SIA Jaunrīgas attīstības uzņēmums and the Stockholm School of Economics in Rīga have carried out a research project in order to determine the viability and demand for a new higher education programme encompassing a range of creative industries. The research, which resulted in a report on the state of things as of the end of 2007, concluded that Latvia does require a modern type of education suitable for the new creative economy, while the supply remains underdeveloped.
The final report states that "the area of design has the most potential to form a broad base for an interdisciplinary education program that would integrate various fields of knowledge starting from architecture, product and service design" and comprising also advertising, new media, and so on. This, in turn, leads to the outline of a potentially highly effective platform that would consolidate the theoretical and practical knowledge specific to the branches of design, business and innovation.
The newly conducted research concurs with earlier findings* that the Latvian academia and business community still lack a deeper understanding of the potential role of design in strengthening the national economy's capacity of creating added value and in the facilitating of sustainable development. Consequently, the involved parties should pursue two goals: fostering the society's awareness of the applicability of design in stimulating the economy and growth, as well as assisting business owners in better understanding of the value of design in commerce and in the creation of capital and added value.
The report also asserts that the future higher education programme in design ought to be competitive within the entire Baltic Sea region. When implementing such a programme, academic partnerships should be created between Latvian and foreign universities, for example, by attracting the experience accumulated in the Nordic countries in the field of design education and by actively involving first-class faculty. The formation of an interdisciplinary higher education programme in arts will also require EU funding and finding suitable partners among domestic and international business companies.
Another conclusion is that the implementation of a new higher education programme in design has thus far been hindered by factors such as lack of political and financial support from the government, divergent institutional motives and a resistance to a fundamental reform of curriculum; therefore, a general and shared understanding of the development of the creative industries' education should be reached, ideally resulting in a well-motivated implementation of a new and modern education programme.
On the 23rd of January, the research was communicated before a group of representatives from the Latvian Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Education and Science, the Latvian Academy of Art, the University of Latvia, the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, the Latvian Academy of Culture, the Latvian office of the Nordic Council of Ministers and Dizaina informācijas centrs.
The research paper has been made available online as a PDF file.
