Events

On the agenda vocational colleges? graduates employment issues

Activity period: 25.11.2009 - 27.11.2009

Questions: On November 25, 2009 meeting of the Expert council of Business forum on importance of partnership establishment between professional colleges and business entities was organized in the conference hall of Kokand professional college of Oil and Gas (Ferghana). The event was organized by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan, Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Center for Secondary Specialized Professional Education of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education, with the support of the UNDP project ìBusiness Forum of Uzbekistanî, Uzbek-Swiss project ìSkills developmentî and representative of the British Council in Uzbekistan. The main purpose of this forum was to analyze current situation in the area of employment of the college graduates, to discuss prospects of better organization of partnership between professional colleges and business entities, familiarization with international experience in building partnership between educational institutions and businesses. The meeting will be held in two sessions. The first session was organized in an interactive format with the participation of representatives of local authorities, private enterprises and professional colleges of Fergana, Namangan and Andijan regions. During this session participants examined current state of interaction between local authorities, professional colleges and private enterprises in the line of partnership development, analyze perspectives of development and implementation of additional training courses that meet the requirements of local businesses, discuss questions on employment of graduates of professional colleges. Participants developed practical recommendations to improve partnership between professional colleges, private businesses, various educational institutions and other participants of the labor market in order to achieve efficiency in delivering of qualified specialists, taking into account socio-economic development of the region and the rate of demand for professionals with modern applicable skills and knowledge. The second session of the Business Forum consisted of participantsí presentations. This session was organized to address such issues as further development of mutually beneficial and efficient cooperation between vocational colleges and partner organizations, strengthening of cooperation between educational institutions and private business representatives in such areas as training and employment of highly qualified specialists, ensuring balanced supply and demand for qualified personnel with secondary-special and professional education. In addition, participants of the event got familiar with activities of the Professional Development Center under Kokand Professional College of Oil and Gas and with training experience of the Institute for International Cooperation of the German Public Education Association. It was expected that as an outcome of the Business Forum a common strategy program on widening partnership between professional colleges and businesses would be developed and approved one taking into account recommendations of the representatives of professional colleges and business entities as well as graduates of professional colleges. In general, the event promoted the efficient interaction of professional colleges and business entities, which, in turn, should increase employment rate of college graduates.