Unemployment of graduates will have far-reaching consequences
21.05.2000
Among the army of jobless there appeared a corps of young physicians, teachers, economists, etc., who in the Soviet times had been called . young specialists. . As a rule, they are higher school graduates, who got not only the higher education, but some additional professional specialization, i.e. they have a diploma and a certificate of the specialty. Some professionals, especially physicians, must work some time in their profession, otherwise they will loose the right to work as specialists.
Nowadays massive staff reductions are going on in hospitals and similar organizations, and every administrator tries his best to retain high-skilled and experienced doctors, so the chances of the graduates to find a job are negligible, and, at best, the graduates begin to work not according to their education. Thus, the money spent for their education (by the state or by their parents) are wasted. Some time will pass, the natural exchange of generations will have to be made, and some branches will be left without specialists. Especially hard situation will occur in medicine, for this is an activity where the process of learning from older colleagues and accumulating experience must be permanent.
It seems that in our attempts to have education, culture and medicine gratis (which is impossible), we lost the capability to plan how many and which professionals are needed by the society.
In this difficult situation the Ministry of Education tries to dodge the problem. As always, bureaucrats, responsible for the problem, found a way out. Now in many higher schools the administration demands the future graduates to get the document from any organization that it agrees to hire the student according to his profession, otherwise they threaten the student not to give him the certificate of the professional education. By hook or crook such certificate is got or bought. The described situation happened last year in Kharkiv Academy of Culture. The administration was satisfied, since they justified the plan of enlisting students and retained jobs of teachers. The Ministry of Education confirmed that it was necessary and capable to provide Ukraine with needed professionals. Councils of rectors, councils in charge of various professions and so on functioned, continuing to destroy our system of higher education, which is far from being the worst in the world.
Meanwhile, the graduates, sometimes very able and well . educated, join the army of jobless. Some become salesmen, some become hairdressers, some leave Ukraine and work abroad quite successfully.
In some time out government will beg humanitarian aid from well-developed countries, because Ukraine will have difficulties with qualified personnel. If we had been capable to shape the personnel now, it would have been much easier in the future.
Nowadays massive staff reductions are going on in hospitals and similar organizations, and every administrator tries his best to retain high-skilled and experienced doctors, so the chances of the graduates to find a job are negligible, and, at best, the graduates begin to work not according to their education. Thus, the money spent for their education (by the state or by their parents) are wasted. Some time will pass, the natural exchange of generations will have to be made, and some branches will be left without specialists. Especially hard situation will occur in medicine, for this is an activity where the process of learning from older colleagues and accumulating experience must be permanent.
It seems that in our attempts to have education, culture and medicine gratis (which is impossible), we lost the capability to plan how many and which professionals are needed by the society.
In this difficult situation the Ministry of Education tries to dodge the problem. As always, bureaucrats, responsible for the problem, found a way out. Now in many higher schools the administration demands the future graduates to get the document from any organization that it agrees to hire the student according to his profession, otherwise they threaten the student not to give him the certificate of the professional education. By hook or crook such certificate is got or bought. The described situation happened last year in Kharkiv Academy of Culture. The administration was satisfied, since they justified the plan of enlisting students and retained jobs of teachers. The Ministry of Education confirmed that it was necessary and capable to provide Ukraine with needed professionals. Councils of rectors, councils in charge of various professions and so on functioned, continuing to destroy our system of higher education, which is far from being the worst in the world.
Meanwhile, the graduates, sometimes very able and well . educated, join the army of jobless. Some become salesmen, some become hairdressers, some leave Ukraine and work abroad quite successfully.
In some time out government will beg humanitarian aid from well-developed countries, because Ukraine will have difficulties with qualified personnel. If we had been capable to shape the personnel now, it would have been much easier in the future.