Development of mathematics competences in higher education institutions

The changes in society require revision of the content of higher education. Mathematics as a classical subject has played an important part in higher education until now, especially in engineering education. The introduction of mathematics IT programmes (MathCad, MathLab, Matematica, Maple...) in labour market caused the reduction of the practical application of the classical mathematics, therefore it is important to draw attention to the development of mathematical competences. The theoretical part of the paper deals with the notion of competence, its aspects and types, considers the question of the essence of mathematics, examines general competences driven teaching of mathematics, describes organisational model underlying the curriculum in mathematics that is based on the division of the content of mathematics into levels. The paper describes the main issues of the development of teaching of mathematics discussed by European mathematicians (SEFI Math Working Group). The paper presents the results of the ERDF project “Cross-border network for adapting mathematical competences in the socio-economic development (MatNet)”, which studied the role of mathematics in today´s labor market in the context of modern education (“Mathematics in professional activities”) and the role of mathematics in studies at the Latvia University of Agriculture (LUA) and Siauliai University in Lithuania (“Mathematics in professional studies”). The paper describes the LUA experience in integration of IT programmes in the study process of mathematics, as well as the experience of organizing the self-directed study of mathematics´ practical application based on didactic approach and e-learning features.