Government supports development of Ukrainian IT education

Prime Minister of Ukraine N. Azarov has signed a decree of the Cabinet of Ministers aimed at improving the quality of IT professionals, strengthening cooperation between business and education, bringing education to the needs of industry and labor market. Sigma Ukraine, as a member of European Business Association EBA IT Committee, became a coordinator of document creation and according it with IT associations, IT companies, leading universities and the Ministry of Education.
One of the key barriers of IT industry development is lack of human resources. The level of IT graduates rarely meets the requirements of the labor market today.
25% of graduates are to work in IT industry.
Lack of practical training, insufficient level of English proficiency, miss of skills working in the team – all lead to the fact that only 25% of graduates are to work in IT industry and this is very low index.
Sigma Ukraine is actively cooperating with universities, welcoming talented and ambitious students, improving the material base of educational institutions, participating in job fairs and career days. Still it is not enough to solve the problem – reforms at the state level are needed. Led by Vice Prime Minister Sergei Tihipko, for more than a year EBA IT Committee members together with representatives of Kiev, Kharkov and Lvov leading technical universities, legal experts, the Ministry of Education and Science were working on a document that would provide solutions to the most pressing problems of IT education in Ukraine.
Ministry of Education and Science were working on a document that would provide solutions to the most pressing problems of IT education in Ukraine.
In late September such document was presented to Prime Minister of Ukraine Nicolay Azarov.
The document foresees reforming not only higher but also secondary and professional education, including educational programs improvement, enhancing students’ practical training, introduction of in-depth study of English language and teachers’ professional development, strengthening collaboration between business and universities. Particular attention was paid to the redistribution of state order for IT professionals to bring it in line with labor market needs.
To ensure the effective functioning of IT education and training of qualified specialists the interagency coordinating council will be established involving to its activity the representatives of authorities, IT companies associations and universities. The purpose of this council will be to identify and address real needs of the industry in human resources, increase young people’s interest to the profession, develop new levels of graduates’ readiness to the professional needs of the industry, etc.
The activity of EBA IT Committee, which our company is a member of, is focused on the development of IT industry in Ukraine. We can say now that we have made first successful steps in this direction, as preparing strong skilled professionals is an essential point for the industry to succeed,

said Vladimir Beck, CEO at Sigma Ukraine.

It is a very important stage in the development of Ukrainian IT industry, – said Valery Krasovsky, COO at Sigma Ukraine. – Implementing of elaborated measures should improve the quality of future professionals training, enhance interaction between business and education, enable companies to solve the problem of personnel lack, and students should feel more confident about their future.
Source: Sigma Ukraine