Education aligned with economic needs – Government plans to increase state-funded places for technical specialities by 27.6%: Yuliia Svyrydenko

The state is creating conditions to ensure young people acquire skills needed in the labour market for large-scale post-war reconstruction. To this end, the Government plans to increase state-funded educational places for a range of technical and educational specialities. This was announced by Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, during her speech at the “Education of the New Ukraine” conference.

Specifically, for the upcoming academic year, the Government plans to increase state-funded places in the following fields:

• Engineering, Manufacturing, and Construction – 27.6%
• Education – 15.8%
• Information Technology – 13.4%
• Security and Defence – 7.6%
• Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, and Veterinary Medicine – 6.7%

“There is currently structural unemployment in the labour market, where vacancies exist alongside job seekers, but their skills don’t match employers’ needs. Ukrainian businesses identify the shortage of skilled workers as their number one challenge. Therefore, developing education, improving career guidance, and building a system for training and retraining are priorities. Our task as a state is to create conditions so that young people have the skills currently in demand in the labour market,” Yuliia Svyrydenko emphasised.

According to her, there is a particular demand for specialists in technical fields, prompting the Government to adjust state-funded educational places accordingly.

For those looking to change careers, the Government offers retraining programmes. Ukrainians can receive vouchers worth up to UAH 30,000 to retrain in a speciality and at an educational institution of their choice.

“We are also reforming vocational education centres for adults, involving businesses in the process. All vocational training centres now include entrepreneurs on their supervisory boards, who help tailor courses to market demands. Preparing specialists is a responsibility shared by both the state and businesses. I believe dual education, where students can combine study and work, is a good practice. On our part, we are improving labour market conditions and currently working on amendments to labour legislation,” Yuliia Svyrydenko continued.

The updated labour legislation is expected to introduce the concept of a student employment contract, enabling students to study and work legally. Additionally, students studying remotely will be able to take additional paid leave, a benefit currently available only to those in evening or correspondence programmes.