of farms, the best economic sustainability was observed on the smallest farms in terms of size and on the largest farms, of less than 5 ha and from 500 ha or over, respectively.

In a period of economic prosperity, the real estate market is very active. The demand for real estate is causing the growth of prices, thus inducing people to sell their properties. As the easiest and often most convenient way of selling the property is partnering a real estate company, even 95 per cent of sales are provided through the mediation. However, the increasing demand in services is often leading to the decrease in service quality. It is worth mentioning that, while the amount of real estate agencies is increasing, service quality becomes the main competitive advantage for companies. In order to contribute to a body of knowledge on service quality, this research deals with a problem: what service quality is provided by real estate agencies to farmers selling their properties, and what service quality dimensions have to be improved. The research aims to establish the undermanaged dimensions of service quality obtained by Lithuanian farmers selling their property through real estate agencies. The determination of latter dimensions is crucial for real estate agencies achieving to successfully compete in the market of real estate in Lithuania. In order to reach the aim of the research, previously elaborated service quality models were analysed and adapted to a current research framework. The questionnaire survey was provided to establish a model of service quality real estate agencies expected by farmers selling their property. Finally, the four-dimensional REASQ model was established.

The study concentrates on housing vulnerability during the post-crisis period in Latvia and how it has impacted vulnerable groups, particularly seniors. Housing vulnerability includes objective and subjective factors. Seniors 65+, especially those seniors who live alone are one of the vulnerable groups in sense of housing security. It could be characterized by parameters of housing quality and housing expenses adequacy. The EU policy examines perceptions of insecurity in few areas, including housing security and old-age income insecurity – of not having an adequate income in old age. The number of single senior 65+ households is increasing in both rural and urban areas. The study explores housing vulnerability for older persons – seniors 65+, one of social groups in disadvantageous economic situation. Authors explore how housing vulnerability affects seniors, especially those who are over the age of 65+ and are living alone. The challenging issues were construction of theoretical background integrating housing security during social changes in the post-crisis period with disadvantageous situation of seniors 65+. The comparative quantitative approach is based on data from descriptive statistics. The research design is quantitative comparative analysis. To make a comparison, there were selected two groups: single seniors 65+ and all households. The proposition is that in the post-crisis period housing vulnerability for seniors 65+ was decreasing, but differs from average parameters of housing vulnerability for total population. The restriction of current study is analyses that cover only single seniors 65+. The results show significant differences in housing quality and proportional housing maintenance expenditures between single seniors 65+ and all households.

The authors explore ways to combine the use of traditional and mobile positioning data (as Big Data) in assessing the economic impact (EI) of tourism in specific regional areas in line with the opportunities of the digital age. In order to provide an automated evaluation of the tourism EI, a study is being carried out resulting in technical development of a prototype for two interconnected digital applications – ‘Data Bank’ and ‘Data Analysis’ – as a unified solution for research in the e-environment. The study is based on the research work started in 2017 that resulted in the development of a theoretical strategic model for the construction of the prototype. Continuing the research, the aim of this publication is to develop a theoretical tactical (technological action) model needed for the practical development of the prototype, incl. for the identification of prerequisites to develop the Software Design Description (SDD) of the prototype. To this end, the technological capabilities and their collaborative effects have been investigated in line with the requirements included in the prototype Software Requirements Specification (SRS). Performing the qualitative research, the tactical model has been developed, which designates the practical construction of the prototype. It consists of a combination and joint operation of 4 platforms (servers) – Apache Ambari, Apache Hadoop Ecosystem, Drupal and Jupyter Notebook. The strengths of the model, the risky features as well as the future perspectives for the practical implementation of the goal have been discovered during the research.

It is neccessary for the Regional Universities (RU) to strengthen their regional role. The reason behind such trend is the increased economic and regional differences between regions which applies also to Latvia. The aim of this research is to define the contribution of the RU to the regional development. The research included analysis of scientific sources, correlation and analysis of variance. It was determined that there is a positive correlation 0.979 between the number of students of RU and corresponding regional Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita; thus the RU have a positive impact on the regional development while other drawbacks and problems exist.