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The research purpose of this paper was to explore the evaluation of skills by academic staff to improve the quality of the administration process in higher education institutions (HEIs) from two perspectives. Firstly, the authors investigated whether there are statistically significant differences between the genders of academic staff in higher education institutions regarding the evaluation of their skills and competencies. Secondly, the study aimed to determine if there are statistically significant differences in competencies perceived between academic staff of STEM sciences and those with academic experience in other sciences in terms of assessing their professional competencies. The purpose was determined by the impact of self-assessment of professional competencies on the improvement of administrative processes.

This study aims to probe the internal consistency of survey questions aligning with priorities outlined in the World Economic Forum Insight Report "Unlocking the Social Economy" within Latvia and Georgia. It delves into the structural makeup of contemporary social entrepreneurs in these nations, their attitudes towards report priorities, and perceptions on fostering social economy development. Additionally, it explores how social entrepreneurship impacts Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) like 11, 12, and 8, and proposes ways to enhance collaboration between public bodies and social economy actors in Latvia and Georgia.

Fostering academic staff engagement through competency improvement stands together with the goals of sustainable development (in particular, sustainable development goal 4 - quality education). The current paper reflects the results of the piloting stage of the study among academic staff members representing Latvian higher education institutions. Participants were surveyed regarding the purpose of the study: to identify the attitude of academic staff to the need to regularly improve professional competence in changing conditions of the modern world and to determine a set of "cross-cutting skills" that need to be primarily improved. The obtained data serves as a basic prerequisite for an innovative competencies introduction policy in the Latvian HEIs and brings an original value to the research. The scientific problem of the article covers aspects of academic staff engagement in the innovative education process by enhancing its competencies. The novelty of the research is defined by the conclusions obtained during the pilot study survey analysis, aimed to analyse the survey's data regarding the academic staff's self-perceptions of their participation in the study process and their assumptions about how and which skills should be improved for teaching methods to become more innovative and teacher involvement in processes to increase. The research aims to determine the assumptions of the academic staff regarding the continuous improvement of academic staff competencies. The object of the research is an industry of higher education, the subject of the research - competencies improvement of the academic staff of Latvian higher education institutions. Research methods include descriptive statistics, literature review, and graphical visualization. The limitations of the research are related to its form - pilot study and the future research will include studies on fostering academic staff engagement in other countries of the region. The recommendations on academic staff engagement are provided in the conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objectives: the COVID-19 pandemic globally caused more than 18 million deaths over the period of 2020–2021. Although inflammatory rheumatic diseases (RD) are generally associated with premature mortality, it is not yet clear whether RD patients are at a greater risk for COVID-19-related mortality. The aim of our study was to evaluate mortality and causes of death in a retrospective inflammatory RD patient cohort during the COVID-19 pandemic years. Methods: We identified patients with a first-time diagnosis of inflammatory RD and followed them up during the pandemic years of 2020–2021. Death rates, and sex- and age-standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated for the prepandemic and pandemic periods. Results: We obtained data from 11,636 patients that had been newly diagnosed with inflammatory RD and followed up until the end of 2021 or their death. The mean duration of the follow-up was 5.5 years. In total, 1531 deaths occurred between 2013 and 2021. The prevailing causes of death in the prepandemic period were cardiovascular diseases, neoplasms, and diseases of the respiratory system. In the pandemic years, cardiovascular diseases and neoplasms remained the two most common causes of death, with COVID-19 in third place. The SMR of the total RD cohort was 0.83. This trend was observed in rheumatoid arthritis and spondyloarthropathy patients. The SMR in the group of connective-tissue diseases and vasculitis was higher at 0.93, but did not differ from that of the general population. The excess of deaths in the RD cohort during the pandemic period was negative (−27.2%), meaning that RD patients endured the pandemic period better than the general population did. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic did not influence the mortality of RD patients. Strict lockdown measures, social distancing, and early vaccination were the main factors that resulted in reduced mortality in this cohort during the pandemic years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]