They say that US schools have a subject called future planning. And one of the basic rules of life that American schoolchildren are taught is: “Higher education is a social elevator that allows one to move upward in society.” But a diploma is not a pass to a good life, where a newly minted graduate is eagerly awaited by a prestigious job and a high salary. What should a specialist of the third millennium be like? What should they focus on when getting an education? Will graduates of our universities be able to seamlessly integrate into international society in five to seven years? This is what our conversation with Sergei EROKHIN, rector of the National Academy of Management, is about.
- Sergei Arkadyevich, today parents of most applicants are worried by a Hamlet question: to pay or not to pay? Is there a future for free education?
- Let’s define our terms right away: there is no free education - there is state-funded education, which is allocated money from taxpayers. This concept itself is somewhat incorrect: education is not an item of the social sphere and cannot be one! The state, within the framework of social programs, should take care of children, the elderly, and the disabled. But the young and healthy can pay for their own education.
- I can imagine the reaction of our readers...
- The fact is that the older generation is accustomed to the unbroken chain of the Soviet period: school - university - workplace. The state monopoly extended both to the means of production and to the labor force: according to the state order, millions of teachers, doctors, engineers, turners, welders, and hairdressers were trained. After graduation, all of them were sent to guaranteed jobs. And today, as Shakespeare directly said, “the time is out of joint”: the workplace exists by itself, and funding for education exists by itself. The demand for professions is dictated by the market, which means that the state order loses its meaning, becoming a rudiment of Soviet times. Yes, we can train thousands of teachers, but they will not go to villages for paltry salaries; they will dissolve into cities, taking jobs outside their specialty. And the budget funds spent on their training will go nowhere. We do not know how many and what kind of specialists will be needed in a year or two.
- But state funding makes higher education accessible to all segments of the population...
- In state universities, more than half of students now study in paid departments. Free students and paying students study in the same group - what social equality can we talk about? Moreover, it is precisely the existence of a “budget preference” that creates fertile ground for abuses: when something is free in market conditions, bribes inevitably exist - at entrance examinations, at examination sessions.
- But abroad there is also state-funded education.
- Back in the 1980s, the Soviet Union attempted to introduce the so-called “partial compensation of education costs”: enterprises paid off part of the cost of training young specialists who came to work for them. In the USA, for example, the grant system is very developed - you can get a discount on education costs (up to 100%) if you are a genius, a disabled person, a representative of a national minority, or come from a disadvantaged family. In the UK, the higher education system is financed by taxpayers through city municipalities. A tax history is kept for every citizen, and when their child is going to enroll, for example, at the University of Central Lancashire, the municipality partially covers the cost of education based on the tax history data. In Poland, there are no paid departments at state universities at all; that is, you can either study on a budget at a state university or pay at a private one. In Russia, they took a different path: they divide among all citizens a unified state financial obligation - the better you studied, the more budget money is allocated to your “educational voucher,” which is taken into account when you choose an educational institution. Even in China, there is no longer a state order - budget funds are allocated only for a number of specialties, for example, for training municipal workers, police, etc. And the Ukrainian system of higher education is gradually turning towards the Western vector.
- So, maybe our salvation is in education lending?
- In principle, the opportunity to take a loan for education is great. In many Western countries, young people use such an opportunity. But one should be aware: a loan is, firstly, an increase in the cost of the service, and secondly, financial bondage. “Repayment” and “payment” are not just economic terms, especially for those who have to repay this loan under our unstable economy. And today in Ukraine, those who self-finance their education do not even receive scholarships! For banks, it is also a risk. In short, for now there are more problems than real benefit. I believe that as long as state funding of education exists, education lending will not work.
- It turns out that choosing a future specialty is a risk that the applicant must bear entirely and completely?
- And how else? The labor market, like any other market, lives by its own laws: today one thing is in demand, tomorrow another. When a farmer decides to plant potatoes in the spring, he takes a risk: what if there is a big harvest and the price falls in autumn? Nevertheless, when making such a choice, he first analyzes certain agricultural information and tries to make a forecast. It is exactly the same with choosing a specialty - today no one guarantees a graduate a ready-made workplace, as was once the case. Moreover, it is even difficult to guarantee the demand for his profession in five to seven years - the world around us is changing so rapidly. Risk is the price for the freedom of choice.
- And how, in your opinion, do 21st-century applicants differ from their predecessors?
- A difficult question... Today's applicants have a weak overall level of preparation: a clear bias toward foreign languages and computerization at the expense of basic theoretical disciplines - the humanities, chemistry, biology, even mathematics. They are more pragmatic and utilitarian, with less flight of fancy. They tend to choose a profession based on its current demand. What is alarming is the lack of understanding of the specifics of a future specialty. It is impossible to "study to become a lawyer," as they now like to say. A young person must know exactly who he wants to work as - a lawyer or a prosecutor, whether he wants to study criminal or commercial law. This is not yet seen in our applicants.
- Does today's secondary school provide sufficient knowledge?
- Knowledge is not given - knowledge is taken! Until we grasp this difference in approach to education, we will marvel at the infantilism of our adult children. The twelve-point grading system allows one to smoothly "flow" from grade to grade, but your real knowledge base is the result of your conscious motivation. There are no uniform criteria - you must determine your own priorities in education. In the USA, for example, schoolchildren as young as 9-10 already choose their subjects themselves.
- What should young people use as a guide when choosing a future profession?
- First, of course, your own aptitudes: what you like, what abilities you have, what knowledge base you have acquired. Then you should analyze the labor market: which professions are in demand, what additional knowledge a specialist of the 21st century needs. Moreover, it is advisable to compile such a ranking of professions not only from our data but also on the basis of foreign information: practice shows that, albeit with a delay, all world trends gradually reach Ukraine. Be sure to periodically visit the websites of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labor - there is a lot of useful information there. It is worth consulting those who work in the specialty you have chosen and dropping by employment centers. Choosing a future profession is a responsible step. Unfortunately, in our country, parents often try to do this instead of the applicant.
- And which specialties, in your opinion, will be in demand in the near future?
- We live in a post-industrial society, which means that all specialties of the so-called "service" character will come to the fore. This is especially typical of developed countries - there is already a shortage of mid-level medical personnel and social workers, and there are many vacancies in the tourism and hotel business. The intellectual component of business is becoming a separate direction, which means a new surge in the demand for computer technology specialists. And, of course, economics, as the foundation of all foundations, will always be held in high esteem.
I would also like to note one more interesting phenomenon characteristic of our time: professions are increasingly acquiring a "feminine" character. Physical strength, endurance, and the propensity for risk recede into the background - communication skills, the ability to multitask, conflict resolution, empathy, accuracy, and meticulousness come to the forefront. In other words, the 21st century seems to be becoming a century of a new matriarchy - women are confidently conquering the labor market.
- They say that a specialist with study abroad in their life experience is not threatened by unemployment. What is the value of such an education?
- It is impossible to learn business from books. Although, of course, this does not mean that they should not be read! The impetus for action is knowledge plus understanding. Abroad, you absorb the entire system of relations that exists there: you become familiar with Western values, you begin to speak the same language with them. This is especially true of jurisprudence and economics. Plus a high level of teaching, elite faculty, a powerful information base, and a multicultural student body. By the way, representatives of the Southeast Asian region have perfectly understood the value of Western education: look at how much the number of students from these countries in England and the USA has grown! And in China, for example, there is a complex system of state programs under which students are sent to study abroad - upon returning, they will make an innovative contribution to their country's economy. If you are thinking about continuing your education abroad, it is best to rely on data from the global education ranking. Traditionally, it is headed by countries that adhere to the Anglo-Saxon model of education: Great Britain, Australia, Canada, the USA, New Zealand. Continental European countries are already in the second ten, Russia is at the end of the third ten, and we are not in this ranking at all yet.
- More and more often these days we talk about such a disease of our society as brain drain. What awaits our science in the near future?
- There is little to console here: the "brains" will continue to "leak." What can be said about the future of science if for a long time the only motivational lever for our scientists was a large pension? If the base for experimental research has become outdated, and sometimes completely destroyed? If the salary of our scientist and that of a scientist working in Silicon Valley differ by several thousand times? The average cost of one workplace in the industrial sector in the USA is about a million dollars. In science, it is much higher. Cold comfort may be that such intellectual migration exists everywhere: India, China, and the Middle East have been supplying scientific personnel to America for years. By the way, in the USA fundamental research also receives federal funding. Otherwise, science mostly survives on money from large corporations and is applied in nature. In Ukraine, science has always had applied significance, take at least the Institute of Welding. Because of this, we have always had strong ties with clients around the world. And now, for example, such ties with China, Iran, and Russia are being successfully revived.
- And what, are things better in Russia than in Ukraine?
- A complicated question. Of course, in terms of such an indicator as GDP per capita, Russia produces twice as much as Ukraine - that's a fact. Undoubtedly, there is now rapid economic growth there. By the way, Ukrainian "working hands" quickly understood this: in Moscow, our construction workers earn $500-600. But the basis of Russian well-being is natural resources, which, by and large, is not too good.
- Sergey Arkadyevich, what would you advise our young people?
- The motto of the National Academy of Management is Vitae non scholae discimus ("For life, not for school we learn"). I want to believe that we will achieve this goal through joint efforts - of the state and higher education, teachers and applicants. I say to both my children and my students: "The field of your activity is the whole world. And you need to be worthy of it!"