Academic CentreThe bachelor’s study programme “Optometry” (LV)
Language of instruction: Latvian
The aim of the Bachelor study programme Optometry is to prepare highly qualified and competitive assistants of vision care specialists for practical work in companies and the public sector – assistants in optical stores, assistants of optometrists and ophthalmologists, who would be able to provide high-quality vision care services in cooperation with health and vision care professionals, as well as manage health care companies and independently develop new vision-care-related approaches in the changing health care system, as well as to provide a set of knowledge, skills, and competences according to the knowledge, skills and competence.
Study programme director Gunta Krūmiņa
Study programme coordinator Dace Rutkovska
The academic content of the study programme mainly consists of natural science subjects and specially selected medical subjects pertaining to the human system of vision. The programme provides students with a scientific basis for their further professional activity in primary vision care, developing scientific analysis skills and the ability to independently solve problems related to patients' vision defects, as well as skills required for continuing scientific work.
Part A (mandatory part) of the study programme requires acquisition of study courses, which form:
- foundations in natural sciences – physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics
- foundations in medicine – human anatomy and physiology, microbiology, biochemistry, general pathology
- specialization courses – physical, geometric and visual optics, eye anatomy and physiology, visual physiology, visual functional disorders, basics of visual diagnostics, optometric instruments, binocular vision.
Part B (limited elective part) of the study programme provides study courses that include social, medical and optometry subjects. The first specialization subject of the bachelor’s study programme “Optometry” is Introduction to Optometry, which starts in the first semester, while the others – with the 2nd semester.
After graduation, the graduates work as optometrists' assistants in optician’s shops and clinics, helping to make the necessary assessments and measurements of visual functions or training patients in the use and care of contact lenses. The skills acquired during the study practice also enable a graduate to become an optician or a consultant of visual ergonomics. If a graduate wants to become an optometrist, the studies must be continued in the professional master's study programme “Optometry”, which grants the status of a medical practitioner – optometrist.
Previous education: Secondary education
Competition criteria for persons who have acquired secondary education since 2004:
- CE in Latvian language
- CE in mathematics*
- CE in English or CE in French, or CE in German
* For persons who have completed secondary education before 2008, the centralized examination (CE) in mathematics may be replaced by the annual grade in mathematics indicated in the secondary education document (or the average grade in algebra and geometry)
Competition criteria for persons who have completed secondary education up to 2004 (excluding), as well as for those who have acquired secondary education abroad or persons with special needs:
- annual average grade in Latvian language and literature
- annual grade in mathematics (or average grade in algebra and geometry)
- annual average grade in particular subjects
Advantages: the 1st–3rd stage and diploma winners of Latvian National or International Physics, Chemistry, Biology or Mathematical Olympiads in 2020 and 2021; the 1st–3rd stage winners of Scientific Conference of Latvian Secondary School Students in sections of physical sciences, or biological sciences, or medicine and health sciences in 2020 and 2021; the 1st–3rd place winners of the Open Physics or Mathematical Olympiad in 2020 and 2021.
Absolventes atsauksme
Studijas es vienmēr atceros ar siltumu! Ne tikai saistībā ar pašu studiju procesu. Es gribētu runāt vairāk par cilvēcisko aspektu. Ļoti bieži mēs stāstām par to, ka mums ir modernas tehnoloģijas, pieejams labs aprīkojums, ērtas telpas - tas arī ir ļoti svarīgi, bet mani visvairāk uzrunāja vide, kurā cilvēki atbalsta, kur cilvēki ir ieinteresēti. Pasniedzēji ir ne tikai pasaules līmeņa profesionāļi, kas nemitīgi attīsta un pilnveido savas zināšanas, bet viņiem arī rūp katrs students. Tā ir vide, kurā atbalsta un palīdz augt. Tad, kad ir kādas šaubas, grūtības, šķērsli, tieši pasniedzēji un kursa biedri ir tie, kas motivē. Ja trūkst kādas priekšzināšanas, optometrijas studiju pirmajā gadā ir iespēja tās apgūt. Optometrija dod iespēju sniegt savu ieguldījumu citu cilvēku dzīves kvalitātes uzlabošanā. Tas sniedz ļoti lielu gandarījuma sajūtu!
