Does modern Ukrainian education meet the demand for new-type specialists?

On February 21, during the Level UP forum, representatives of the government, business, and society discussed the principles of continuous education and noted that graduates of Ukrainian educational institutions are mostly not ready for today's challenges.

The moderator of the discussion, Thomas Björkman, noted that the global trend is still the horizontal development of specialists. This trajectory involves acquiring basic skills in a certain specialty and does not take into account new requirements for specialists, managers, citizens, etc. In turn, vertical development enables qualitative growth in various fields. After all, it is about a specialist's ability to change the system from within, be flexible, and see interconnections in a broader context, as well as look at problems from different angles.

Developing the theme of capabilities, kmbs dean Oleksandr Savruk explained how this idea is implemented in kmbs programs. According to him: "When we talk about Ukrainian education, we still see the focus on skill and competency development — but this is no longer enough. We need to develop people who can see and work with concepts, be open enough to change their own worldview approach, and move from closed systems to open ones. Such development requires learning over a relatively long period. For example, during 2 years of study at a business school, a manager transitions to a completely different level, discovers new capabilities within themselves, and then complements them with the necessary skills."

Gela Bezhashvili, director of the Georgian Industrial Group, also shared his thoughts on Ukrainian education. He emphasized that creating a business for the future is possible with the transformation of Ukrainian schools. After all, a child who starts school at six will live in a completely different country by the time they finish their education. If taught by the same methods as today, they will be uncompetitive. And this needs to be understood by everyone — school leaders, ministers of education, politicians.

The founder of Powercode, Vladyslav Savchenko, emphasized that business directly influences what future specialists will be like. Considering that technologies change every three months, a specialist after university must update their knowledge through courses to find a job. Business can perform a socially useful action and take responsibility for upgrading specialized knowledge for the market.

Vladyslav's opinion was supported by Yevhen Bulakh, director of sales and subscriber service at Vodafone. For university graduates to acquire knowledge that will later be useful to business, companies should cooperate with universities from the beginning of education. Yevhen also expressed hope that Ukraine will soon transition from an industrial to a post-industrial model. As a result, experienced professionals will work not for foreign companies but for the development of Ukrainian products.

The discussion also included: Oleksandr Bornyakov, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine; Serhiy Korsunsky, Director of the Diplomatic Academy named after Hennadiy Udovenko at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine; Oleh Shevchuk, First Vice-Rector of the University of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine; Valeriy Kopiyka, Doctor of Political Sciences, 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 to strengthen each other.

Ukrainian Education and Modern Challenges