Number of people with professional graduate diplomas up 13.2% in Vitebsk Oblast over past decade

VITEBSK, 16 March (BelTA) – Over the past decade the annual number of graduates of educational establishments that provide professional training in Vitebsk Oblast increased by 13.2% to 19,200 in 2010, Ivan Shchurok, the head of the education department of the Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee, said at a session of the Vitebsk regional union of employers dedicated to training of specialists for the real production sector, BelTA has learnt. Significant changes have occurred in the structure of university and vocational school graduates. For example, last year the proportion of university graduates was 32.1% (2000 - 18%), the proportion of young professionals who graduated from colleges fell from 30.8% in 2000 to 29% in 2010, and the proportion of graduates of vocational schools decreased from 45.9% to 38% over the decade. In addition, in the long term perspective local educational establishments will have to deal with the problem of fewer applicants due to a decrease in population aged 15-18. For example, last year the number of graduates from basic and secondary schools in the region applying for educational establishments declined by 30% in comparison with 2008 and amounted to 14,200 people. Vitebsk Oblast is home to five public universities and one branch of the private university, with a total of 39 departments and 192 chairs. Total number of students is about 19,000 people; the faculty is than 2,300 people, of whom about 42% have Ph.D. and doctor of science degrees. Today, universities create educational, research and production facilities and branches of their departments at enterprises, and are actively engaged in research work commissioned by and in the interests of business entities. This gives future specialists the opportunity to shape innovative thinking, get maximum practical skills, learn new technologies and freely navigate the information space. “One of the main challenges facing universities is to establish educational and material base meeting the present-day requirements for training,” said Ivan Shchurok. Today, however, there has been an imbalance in training. In particular there is a shortage of specialists of exact sciences, for industrial and humanitarian spheres. The structure of paid services provided by universalities is focused on meeting the demand of applicants (mostly these are such professions as lawyers, economists, accountants) and to a lesser extent takes into account the needs of the economy. Training for about 60% of students is fee-based. Another issue of the system of professional training is the widening gap between the social demand for training of specialists for innovation-oriented economy and the current system of training. “We need to rethink the role of the teacher, his knowledge of the problems of the real production sector and the formation of skills that will enable the training of specialists for the innovation economy,” believes Ivan Shchurok.

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