On 10 December, the VUAS Library invited students to a meeting with Rafael Martín Calvo, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Translation Studies. He talked about how a writer's work is presented to publishers in another country before it is translated, what to do when only a few Latvians know a certain Latvian word, how many hours it takes to translate a novel and when is the best time to learn a foreign language. He also talked about participation in publishers' events, book fairs and book presentations in different countries. The students also had the opportunity to see translations of Nora Ikstena, Albert Bell, Guntis Berelis and other writers already published and to learn more about each of them. R. Martin Calvo also talked about his dream projects and revealed some of the works he is currently involved in. Thank you to the VUAS Library for hosting the event!

CoLab ""Higher Education and Workforce in the Region" held at the VIZIUM Science Center brought together academic staff, students, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and other members of the community. The discussions focused on analyzing current challenges and exploring innovative solutions to ensure that new specialists are well-prepared to meet the demands of today’s labor market. Opening the event, Ventspils University of Applied Sciences (VUAS) Rector Andris Vaivads highlighted the increasing demand for highly qualified specialists in the coming years, referencing forecasts from the Ministry of Economics. He called for closer collaboration between universities, businesses, municipalities, and society to adapt educational programs to the real needs of the labor market. Dr. Annette Klinkert, Executive Director of the COLOURS project, and Dace Štefenberga, VeA’s COLOURS Content Manager, shared insights on the European University Alliance and its benefits for the region. Austris Galindoms, Head of the Economics and Procurement Department at Ventspils City Council, emphasized the municipality’s role in fostering cooperation between education and the labor market. Meanwhile, Sandrine Labory from the University of Ferrara presented Italy’s experience in the Emilia-Romagna region. Other participants included Baiba Kūma, Head of the Kurzeme Planning Region’s Business Center, and Gvido Grinbergs from the Business Support and Digital Innovation Center at Ventspils High Technology Park, who stressed the importance of developing digital skills in the workforce. Raita Rollande, Head of TDL School, a subsidiary of TestDevLab, shared her experience collaborating with higher education institutions to prepare new specialists. Additionally, Maksims Kovalenko, Production Director at Immer Digital, highlighted workforce challenges in the industry. The forum concluded with a panel discussion on the impact of higher education on local economic development and regional growth. The panel featured business representative Raita Rollande, Ventspils City Council Deputy Executive Director Egons Spalāns, VeA Rector Andris Vaivads, and student Kārlis Andrejs Krūmiņš.

On 3 and 4 of December, the European Parliament's service hosted the third edition of the Citizens' Language Days, a two-day event dedicated to exploring the power of clear language in fostering transparency and democratic participation. The event, organised in Luxembourg, was also attended by students from the translation programmes of the universities included in the EMT (European Master in Translation) network. One student represented each EU language. Latvia and the Latvian language were represented by Adrija Enrika Ēdele, a student of the Master's programme in Translation at VUAS. The students were invited to the European Parliament (EP) in Luxembourg, where most of the staff of the EP Directorate-General for Translation work. In addition to workshops and conferences, the students had the opportunity to get to know the quarter where the European Parliament is located and the work of DG Translation. "During the event, we were able to listen to conferences, workshops and speeches in different EU languages. It was particularly important that we were present at the presentation of the Citizens' Language Guidelines, which are an important tool for language professionals, translators and others interested in the production and adaptation of texts into plain language," says Adrija. It should be noted that the guidelines are derived from the ISO standard on plain language. The guidelines are available in all 24 EU languages and include not only text, but also video and audio material.

On November 28–29, in Liepāja, associate professor and researcher Silga Sviķe, associate professor and senior researcher Jānis Veckrācis and lecturer, PhD candidate Aiga Bādere participated in the international conference The Word: Aspects of Research organised by RTU Liepāja. The event, which brought together researchers and language experts from the Baltic States and was diverse in its presentations, included two days of scientific discussions. The first day's evening dinner has become a tradition of the conference which, alongside the conference sessions, provides an excellent opportunity for professionals in the humanities to socialize and discuss current issues in the field. During the opening session of the Conference Silga Sviķe presented an emotionally inspiring memorial paper Juris Baldunčiks (1950-2022): Parallel Lines and Crossing Points of His Life, Research and Legacy ; later on Aiga Bādere presented her research paper Searching for Post-Editing Terms in Latvian , and Jānis Veckrācis – his research paper Terminological Discourse of History and the History of Some Basic History Terms in Latvian.

On 22 November, the European Commission organised a virtual visit to the Directorate-General for Translation, which was also attended by MA students of the Faculty of Translation Studies of the VUAS. The event was well attended (around 800 participants) and gave our translation students the opportunity to learn all about the work of translators and interpreters in DG Translation and other EU institutions. The event organisers gave an overview of the volume of documents translated in the EU institutions and explained the computer-aided, machine translation and artificial intelligence tools used by translators in the EU institutions. Our students had a one-to-one meeting with translators from the Latvian Translation Unit, where they could get answers to all their questions about eligibility requirements, application prerequisites and how to apply for a traineeship or a job in the EU institution.