A pilot project of providing IT industry staff started in Kharkiv

European Business Associationa and EBA IT Committee have been cooperating with government for already a long time to promote the development of IT education in Ukraine. Nowadays very often IT business representatives face a problem of discrepancy between education and real market needs. Even today shortage of IT personnel reached about 15 thousand people and according to experts, situation is going to be more tangle if appropriate measures will not be taken. In the same time, the dynamic IT industry offers employment for tens of thousands of specialists. According to the forecast s about 160 thousand of workplaces could be created in this sphere till 2015. For solving the most vital problems the IT branch representatives raised the question about the necessity to take a series of measures for the development of higher and secondary IT education and for bringing it to the real labor market needs. This initiative was supported by government agencies, including State Employment Service of Ukraine. Together with higher education institutions and businessmen the employment center prepared a draft aimed at meeting the needsof IT labor market. The project is planned to be implemented in 3 pilot regions – Kyiv, Kharkiv and Lviv, because these regions have the most developed IT indusrtries. Kharkiv is a city which was always notable for its advanced technologies in IT sphere. Kyiv is renowned for a great number of IT companies and strong education potential, and Lviv is the center of IT industry in Western Ukraine. In these regions the preparation of IT personnel will be carried out on bases of regional employment centers and leading technical universities considering all the employers requirements to IT specialists. The project provides for the close cooperation between universities, IT companies and centers of employment on all stages of preparation: from development of entrance tests, to creation of academic programs and qualification requirements for future IT professionals. If the pilot projects prove to be effective, a similar practice will be extended to the whole territory of Ukraine. The official launch of the project was held as part of the Job Fair “Polytech-2012″ on April 6, 2012. Peter Petrashko, Director of State Employment Center , Leonid Tovazhnyansky , Chancellor of NTU “KPI”, representatives of the Kharkiv Regional Employment Center, and members of the Board of EBA IT Committee, Edward Rubin, Igor Mendzebrovskyy and Vladimir Beck participated in the event. The State Employment Service of Ukraine also presented a new project aimed at vocational and occupational choice of young people in the development of IT professions.Through computer testing specialists from Employment Office will exert the talents, skills and abilities of challengers for a work in the IT industry, provide advice on preparing a professional resume, interview, etc.