"Mechanisms of interaction between educational system and employers in preparation of professional staff for the labor market"
 
Foundation for Development of Ukraine will announce within the project "Ukraina Professionalnaya" [Professional Ukraine] a competition to discover the most effective mechanisms of interaction between higher educational establishments and employer companies, the press service of the Foundation for Development of Ukraine cited a speech of Mr. Anatoliy Zabolotny, Director of the Foundation, during the roundtable organized by the Foundation in tandem with Bureau of Economic and Social Technologies (BEST) and supported by the World Bank.
 
The participants of the roundtable discussed issues of marketability of graduates' professional training, quality of educational programs, external estimate of graduates as well as existing and possible options for partnership of educational establishments and businesses in preparation of professional staff.
 
"Presently, the problem of compliance of educational system with the rapidly growing labor market requirements is very topical, however, there is no solution of the problem now, and all attempts to solve it are merely proclaimatory. The partnership presently existing in Ukraine between the higher education establishments and the employers may not substitute the state educational system. Our objective is to initiate reforms by demonstrating the real situation in the professional training area," Mr. Zabolotny stated.
 
In his opinion, it can be achieved by developing rating criteria for the higher educational establishments from the perspective of a school leaver and employer. "We hope the results of the competition will help the school leavers 2007 make an adequate choice and the higher educational establishments realize the necessity of partnership relations with employers,"
Mr Zabolotny stressed.
 
The higher educational establishments will be rated under the following criteria: interaction with employers, demand for graduates of higher educational establishments at the labor market, career of graduates of higher educational establishments at the labor market, degree of satisfaction of employers with professional education of graduates. The deadline for applications is scheduled for May 10, 2007. The results of competition will be announced before May 15, 2007.
 
Reference
Foundation for Development of Ukraine is a non-profitable organization founded by SCM Group on July 15, 2005.
The budget of the Foundation is financed by SCM Company. The areas of activity of the Foundation include contemporary education, health of the nation and cultural heritage.
The projects of the Foundation for Development of Ukraine are being implemented in seven Oblasts of Ukraine (Kyivskaya, Lvovskaya, Zakarpatskaya, Kharkovskaya, Luganskaya, Dnepropetrovskaya and Donetskaya Oblasts) and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea
 
Bureau of Economic and Social Technologies (BEST) is one of Ukraine's first private think tanks founded in 2006 on the initiative of System Capital Management. The center provides independent analysis and consultations on wide range of issues of social and economic policy, contributes to development of a public dialogue between businesses, state authorities and society, actively develops partnership relations with international organizations, Ukrainian think tanks, domestic and foreign experts.
 
Source: context-ua.com
30.03.07