The problem identified in all Europe and other countries is the following: 21th century expectations from society have enlarged the university goals, and in order to reach these goals, university needs new governance processes both at institutional and state level. Along with traditional university goals of providing higher education studies and research, there is an increase of university participation in social activities, as well as global competitiveness. Businesses insist that studies are resulted in higher education compliance with labour market, and research results' transfer to investments of national economy. The institutional governance issues are becoming more complicated and the relationship between good governance and university effectiveness becomes central. Institutional governance changes are expected also in Latvian state universities. New governance processes, management trends and approaches are necessary to ensure implementation of university goals in nowadays rapid changing environment of globalization and competitiveness.

Academic society is exposed to continuous growing demands and requirements – innovative pedagogical work, international recognition in research, cooperation with industry - these are just part of requirements which have to be ensured by academic staff at each higher education institution (HEI) in Latvia. The question arises – do working conditions of academic staff, taking into consideration described demands, duties and requirements, correspond with decent work practice, such as competitive pay and working stability? The aim of the research paper is to investigate if the factors influencing work of academic staff are following decent work practice. In order to reach the aim of the research paper, the authors have used the results of the Latvian Trade Union of Education and Science Employees (LIZDA) survey conducted at public higher education institutions in Latvia. The time period of survey was April – September, 2019. The target group of the survey were representatives of academic staff. The major conclusions of the research are the following: (1.) salary of academic staff isn’t competitive with other public professions and positions in Latvia; (2.) working stability of academic staff is low because of insecure and precarious contracts; (3.) working conditions of academic personnel regarding competitive salary and work stability don’t correspond with the decent work practice.

Uncompetitive remuneration for teachers has been a problem for many decades in Latvia. Government together with social partners –education trade unions, have tried to solve this problem by asking to allocate additional financial resources to public education budget, by developing teacher salary raise schedules and various educational reforms in all three Baltic countries. The aim of the study is to research general principles of teachers’ remuneration and workload in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, for comparison and social dialogue argumentation on the part of education trade unions. Research approach is analysis of information on teachers’ salary calculation and workload presented by education trade unions as semi-structured interviews. Reflection on the topic in relation to theoretical sources, including international organizations representing education and social dialogue issues, is enclosed. The results of the research show that there are differences in all three countries regarding general education teachers’ remuneration. The main challenge is the implementation of effective and decision –making oriented social dialogue between trade unions and education policy makers regarding teachers’ weekly contact hours and paid additional hours per full workload, minimal and average monthly salary rate for teachers. The conclusion of the paper indicates that, based on Lithuania and Estonia experience, immediate reforms in Latvia are necessary to increase public funding for education, to increase teachers’ remuneration, harmonize and balance workload and ensure that teachers are paid for all duties performed.

There are 47 higher education institutions (HEIs) in Latvia (IZM data, 2018), but the number of students every year becomes smaller. That leads to a necessity for consolidation of HEIs and optimization of their administrative structures. At the same time, higher education (HE) normative regulations apply new tasks and responsibilities for HEIs (e.g., the development of internal quality management systems, strategy management,-etc.) which require new administrative functions, structures and additional resources. These controversial circumstances aren't supportive for HEIs' institutional management to develop processes in accordance with management by objectives (MBO) approach and to reach goals and objectives in HE studies and research. The aim of the paper is to research problems which interfere the development of organizational structures in accordance with the MBO approach in HEIs in Latvia. The authors have used the results from the HEIs' survey (DU, LLU, LU, LiepU, RSU, RTU) and interviews (ViA, VeA, JVLMA, BA, RPIVA (since 2017 consolidated with LU), LSPA) in Latvia. The paper is developed using research of the promotional thesis "Implementation of management by objectives approaches at higher education institutions in Latvia" (Stefenhagena, 2017). The research of the promotional thesis was carried out from 2010 to 2017. The conclusion of the paper is that HEIs' organizational structures are fragmented, and there is a tendency of duplicating administrative functions and duties. In order to apply MBO approach, a more sufficient analysis of administrative functions, processes, goals and objectives have to be carried out. Horizontal instead of vertical (hierarchic) cooperation among administrative units is encouraged.