Good practice Imported

Start IT

Latvia · LV-1009 · National · See the Latvia profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 80% 52/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Project Start (IT) aims to double the number of people studying IT subjects in Latvia's biggest universities over 3-5 years by introducing programming courses in schools and inspiring young people to pursue a career in IT. Start (IT) offers everyone to learn the basics of compute

130 schools

Schools that started the programming course (5-month project period)

174 teachers

Teachers trained in programming (5-day training)

300 teachers

Teachers who attended the IT conference

60,000 users/year

Average annual unique portal users

153 schools

Schools where portal materials were tested (2015)

50,000 EUR

Private funding received from Accenture Latvia

Details

Maturity: Established
Promoter: Foundation "IT Education Foundation" — website
Type: Service
Status: Ongoing
Target groups: Marginalised young people and children
Period: 2013-01-01
Region (NUTS): LV00
Keywords: ICT, teaching, education, programming, employment

Context

Latvia had roughly 10,000 IT specialists for a population of 2 million, compared with 100,000 IT specialists in Finland (population 5.4 million). Of 360 secondary schools, only 30-50 taught programming, and seats in 4-year IT university programmes were only half filled. Demand for IT specialists was growing across Latvia and Europe, but most students had no opportunity to study programming at school.

Objectives

Double the number of people studying IT subjects in Latvia's biggest universities over 3-5 years by introducing programming courses in schools, changing perceptions of programming, and encouraging students to choose IT study and careers.

Activities

The Start (IT) Foundation runs the free portal www.startit.lv offering computer and programming basics to anyone; the portal's training programmes and teaching materials were tested in 153 Latvian schools in cooperation with the State Education Content Centre (VISC). The Foundation also organises regular computer/programming training and events led by mentors from partner companies. Founders are Accenture Latvia, Riga Technical University and MAK IT; supporters include Emergn, EazyBI, LMT, ZAB Reihmanis & Partners, VEFRESH and VISMA; cooperation partners include VISC, LIKTA, the University of Latvia, the Transport and Telecommunication Institute, the Latvian Informatics Teachers' Association, two Riga schools, Baltic3D.eu and Skolēns.lv.

Results

In a five-month period, 130 schools started the programming course, 174 teachers received 5 days of programming training, and 300 teachers participated in an IT conference organised by the project. The portal is visited by an average of 60,000 unique users a year. The project received EUR 50,000 in private funding from Accenture Latvia and won the AmCham Latvia 'Human Growth' award (2016), the Accenture Global Awards (2017), and UNESCO recognition as one of the 12 best IT education projects (2018).

Conclusions

The project has led to changes in the school curriculum and stands as one of the most successful examples of private-public cooperation in Latvia, showing companies' interest in supporting education initiatives and modern curriculum development.

Implementation

Indicative cost: Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results: Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills: 80 operational staff (Start IT Foundation), Mentors from partner companies leading training and events, Teacher trainers delivering the 5-day programming courses

Conditions for success

Public-private partnership between founders Accenture Latvia, Riga Technical University and MAK IT
Cooperation with the State Education Content Centre (VISC) to embed materials in school curricula
Free, open-access online portal (startit.lv) lowering the barrier to participation
Ongoing private-sector funding and sponsorship (e.g. Accenture Latvia)