Study Guide & Documents
Academic calendar
The academic year is divided into two semesters. Each semester includes time for in-class-studies, individual studies and exams and holidays (Academic Calendar).
Teaching System and Evaluation
Students can expect more or less of an equal "mix" of theoretical lectures, seminars and practical work from most of the study programmes. Although in some cases a continuous assesment may be in place, the majority of the material studied is assessed at the end of the term/year in a form of written and oral examinations for each of the attended lectures and seminars. Up to six oral or written examinations are usually held at the end of each semester during the three-week examination period. Students are examined by a single examiner or by an examination board. Candidates who fail a course (term) examination can generally retake it during the examination period or afterwards. If the student is successful in all the examinations of the examination period, they are allowed to continue with the next term.
Depending on the period of their stay, foreign students may participate in this assessment process alongside with the regular LBTU students, or a different formula will be planned for them by the LBTU professors. At any rate, their LBTU grades will fully count towards the result of their study at home.
Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies has a ten - point grading system, where 10 is the maximum and 4 is the passing grade. The explanation of the grading system and approximate comparison to ECTS grades are given bellow:
| Assessment | In words | Explanation | Approximate ECTS grade |
| 10 | with distinction | knowledge, skills and competence exceeds the requirements of a study programme, study module or study course, demonstrates the ability to carry out independent research and deep understanding of the problems | A |
| 9 | excellent | knowledge, skills and competence fully corresponds to the requirements of a study programme, study module or study course, there are skills to independently use the acquired knowledge | A |
| 8 | very good | fully completed requirements of a study programme, study module or study course, however, the understanding is not sufficiently deep in certain issues to independently use knowledge to solve more complicated problems | B |
| 7 | good | generally complied with the requirements of a study programme, studymodule or study course, however, sometimes there is a lack of skills to independently use the acquired knowledge | C |
| 6 | almost good | the requirements of a study programme, study module or study course are fulfilled, however, there is a lack of sufficiently deep understanding of the problem and sufficient skills to use the acquired knowledge | D |
| 5 | satisfactory | a study programme, study module or study course is generally acquired, however, there is insufficient knowledge of some problems and there is a lack of sufficient skills to use the acquired knowledge | E |
| 4* | almost satisfactory | a study programme, study module or study course is generally acquired, however, there is an insufficient understanding of some basic concepts, there are considerable difficulties in practical application of the acquired knowledge | E/FX |
| 3 | unsatisfactory | superficial and incomplete knowledge, a student is unable to use it in certain situations | Fail |
| 2 | unsatisfactory | there is superficial knowledge about individual problems, the biggest part of a study programme, study module or study course is not acquired | Fail |
| 1 | unsatisfactory | no understanding of fundamentals of the subject, almost no knowledge in a study programme, study module or study course | Fail |
* – 4 (almost average) is the LOWEST SUCCESSFUL grade.
Exchange Studies
Students participating in any exchange program will receive full credits for all the academic work successfully carried out at LBTU and will be able to transfer these academic credits on the basis of a formal agreement between LBTU and their home university.
When a student has successfully completed the study programme previously agreed between the home and the host institutions (LBTU) and returns to the home institution, a credit transfer will take place, and the student will continue the study course at the home institution without any loss of theme or credit. If, on the other hand the student decides to stay at the host institution and to take a degree there, he or she may have to adapt the study course due to the legal, institutional and departmental rules in the host country institution and department.
Students are selected for exchange studies based on rules of each exchange program that is administrated by the home university.
To make the higher education comparable LBTU uses the ETCS system.
About European Credit Transfer System (ECTS)
ECTS, the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System, was developed by the Commission of the European Communities in order to provide common procedures to guarantee academic recognition of studies abroad. It provides a way of measuring and comparing learning achievements, and transferring them from one institution to another.
The ECTS system is based on the principle of mutual trust and confidence between the participating higher education institutions.
The few rules of ECTS, concerning information (on courses available), agreement (between the home and host institutions) and the use of Credit Points (to indicate student workload) are set out to reinforce this mutual trust and confidence.
ECTS credits
ECTS credits are a numerical value allocated to course units to describe the student workload required to complete the courses. They reflect the quantity of work each course unit requires in relation to the total quantity of work necessary to complete a full year of academic study at the institution, which is, lectures, practical work, seminars, fieldwork, private study - in the library or at home - and examinations or other assessment activities.
ECTS is thus based on a full student workload and not limited to contact hours only. At Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies degree programmes are designed in a way that one academic year corresponds to 40 credit points (local). This comparing to the ECTS system, where studies are taking up a full academic year correspond to 60 ECTS. Thus, one credit point in LBTU awards 1.5 ECTS credits.
ECTS Grading Scale
Examination and assessment results are usually expressed in grades. There are many different grading systems in Europe. The ECTS grading scale was developed in order to help institutions interpret the grades awarded. ECTS grades are an alphabetical value allocated to courses to describe the quality of the student's performance in a course, as a complement to the credits awarded. Note that the ECTS grade provides additional information on the student's performance to that provided by the institution's grade, but does not replace the local grade (the comparision see above in the table).
ECTS grades:
A Excellent
B very good
C good
D satisfactory
E sufficient
F fail (some more work required before the credit can be awarded)
FX fail (considerable further work is required)