40% of university graduates work outside their field of study, – Tigipko
Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Serhiy Tigipko said that curricula in educational institutions do not meet the needs of the economy
He said this during an online conference on Facebook, noting in particular that in order to reduce unemployment, it is necessary for the education system to train specialists taking into account the needs of the economy.
«For a long time, the state has not been sufficiently involved in planning state orders, higher educational institutions have been training specialists unnecessary for the economy. For example, today we have much more economists, lawyers, and representatives of other specialties than necessary. There is another problem. Curricula in educational institutions do not meet the needs of the economy. As a result, 40% of university graduates work outside their specialty,» Tigipko said.
According to him, in such conditions, the state needs to intensify retraining programs to solve unemployment problems. Among the promising areas in which there is a shortage of specialists today, according to Serhiy Tigipko, is, in particular, the IT sector.
«Today, Ukraine lacks 30 thousand programmers, and this is without taking into account the huge demand from outside Ukraine,» – said Tigipko.
He also noted that it is necessary to involve business in retraining. As an example, Tigipko cited the experience of an IT company that retrains employees with higher education, teaching them basic IT professions.
«I recently met with representatives of Cisco. The company trained 9,100 employees in a year. First of all, for itself and its partners. They take a person with a good technical or philological education. And over a period of 2 months to 3 years, they train a specialist for themselves. After such training, the salaries of specialists increase by 5-10 times,» he noted.
Serhiy Tigipko also added that in the near future, as part of the new social policy, he will present a new version of the law «On Employment of the Population», which provides for a number of incentives for creating jobs and overcoming unemployment. In particular, it will stipulate opportunities for professional internships for university students with employers and benefits for enterprises that employ young people.
