Carolien Spaans, Agricultural Counsellor in Ukraine took part in the panel discussion at the presentation of the Roadmap for the development of human resource capacity in the agricultural sector. She shared the Dutch experience and her vision on imporving the agro education system in Ukraine based on the joint projects that are being implemented in this sector.
Beeld: © oksana.osmachko
The event on 7 July gathered representatives of government bodies, agribusiness, vocational education institutions, industry associations, the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, international partners.
The road map was developed in the framework of Skills4Recovery is an international multi-donor initiative worth 14 million euros aimed at modernizing vocational (technical and vocational) education in Ukraine.
Beeld: © https://skills4recovery.org/
The biggest challenge for the agricultural sector today is no longer the quality of personnel, but their availability. Business, the state and the education system are already competing for human resources, and this competition will only intensify,
emphasized Oleh Khomenko, Director General of Ukrainian Agribusiness Club.
The agricultural sector is already operating in conditions of acute personnel shortage, which will only worsen in the coming decade due to demographic changes, population outflow and a decrease in the number of young people. At the same time, the main problem is not even in the training of specialists, but in finding people ready to work in rural areas.
Modern agribusiness requires not only qualified workers, but also comfortable living conditions for them and their families. It is the development of infrastructure, education, social services and the creation of opportunities for the whole family that should become an integral part of the personnel policy of the agricultural sector.
At the same time, business is already adapting to new realities and investing in automation, modern technology, its own curricula, career guidance for schoolchildren and cooperation with vocational education institutions. If earlier the main goal was production efficiency, today automation is becoming a forced response to the shortage of people.
Modern education should be formed together with business. Basic knowledge should be provided by educational institutions, and business is ready to teach specific skills itself. That is why today it is so important to strengthen dual education and modernize vocational training,
concluded Oleg Khomenko.
Beeld: © https://skills4recovery.org/
Carolien Spaans, Agricultural Counsellor in Ukraine
"The Netherlands has strong cooperation between business, government and R&D. Everyone knows our Wageningen University that shapes the future of agriculture and leads the agrarian science. However for Ukraine i would like to point out the Dutch universities of applied science that have close cooperation with agribusiness offering to students case studies, internships and practical facilities for trainings.
When I visit the educational establishments in Ukraine I must say that I see less of this type of cooperation with local agribusiness. At the same time Ukrainian agribusiness associations are very much engaged in agro education and take efforts to fill in the gap in professional education and training of the personnel for agricultural companies. This shows that sector organizations are very much aware of the current needs of agribusiness. With current high demand in human resources I see the potential for Ukrainian agro education to intensify cooperation with agribusiness and move from theoretical knowledge and curriculum to practical trainings and business cases. Of course we must also look at this situation from the point of view of agro educational establishments and help them to introduce the needed changes.
With support of the Dutch Government in Ukraine we are happy to contribute to a number of initiatives that help to address the urgent problems in agro education and lack of professionals in Ukraine. This support goes from carrier orientation of school children, vocational schools trainings like in the project Agrokebety Fast Track, training programs for the students of universities that not only have on-line knowledge transfer, but also visit the Dutch universities of applied science and meet Dutch companies to learn practical business cases that can be further adopted for Ukraine. We also support the trainings for professionals in the sectors where the Netherlands has unique expertise and/or where we focus in view of EU integrations processes: animal health and animal welfare, dairy, greenhouse horticulture, potato sector.
At the same time, it is important to understand that Ukraine is currently overcoming challenges in agriculture that no other EU country has ever faced. Ukrainian experience, innovations, and high-tech solutions should be studied by European partners, and much of this can be implemented for our future cooperation."