The world is developing so rapidly that many people will have to change professions several times in their lifetime. We must be ready for this - Liliya Hrynevych
On 31 May, Liliya Hrynevych, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, addressed the finalists of the essay contest on My future profession: planning and development, the awards for which were presented at a conference on The future of Ukraine: my career and my contribution.
The conference was also attended by Ihor Zhdanov, Minister of Youth and Sport of Ukraine and a representative of the Organizing Committee - Marina Saprykina, Chairman of the Board of the Rozvytok (Development) Centre.
"I want to thank the organizers of the competition for inviting me and their excellent initiative. This is a very important event because attention is drawn to a very important part of human choice - the choice of profession. However, be need to be aware that today the world is developing so fast that many people will have to change professions several times in their lifetime. We must be prepared for this and not see this as overly dramatic. Sometimes you can try out one job, but then start working in a fundamentally different area. Of course, to make such a decision a person has to learn to understand themselves, their personality, determine what their very nature is, just what their true aptitudes are", said the Minister of Education and Science.
Liliya Hrynevych described a programme for providing careers advice for the professional orientation of pupils, that will soon be launched in Ukrainian secondary schools.
"I want to say that we as a Ministry are also working in this direction. Recently the Institute for the Modernization of Educational Content launched a new project called Skills Academy, through which we are going to implement in Ukrainian schools testing intended to identify professional attributes. This is to ensure that every child has the opportunity in secondary education to ask themselves about their future and consequently make better career choices", said Liliya Hrynevych.
The Minister then replied to a number of questions from pupils about the details of such testing and those guidelines that can help to choose the right school. In particular, senior school students were interested in the question of difficulties in getting admission to popular disciplines.
"It is obvious just looking at the focus of public spending how in many universities there is very high competition. Serious demands are made of applicants. However, the most important thing is that the rules are the same for everyone. That is just and fair", said Liliya Hrynevych
At the same time, the Minister noted that many issues arise when researching the results of study at universities. These include how effective teaching is, and whether or not bribery takes place in the course of exams. The introduction of External Independent Testing removed most corruption related to university admissions, but could not overcome the tradition of giving bribes at the end of study, during finals. Most disturbing are the results of opinion polls that describe how many students find it easier to give bribes than to prepare for their final exams.
"We need to think how to make academic honesty prevalent in Ukrainian universities, that we not only put barriers to bribery during the admissions process, but also graduate high-quality professionals from higher education", said Liliya Hrynevych, Minister of Education and Science.
Please note: The The future of Ukraine: my career and my contribution Conference was held following the results of an essay competition for 10th grade pupils, on My future profession: planning and development, which lasted until 16 May 2016. Organizers of the event were the CSR Centre (Corporate Social Responsibility) and Career HUB with the support of the Ministry of Youth and Sport of Ukraine. The event was attended by 60 essay finalists, as well as representatives of relevant Ministries.