Depopulation is currently occurring across Europe, and every country is competing for an influx of young people. All are interested in Ukraine’s workforce and in young Ukrainians who will study there.
Seventy per cent of Ukrainian women who left for Poland during the war and are able to work are employed. No other diaspora has such a high rate, said Ella Libanova, Director of the Institute of Demography of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, during a discussion held as part of the New Country project.
“The fact that today in the EU, out of 4.5 million, a third are children and teenagers under the age of 18, is not the only problem. The problem is that there is real depopulation throughout Europe. And all of Europe is very interested in the influx of young people,” Libanova noted.
The academician pointed out that the focus should not be solely on science, but on its synthesis. Therefore, she said, Ukraine needs to develop a framework for cooperation between science and education as soon as possible, since such a system does not currently exist.
“And I know for sure that the average dissertation written at the Academy of Sciences is an order of magnitude higher in quality than the average dissertation written at a university. I do not wish to offend anyone. If our educators spoke less and thought more, they would have more time to work with their heads,” Libanova commented.
She believes that large universities should become centres of education and science.
“There are and will be small universities, and let them continue to exist. They have their own tasks. But large universities should become centres of education, science, and the formation of a new Ukrainian identity. Otherwise, we will be deceived, excuse me, in the information war by the Russians, just as they intend to do and are doing today. Because sometimes I am afraid to read,” said the scientist.
Ella Libanova stressed that higher education is not about the labour market, but about human development.
“There is a very bad trend spreading in Ukraine – that we have too many people with higher education and should instead train workers who will find jobs in the labour market. Excuse me, Minister, but higher education is not about the labour market at all. Higher education is about human development. The labour market is about skills. In English, there is a clear distinction between skills and education. Education should be provided by universities. And it is very good that our young people want to pursue higher education.
No matter how hard I tried to analyse the most basic indicators – the unemployment rate by education level, the employment rate by education level, and income levels by education level – the correlation is clear. Do not tell me that one can become a billionaire without higher education. Well, some might, but for the most part, income is directly proportional to the level of education, employment is directly proportional to the level of education, and unemployment is inversely proportional to the level of education,” emphasised the Director of the Institute of Demography.
More news from the discussion:
- Mylovanov criticised the funding of universities solely because they are state-owned: “This fundamentally offends me.”
- Lisovyy: In higher education, the issues of ‘perpetual rectors,’ corruption, and competition at any cost must be resolved.