Deep education system troubles felt by labor market struggling to keep up with growing need for professional workforce
Problems in the halls of learning range from inadequate instruction to widespread bribe taking by educators.
Education Minister Stanislav Nikolayenko recently announced that only about half of Ukraine’s high school graduates are qualified to enter college.
“According to the results of current, objective and independent testing, approximately 50-55 percent of school children have a high enough level of knowledge,” the minister was quoted as saying in an interview to the Ukrainian newspaper Tovarishch.
“The rest are either average or below average, which means they can’t enter university,” he added.
For those who can’t make the grade, a system of bribery is well-entrenched, supplementing the miserly incomes of university professors and high school teachers.
Nikolayenko said that a poll conducted by the ministry for the second year in a row showed that one in five Ukrainian students would agree to a request by an instructor for a bribe in return for a favorable grade.
In the first six months of 2006, the Interior Ministry reported 242 cases of bribery in the Ukrainian educational system, which marked almost a 4 percent increase over the previous year.
At least two deans, five deputy deans and seven department heads were charged with bribe taking.
The bribes, which ranged from $100 to $1,200, can be a major supplement to teachers’ incomes. State budget constraints keep monthly salaries for teachers relatively low, at $200-300.
Out of an almost universally literate population of 46 million, Ukraine currently boasts 2.8 million students enrolled in institutions of higher education, according to the Education Ministry.
A total of 58 percent of these students had their tuition paid by the state last year, which was 3.5 percent more than in 2005.
But according to in-country employment specialists, the state may not be getting its money’s worth.
Oleksandr Samolyuk, business development manager at Kyiv-based Staff Service consulting agency, said the country still suffers from a shortage of “qualified personnel for middle and top-level white collar jobs, who can combine experience, foreign languages knowledge and a progressive way of thinking.”
Experience comes on the job, but languages and thinking are the task of a country’s educational system.
“In general, big international companies hire young people without experience and train them themselves from scratch,” Samolyuk said.
According to Samolyuk, Ukraine’s colleges and universities have still not changed to meet the times by revamping their courses and faculty.
“The best qualified graduates that we see are those who got practical experience in the workplace while still in university,” he added.
Ukraine currently boasts a labor force of about 22 million, with more than half of these in the services sector. Around 7 percent of the country’s population is unemployed, according to the International Labor Organization.
As Ukraine’s economy continues to develop, employment will rise, expanding the services sector and the need for internationally accepted technical and management skills.
Natalia Woskoboinikowa, a consultant at HRC Talents recruiting services in Kyiv, said the need for technical and managerial professionals in Ukraine has been gradually increasing, with qualified personnel particularly lacking in the IT, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and construction sectors.
One of the main reasons for the shortage, according to Woskoboinikowa, is Ukraine’s education system.
“The quality of Ukrainian graduates’ academic education does not always correspond to the high requirements of employers. Therefore many employers offer jobs to young specialists who meet perhaps some of the requirements and provide them with additional education and training.”
Svitlana Melnyk, an assistant professor at Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University, said that in addition to being under-funded, Ukrainian universities are somewhat insular.
“I talk to my colleagues from different universities. Many universities do not encourage their faculty and students to participate in international programs. People do not have information regarding scholarships, fellowships and the opportunities to work and study abroad. Many of our lecturers and students believe that our education is the best,” she added.
Melnyk, who has taught in Central Europe and the US, said the problem often comes down to attitude.
Ukrainian students need to take more responsibility for plagiarism and cheating, and be encouraged to do more independent work, she said.
According to the Education Ministry, around 7 or 8 percent of Ukrainian students end up dropping out – a figure that has been constant for the past five years.
“My students from Shevchenko Universitywere very surprised when they did not find our university among the top 100 universities of the world (it was The Times Higher Education Supplement),” Melnyk said.
