Does modern Ukrainian education grant the request for a new profile of specialists?

On February 21, at the Level UP Ukraine Forum, representatives of state authority, business and society discussed the principles of continuing education. They noted that graduates of Ukrainian educational institutions are, in most cases, not prepared for the challenges of today.

Moderator of the discussion Thomas Bjorkman noted that the global trend is still horizontal professional development of specialists. This course implies the acquisition of basic skills in a particular speciality and does not take into account new requirements both to the specialists and managers, citizens, etc. In contrast, vertical development enables qualitative growth in various fields. After all, it is about the specialist's capability to change the system from inside, his flexibility and ability to see connections in a broader context, as well as to look at the problem from different angles.

Developing the theme of capabilities, kmbs dean Oleksandr Savruk told how the idea is executed in kmbs programs. According to him, when it comes to Ukrainian education, we still focus on the development of skills and competencies — but that is not enough now. We need to educate people who can see and work with concepts, to be open-minded enough to change their mindset and move from the closed systems to open ones. Such education requires a relatively long training time. For example, during 2 years of studying at the business school, a manager appears in a completely different environment, discovers new abilities, and only then complements them with the necessary skills.

Director of Georgian Industrial Group Gela Bezhuashvili shared his opinion on Ukrainian education. He emphasized that the creation of business for the future is possible in case of transformation of Ukrainian schools. After all, a child who goes to school at the age of six will live in another country at the time of graduation. If taught using the same methods as today, he or she will be uncompetitive. And everyone should understand it: school leaders, ministers of education, politicians.

What the future professionals will be like is directly influenced by the business, the Powercode founder Vladyslav Savchenko said. Considering that technologies change every three months, a specialist needs to update his knowledge at courses to find a job after university. Businesses can do socially useful work and take responsibility for upgrading specialized expertize for the market.

Vladyslav's opinion was supported by Yevhen Bulakh, Sales and Customer Operations Director at Vodafone. Companies need to collaborate with universities from the very beginning of studies so that graduates acquired knowledge that will later be useful for business. Yevhen also hopes that Ukraine will soon transit from an industrial to a post-industrial model. As a result, experienced professionals with  will work not for foreign companies, but for the sake of the development of Ukrainian products.

The discussion also took part Oleksandr Borniakov, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Sergiy Korsunsky, Director of the Gennadiy Udovenko Diplomatic Academy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Oleg Shevchuk, First Vice-Rector of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, Valeriy Kopiyka, Doctor of Political Science, Director of the Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

The Level UP Ukraine 2020 Forum is a unique platform for creating an ecosystem where business, government and society agree on partnerships, share opportunities and interact so everyone would benefit.