Journal of Security and Sustainability Issues

The article analyzes the challenges posed by rapid shifting from face-to-face to online teaching/learning due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Along with other educational institutions Vilniaus kolegija/University of Applied Sciences had to switch to online teaching/ learning. After a year of new experience, a cross-sectional study was conducted to establish students’ and teachers’ perceptions of online learning and highlight areas for improvement. Two surveys were conducted: a student survey (N=39) and a teacher survey (N=13). The findings revealed that the vast majority of the respondents in both groups feel fully or partially satisfied with online teaching/learning and academic achievements. Of the two main tools engaged in online teaching/learning preference is given to Microsoft Teams, leaving the Moodle platform slightly behind. The authors conclude that despite overall positive feedback some improvements are necessary to raise the quality of online teaching/learning. Further research would help to monitor the development of the situation.

In foreign studies Latvia is positioned as a “depressive” region in the year 2030, which will have an insufficient population of young people. Thus, Latvia as a country with a business-friendly environment will not be able to be competitive in relation to other European countries and the flow of investment will be at risk, as well as passed on other, more competitive and better developed regions in demographic terms. Therefore, it is pertinent to analyse the trends in youth employment in Latvia and to work on Latvia’s economic development. There is necessity to promote human involvement in the labour market and to reduce their departure to foreign countries. It is important to draw attention to these challenges and to find answers to the questions: Which of the youth employment-promoting scenarios can be realised in Latvia’s regions in the near future? Which of the scenarios is the most appropriate for the development of Latvia’s regions? Which of the scenarios are more focused on the interests of all parties involved? Which scenario will ensure the country’s economic development? Four possible scenarios for promoting youth employment in Latvia were evaluated by experts. The experts were asked to assess the criteria for each scenario by hierarchy analysis. The most optimal scenario for promoting youth employment in Latvia in the experts’ opinion is the scenario with EU participation. The main idea of the scenario is the effective use of European Union (EU) funding for youth mobility in the labour market organised by the State Employment Agency.

The development of human resources is an important condition for ensuring the sustainability of the society and the development of the national economy. Knowledge is becoming more and more one of the basic factors for society sustainability and development. In the 21st century economy, which is based on knowledge, the innovation becomes one of the major factors to increase the competitiveness. It is confirmed by the experience of leading economic systems when investing considerable resources in the society educating. It is especially important for the Baltic States in the context of the creation of the knowledge based society declared in the EU space. Thus one of the basic aims of the Latvian economy policy is to create efficient, competitive and sustainable economy. One of the basic priorities of an up-to-date state development strategy is a modern education and science system as the education level and the development of human capital are the most important indicators that are creating the competitiveness and sustainability of the country. In the article there are considered the global tendencies of the higher education; also the connection of education with innovation and sustainability are analysed. The aim of this study is to focus on sustainable competitiveness concept and provide in-depth understanding of higher education impact on ensuring sustainable competitiveness on national level. In the research there are used primarily quantitative comparative research methods. Quantitative indicators are used to characterize specific features of the higher education impact on economics in the Baltics and Nordics. For the calculations, methodology and definitions the OECD methodology and World Economic Forum, global competitiveness concept is used.

According to the EU Competition Policy Brief on the new state aid rules for a competitive aviation industry issued in February 2014, the regulation for the financial public subsidies of any art on the EU national or regional level for regional airports will be a considerably striker. The strategic aims of these new regulations, among other things, are to motivate and encourage the Member States (here: regional airports) to implement more efficient market stimulation measures, make airports work on cost efficient and profitable basis and establish transition periods for regional airports. In practice it means that public subsidies may be granted only to those regional airports that proved to have a sustainable and realistic business model that shall clearly demonstrate the durable financial stability. The authors took part in two air transportation initiatives in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) and were lead partner in the EU Project Baltic. AirCargo.Net, which deployed a number of empirical measures in selected regional airports in the BSR. This paper presents success factors of sustainable business development models for the regional airports in the BSR based on cases studied during the project lifetime

Issues of sustainable development and socially responsible business currently have been discussed a lot. Nevertheless there are no many evidences about causal relationships between social responsibility and profit. But it appears that companies begin to have strong stimuli to pursue social responsibility as a driver of value added in monetary terms. In this context, cause - related marketing obtains higher importance and can be employed for directing activities of profit seeking companies towards socially responsible activity. The presented paper is devoted to analyze Cause-Related Marketing (CRM). Numerous authors have tried to define Cause-Related Marketing concept to realize its field and to differentiate it from others terms. However, there is still no general agreement about the definition, content and scope of CRM, especially in countries such as Spain, where there is a higher conceptual confusion accentuated by translation errors. In this sense, the main objective of this paper is to review and complete the conceptual framework where the theoretical development of CRM is based.