PROJECT OBJECTIVE

For the purpose of enhancing the development of efficient and sustainable education services in Liepāja City that are based on principles of quality and equality, improving the provision of education infrastructure and material and technical basis, promoting a coordinated and targeted use of the available human resources, materials and financial resources, in November 2014 the Liepājas City Council invited Dynamic University to undertake an in-depth research of the sector and draft the Liepāja City Education Sector Development Conception and Detailed Action Plan 2015-2020 (hereinafter – Conception). A Working Group composed of the representatives of Liepāja City Council Education Department, Liepāja City Council Development Department and other experts was established for the needs of the Conception development.

PROJECT SOLUTION AND RESULT 

To explore the situation in the education sector in Liepāja, in the course of the analysis a series of research activities were undertaken:

• Statistical data from various statistical data sources (the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia, the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs), as well as Liepāja City Council Education Department and education institutions of Liepāja City were collected;
• The topical literature was gathered to collect and analyse information and materials that were useful for the needs of the Conception development;
• Individual interviews with the education sector stakeholders were organised and undertaken;
• Workshops with the headmasters of Liepāja City education institutions, as well as the representatives of Liepāja City Council, Liepāja City Council Education Department and other invitees  were undertaken;
• Liepāja population survey was carried out;
• A survey, as well as individual interviews with Liepāja City merchants were undertaken;
• A self-assessment questionnaire was drafted and forwarded to all education institutions founded by Liepāja municipality; the acquired detailed data on the current state of infrastructure, material and technical basis and environment were analysed;
• The population forecasts based on Cohort analysis approach were developed.

Based on the status quo research results, the analysis on the following major topics was developed:

• The education sector governance and resources in the Liepāja City, characterising the current framework, the dynamics and efficiency of financial resources at the disposal of education institutions, the available support instruments and resources, the implementation of projects supported by EU funds and other financial instruments;
• The education sector assessment, providing an analysis on kindergartens, general education institutions and non-formal and professional orientation education institutions under the administration of the municipality, as well as a concise overview on the availability of vocational, higher and adult (life-long learning) education opportunities by drafting the education sector segmentation map and characterising how well it is linked with the situation in the municipality;
• SWOT analysis.

Based on the analysis results, various development scenarios of Liepāja municipality education institutions were offered which were based on the assessment criteria approved by the Conception Development Working Group and the consequential assessment results of education institutions. The Liepāja City education sector strategic map defining the overarching objective and goals with relevant performance indicators, as well as the Action Plan for the period 2015-2020 containing the total of 30 tasks and 122 actions were developed.