Abstract. The learning habits of students in higher education are changing frequently and universities have to modify their learning environment to the needs of their students. The method of teaching ten years ago is not the method to achieve learning with Generation Y because Millennial students are quite opposite of their predecessors, Generation X. The aim of the research paper is to explore Millennial students' expectations towards higher education in Latvia. To achieve the aim, a survey of 179 Millennial students was conducted to determine the engineering student expectations from higher education in Latvia. The research showed that the students were relatively more in favour of the Millennial generation values rather than traditional values in higher education, yet their support was not absolute. The students demonstrated agreement with such essential aspects for the Millennial generation as the availability of technologies and the Internet for an effective study process, teaching personnel's knowledge of their discipline and ability to make students interested in a topic and give fast feedback. However, the students' opinions were not similar with regard to the roles of an academic and a student in the study process -in determining the content of a study course, a timetable of classes and the attendance of classes. Most of the students believed that they had to be given an opportunity to influence everything, while a third were rather in favour of the role of an academic as an authority in the study process. The differences in the values of the Millennial students in Latvia with regard to education may be partly explained by the fact that the Millennial generation in Latvia emerged only in the early 1990s, i.e. after the Soviet Union collapsed, and their value orientation has not yet become definite.

Abstract. Investment in higher education is an essential prerequisite for economic growth and national competitiveness as well as for achieving a higher level of prosperity. To implement it, an important role is played by various affecting factors, including the quality of the physical environment of an educational institution that affects the learning process, determines physical and mental self-feeling and motivation and contributes to emotional and behavioural responses. In view of the fact that the millennial generation, whose values differ from those of previous generations, enters universities, the research aim is to examine students' expectations towards the physical environment in higher education institutions. The research was carried out at the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies that is a classical university of biotechnology and technology with 155 years of tradition. The research analysed the physical environment through three aspects: the layout and size of study rooms, ergonomics and technologies, and the informal environment and comfort. A survey of young students revealed that in describing an ideal study room, students demonstrated the values typical of the millennial generation -they stressed the roles of technologies and comfort. However, if the role of the teaching personnel is contrasted with the availability of technologies in the physical environment for studies, the technologies lose their value. The student opinions on the physical environment for studies showed homogeneity, yet the ratings of some aspects represented statistically significant differences between the social science students and the students studying other sciences.

Services by equine sector offer a new livelihood for farms around cities, but studies focusing on the demand for these services are limited. Knowledge of the clients' preferences enables systematic development of the riding services. We examined a riding lesson choice, and attributes affecting it, in Finland, Sweden and Latvia using a choice experiment method. The latent class model revealed three distinctive consumer groups in each country: one with low interest in lessons, one with recreational focus and one interested in skills. Based on the model, we estimated willingness to pay for a riding lesson with different attribute combinations.

The social environment of a university, which is comprised of students, teaching staff and parents, play an essential role in the educational process. Students' decisions, learning and attainment could be considerably affected by relationships with their coursemates in particular. The present research therefore aims to examine students' expectations towards their coursemates in the academic environment in Latvia. The research surveyed 979 students at Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (2016-2018). The research has found that for students, the study process involves not only learning but also common events with their coursemates as well as informal relationships. Comparing the role of coursemates and the informal influence of parents and teaching staff, the respondents preferred the involvement of their coursemates. Larger differences in opinion were found for the informal role of teaching staff in learning. Of the respondents, 47% expected teaching staff to be friends, while 29% slightly agreed that the teaching staff had to be authorities and knowledgeable specialists, which indicated that it was important for some students to disassociate formal relationships from informal ones between students and teaching staff. The dispersion of opinions that could be observed for some variables might be explained by the specifics of the programmes the students represented. Statistically significant differences in opinion were found between bioscience and engineering students in relation to the attitude of teaching staff to students, parental support and coursemate support in learning (p<0.05)-the bioscience students more often favoured informal relationship aspects.

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