The Solidarity Fund PL (SF PL) actively supports the reform of vocational education in Ukraine, being a part of the European Union “EU4Skills” programme implemented jointly by partners from Germany, Poland, Finland and Estonia. The EU4Skills programme operates at the national level and in seven pilot regions: Vinnytsia, Poltava, Zaporizhia, Rivne, Lviv, Mykolaiv and Chernivtsi. It is in these seven regions that our activities have been the most intense so far.
Adjusting the educational offer of vocational schools to the needs of the labour market is one of the tasks of the EU4Skills programme. It is also one of the main challenges of Ukraine’s reform, which will affect tens of thousands of future vocational education graduates in the country. Investigating employers’ needs can significantly improve planning across the entire vocational education system, influence students’ choices about the field of education, help schools prepare an attractive and, above all, labour market-driven offer for their future graduates, and be a useful source of knowledge for decision-makers at the regional and national levels.
As part of the EU4Skills programme, in September – November 2020 SF PL conducted a comprehensive Employer Survey among Ukrainian employers. Nearly 6,000 businesses of all types of economic activity from the aforementioned seven pilot regions were surveyed. One important fact is that as many as 95% of large businesses took part in the survey. Representative numbers of medium, small and micro-enterprises were also included.
The result of our several months of work is the creation of the Interactive Information Platform on Labour Market Needs. Detailed results of the 2020 Employer Survey are presented on this platform. The interactive database allows you to trace the results based on many variables such as the scale of employment broken down by sectors, regions or specific professions. Information on the expected number of new vacancies based on the same criteria, as well as what skills employers are looking for in particular regions of Ukraine, is also presented.
The interactive platform is available on the Portal of the National Employment Services, so that every internet user looking for a job can have access to it. Jobseekers have an opportunity to check in which region employees with specific skills are being looked for , or to consider changing their profession using the training and activation programmes offered by the employment services or on the market.
The platform will be updated as new data from the next annual Employer Surveys become available.
EU4Skills is a programme to support the vocational education reform in Ukraine. The programme is financed by the EU and its member states Germany, Finland, Poland and Estonia. The programme aims to increase the effectiveness of the reform, improve the quality and attractiveness of vocational education and its relevance to labour market needs, to train the management and teachers of VET schools, and to modernise selected vocational education institutions in seven pilot regions: Vinnytsia, Poltava, Zaporizhia, Rivne, Lviv, Mykolaiv and Chernivtsi. Duration: 2019-2023. The program in Ukraine is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), as well as institutions from the countries that co-finance EU4Skills.
