Chaired by Secretary of the NSDC of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov, a meeting on the state of the higher education system in the context of national security was held

Chaired by Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov, a meeting was held on the state of the higher education system and the state order for preparing specialists, scientific, scientific-pedagogical and labor staff, advanced training and retraining in 2020-2021 in the context of national security.

People’s Deputy, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Education, Science and Innovation Serhiy Babak, Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine Maryna Lazebna, Director of the National Institute for Strategic Studies Oleksandr Lytvynenko, Director of the Ptoukha Institute for Demography and Social Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Ella Libanova, Deputy Minister of Finance of Ukraine Roman Yermolychev, Vice President of the Confederation of Employers of Ukraine, President of the Institute of Professional Qualifications Oleksiy Miroshnychenko, Deputy Secretary of the NSDC of Ukraine Oleksiy Solovyov, acting Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Serhiy Shkarlet attended the meeting.

During the meeting, a number of issues were discussed, including the disparity between the training and the requirements of the labor market, the effectiveness of the current state education order, promising areas of new and breakthrough technologies that should be developed to ensure the socio-economic development of the state.

According to Mr. Danilov, the analysis of the higher education system carried out with the help of software and hardware complex “COTA”, allows one to speak about a systemic crisis that poses potential and real threats to the state and national security of Ukraine. “We have to understand that the situation may become critical in a few years. The higher education system cannot simply issue diplomas, we must focus on the key areas that will determine our future”, - he said.

Mr. Danilov emphasized the identified disparities among higher and vocational education institutions, the gap between the education system and production, the orientation of the education system on the training of specialists for technologically obsolete industries. “Ukraine’s current education system does not take into account the current challenges facing the state, among which the most significant are the coronavirus epidemic and Russia’s armed aggression”, - Mr. Danilov said stressing the need for preparing specialists taking into consideration the long-term market needs with a focus on developing innovative sectors of the economy.

“Recovery from the crisis is possible only through deep reform of the education system, and this must be done in the context of improving the state policy of innovative development of Ukraine”, - he underscored.

During the meeting, participants stressed the need to review approaches to the formation of the state education order, taking into account the long-term economic strategy and employment opportunities for graduates, changing the licensing system of vocational and higher education institutions, development of dual education. The importance of constant in-depth monitoring of the labor market, development of a career map by specialties and implementation of the concept of lifelong learning were also highlighted.

The NSDC Secretary stressed that these issues should be addressed as publicly as possible: “We must visualize all the processes taking place in the education system and give society a clear picture of how to get in-demand education and, most importantly, decent work”.