Malnava College* seems to be one of the educational institutions closest to the border of both the country and the European Union. What is life like in the borderland?
Just under a year ago, a discussion was held at the “Līči” house in Kārsava, to which representatives of our college were also invited. The talk was about the borderland and how we feel here. In this connection, we surveyed our young people – do they feel that they are studying close to the border, do they feel the “borderland effect”, does it worry them. The results of the survey were surprising, because the proximity of the border does not worry our students; I suspect their parents are more worried, as are we, the adults who work here. If we think about it and assess the situation, take those same drones that fly into Latgale – they come down quite a distance from the border. I do not think ten kilometres is decisive in how we feel about our neighbour or in our concerns about its behaviour. In my view, both in Latgale and throughout Latvia there is unease about the situation as a whole – the war in Ukraine and the consequences that follow from it. For example, last summer we travelled to the AgroChallenge competition in the Netherlands and happened to be there at a time when airports and rail traffic had been closed because of the drone threat. That was the most directly felt and experienced drone threat – there, in the Netherlands, not in the vicinity of Malnava College.
By this I mean to say that the threat has no borders; it is much wider than that.
We see defensive measures placed along the border, in everyday life it happens that our machinery loses its GPS signal (we use modern technology in working the fields), we notice other small inconveniences, but we do not think about it from day to day.
Are the students of Malnava College mainly from Latgale or from all over Latvia?
Secondary vocational education is mostly obtained here by young people from the Balvi, Ludza and Rēzekne municipalities. Higher education is studied here by people from all over Latvia, with the majority coming from Latgale and Vidzeme.
As the college is approaching its 105th anniversary, looking through the historical materials, I can see the beginnings – it was founded in the borderland in order to create a kind of island of education and culture, with security in mind as well. In the speeches given at the opening of the institution, emphasis was placed on building a system of values for the people living in the region, so that they would be a firm support and a force that would hold out against Russian influence. That is what was said in 1921. Back then, too, it was mainly young people from Latgale and Vidzeme who studied here. A little more than a century has passed, but we read and see that the issues and the situation then and now are quite similar.
Looking at it historically, do you have an explanation for how this island, far enough from the centre of the country, has managed over time to survive and develop successfully?
I have been asked this more than once. If we look at other educational institutions in the Latgale region that have been merged or attached to some other institution, particularly over the past 25 years, Malnava College has managed to hold its ground because here you can obtain not only secondary vocational education – we also have the college level. There are only two educational institutions in Latvia that offer higher education in agriculture – LBTU and us. It should be noted that Malnava has short-cycle study programmes. College status made it impossible to attach us to someone or merge us with another institution “just like that”, and that has allowed Malnava both to continue its work and to develop. As we know, small vocational schools are gradually, gradually disappearing from the map of Latvia.
If we talk about the so-called Soviet times, agricultural schools were established in quite large numbers, some with a status similar to Malnava's. When the sovkhoz technical school was set up, Malnava was the largest training farm in Latvia by area (around 1164 hectares of land), and also one of the largest in the union of that time.
Back when Malnava Agricultural Secondary School was being established, it was allowed to keep the land of the former manor, which was not the case for the other schools.
The college was very fortunate to have an outstanding director – Pēteris Sauleskalns, who set and laid the foundations for high educational standards. The college's scale also helped in the years that followed, preserving those high standards through the times.
Very often young people come to study with us whose parents or grandparents once had a connection with Malnava. People, their work and their courage, and a certain amount of risk, have been the decisive factors in the college's work continuing today.
What about the teaching staff? Colleagues from the forestry sector have mentioned that you successfully lured the professional Vilnis Jakovļevs away from Jelgava to head the woodworking department.
Lured or not, Vilnis is from Latgale; his family and children and his farm are here, and while working in Jelgava he drove here every weekend to run the farm. I have to say we were very lucky that we literally ran straight into Vilnis with our plans for a wood industry study programme. At first there was a plan, but it could only be implemented once there were people. Vilnis responded immediately.
Speaking of teaching staff, the situation varies. We have not run into the kinds of problems with attracting teachers that we hear are a live issue even in the Riga region; in vocational subjects the situation can be more difficult, particularly if we are planning to expand something. For example, at the moment, responding to a request from the industry, we are admitting more students to the car mechanic programme (secondary vocational education). As soon as the group is larger, an additional workload for one vocational teacher is needed. We have resolved the situation; we do have the teachers.
In higher education the question is easier to resolve, because the number of lectures is smaller and they do not necessarily have to be delivered on site – the theoretical part can be given remotely.
At present we are working on a new programme – horticulture – for which we have brought in teaching staff from both LBTU and Bulduri Technical School.
We try to build the foundation, or backbone, of the college from people who are and live here locally (within a radius of about 50-100 km), while also co-operating with specialists from more distant regions. It seems to me that we are managing this successfully.
How did the idea of a woodworking study programme come about?
On 1 March it was five years since I started working here – recently, I would say. I came from a different environment – the Rēzekne Special Economic Zone (SEZ), where I worked as manager for more than 15 years. At that time our co-operation partners were “VEREMS”, “NewFuel” and also “Avoti”. First of all, when I came to work here, it was clear to me that there had to be a woodworking programme, perhaps also linked to forestry (it was only when I started work in Malnava that I learned that everything to do with forestry is concentrated at Ogre Technical School). At that time short-cycle higher education in woodworking could only be obtained at Riga Technical School. I considered it a necessity in Malnava, based, as I mentioned, on my previous experience. We began by drawing up a strategy, and the sectoral expert council allowed it, although, looking back now, at that moment there was no clarity about how to put the plans into practice. Education in the wood industry does, after all, require quite substantial investment in infrastructure.
The solution came when I discussed this question with the Chairman of the Council of “Latvijas Finieris”, Uldis Biķis, who immediately stressed that the studies had to be work-based. We designed the study programme so that as many practical classes as possible would take place at companies, which in turn showed a very great willingness to co-operate. For example, we were allowed to hold classes for students at the relevant companies. The woodworking laboratory, which we officially opened on 24 April, is a modest investment that allows the necessary theory learned in the classroom to be demonstrated immediately in practice and then consolidated at the companies.
I must say this is how we try to build all of our study programmes, co-operating as much as possible with the industries and the companies concerned. An educational institution cannot provide all the most modern technology that is available in practice.
The woodworking programme is divided into modules; with each successive module the student gains deeper and more specific knowledge, and at the end of each module there is a test, on the successful completion of which the next module begins. I must say that this approach is also an excellent opportunity for employers – if an employee needs to top up some very specific knowledge, they can come, take the relevant module and return to work.
For every topic in the study programme, the head of our woodworking programme, Vilnis, has an arrangement with particular companies in many parts of Latvia which are happy to co-operate and which match the topic in question; the students regularly go on study visits.
You came to the college from a different field... Working in education unfortunately still does not have the best reputation; how does a person from the business world end up in an educational institution?
While working at the Rēzekne SEZ, I quickly realised that the most important factor in attracting investment is not some advantage or discount, but people (human resources), and only then comes everything else, including infrastructure. You can set up and prepare the latter as well as you possibly can, but if there is no professional workforce, all you will get is problems. If a company needs low-skilled workers, replacing them is not particularly difficult; the more technologically advanced a company is, the more important the availability of a qualified workforce becomes. That undoubtedly has to be taken into account, and it was one of the reasons why I ended up at the college. I was approached about the job here and encouraged to apply; at that point there was a week left before applications closed. At first I said a firm “No!”. But... I thought about it for a few days, prepared an application and decided that while it was being considered I would work out whether I wanted this or not. The application was considered, the candidates were given various tasks, I read about the education system and so on, about the college. Since I am an assistant professor at Rēzekne Academy of Technologies, I realised that I had something to give to Malnava, and in the end, literally challenging myself, I took the job at the college.
Was it easy? Of course not! If you are interested in my future plans, I have handed in my resignation as of 15 July.
That is what I wanted to ask about, because on the college's website there is a call to apply for the competition for the post of director. So you decided not to continue in the job.
The five-year term in the post of director is coming to an end; a contract could be concluded with me for another five years, but I have decided to work less intensively, so that “there is more of me for life and for family”. I want to do what gives me joy – lecturing and writing projects, which I have done quite successfully so far.
A great deal of work has been done in Malnava, the paperwork has been put in order so that the college meets the requirements of international accreditation in higher education, so that the study process is up to date, so that the study environment is modern and of good quality, and so on. All management processes have been digitised. I have wonderful and responsive colleagues who are still full of enthusiasm, something that has to some extent been lost in large cities and large schools.
The Malnava period has been personally very rewarding for me and very, very intense.
*The official name of the institution is the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies agency "Malnava College of the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies”; for simplicity, in the interview – “Malnava College”