Education and the Labor Market in Ukraine: Building Bridges

Thursday, 15 December 2011

Regardless of what aspects of educational reform are not being address by the government, educational establishments and international technical assistance programs, education must still respond to the needs of society.  Realizing this, The Alliance for the development of the Ukrainian Standardized Testing Initiative (Alliance USETI) a United State Agency for International Development project started in 2007 realizes this and is therefore developing a system for external independent testing for those who want to apply to establishments of higher education in Ukraine.  They also initiated an open dialogue between education system representatives and business representatives or employers.  The second forum to facilitate this was held in November 2011 in the form of a round table dedicated to the topic How to improve the quality of higher education so that it meets the current labor market needs.

At this meeting education representatives, specifically the Ministry of Education and Science, Youth and Sports of Ukraine, universities, private business, professional employment associations and independent experts discussed the issues of reforming higher education, government quotas, improving the quality of education, and including employer organizations in reforming government quotas and analyzing the market to ensure they are meeting the needs of the labor market in Ukraine; they also outlined a plan for further cooperation.

Participants of the round table were particularly interested in the presentations made by big business representatives from System Capital Management (SCM), one of the largest industrial holdings in Ukraine and AES Ukraine—an American investment in the Ukrainian energy market.

Ms. Marta Moonen, Human Resource Director at SCM noted that the main problem with higher education in Ukraine is that it does not address the needs of the labor market or the needs of business.  In her opinion, initiative to reconcile the needs of today’s market and business with what higher education can offer should come from employers, but that at the same time establishments of higher education (HEIs) should be graduating students with relevant qualifications.  As a result of the current shortage of qualified graduates, companies have to spend their own money to educate graduates or hire personnel from abroad who have appropriate qualifications.

SCM started several educational projects such as Compass (Rating Ukrainian HEIs), Formula (where their managers lead workshops and lecture upcoming graduates to inform them of what will be expected of them after they enter the labor force), and Academia DTEK (a training program for new hires).  The company also works with the MoESYS to develop a framework for qualifications in some majors.

Marta Moonen and Mariya Panfilova

Ms. Mariya Panfilova, Human Resource Director for AES Ukraine largely agrees with Ms. Moonen.  She spoke of AES Ukraine’s cooperation with HEIs and students.  According to Ms. Panfilova, AES Ukraine is exploring the possibility of investing in developing personnel.  This year 200 HEI students underwent their manufacturing practical training at AES Ukraine, the pace of their practical experience closely mirrored what is required in today’s energy sector.  Unfortunately this opportunity was not welcomed by all students, teachers and HEI executives.  Ms. Panfilova also noted that today’s graduates have a fairly poor basic theoretical foundation which makes further professional development almost impossible.  If this situation continues than many HEIs will be left without work, because big businesses will opt to educate and train their personnel independently

Results of the survey Ukrainian HEI Graduates: Employers’ Opinions also caused a lively discussion at the round table.  Ms. Olena Zlobina noted that this survey, conducted in September-October of 2011, was supported by Alliance USETI.  Forty human resource representatives from large enterprises were surveyed.  The survey explored what respondents said was important for employers when looking to hire new staff, what they expect from applicants, and what they feel are the factors that influence the preparation of future HEI graduates

Olena Zlobina

The survey showed that employers believe that the best way to include business in resolving the problems in education is: for HEIs to hire experienced professionals to teach; to give stipends to talented students; to include business representatives in HEI bodies so that they can influence the educational program; to create a clear formula for determining the number of necessary graduates for any given specialty and what level of education is required of them; and to offer students the possibility to undergo the practical portion of their education at real businesses.

Mr. Leonid Rubanenko, Chairman of Kharkiv Regional Employers’ Association, Mr. Oledsandr Popov, Director of the Inter-Corporate University program, Mr. Ivan Babyn, Expert in reforming higher education, and National Correspondent in Ukraine for the Council of Europe, Mr. Ihor Zhylyayev, Associate Director of Scientific Research at NTUU-KPI, Mr. Volodymyr Kovtunets’, Legal Advisor for Alliance USETI, Serhiy Kvit, President of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, and Mr. Volodymyr Buhrov, Vice-Chancellor of SNUU, and other round table participants shared their thoughts on how to develop a dialogue between education and business.

The main outcome of the round table can be summed up by what Mr. Moonen of SCM had to say: “Business has to give HEIs feedback so that they know what and how to change their programs.”  For this reason Alliance USETI started the tradition of holding employer forums.  The next such forum will take place in the spring of 2012.

USETI Alliance