How can we train specialists who will be able to work with future technologies if the education system is lagging behind? The participants of the forum "The Future of the labor market", which was held in Karaganda under the chairmanship of Akim of the region Ermaganbet Bulekpayev, were looking for answers to this and other questions. The meeting brought together representatives of government, business and education — everyone who depends on who and how will work for the region's economy in the coming years.

— The economy is growing, technology is changing, and graduates are increasingly not ready for the demands of production,— said Ermaganbet Bulekpayev. — With the launch of new enterprises, it is planned to create more than 17,000 jobs this year. To ensure that they do not remain empty, we must prepare the appropriate personnel right now. Our task is to synchronize the education system with the real demands of the market.

According to the Department of Employment, the region will need at least 2017 skilled workers in 2025 alone. And within the framework of 17 investment projects, more than 2,700 vacancies have been announced at new enterprises. Employment programs, ranging from youth practice to support for active retirees, are designed to solve this problem.

One of the successful cases is the QazTehna plant. After the launch, the company faced an acute shortage of personnel, but after two years the problem was almost completely closed.

— We realized that it's useless to wait for someone to train the right specialists for us. We need to participate ourselves," says Aidos Aitbayev, head of the corporate university. — We have signed a strategic memorandum until 2030. The main focus is on the training of transport repair and maintenance specialists, as well as welders. This year, on the basis of the Karaganda Transport and Technological College, we are launching a task force for the training of painters. The curriculum was developed together, and it has already been approved.

The plant has implemented more than 160 targeted grants and cooperates with four leading colleges in the region — Karaganda Higher Polytechnic, Mining and Industrial, Transport and Technological and Saran Technical.

Employers are increasingly directly involved in the creation of educational programs — through industrial councils, they form modules and competencies based on the demands of production. In response, colleges prepare licenses for new, sought-after specialties.

Promising areas include automotive engineering, additive technologies, hydraulic engineering, information security, polymer and pipe production, graphic and multimedia design.

"The Automation and Production Technology program is being launched on the basis of our college," says Zhanar Rakhimova, Director of Karaganda Higher Polytechnic College. — It covers modern processes: Graduates will be able not only to maintain equipment, but also to program production lines. These are specialists of a new generation — technicians with IT competencies.

Of the 52 colleges in the region, 38 have already switched to a dual education system, in which students practice directly at enterprises.

A Career Development Center has been established, new programs are being implemented and an international exchange of experience has been established with China, Germany, Turkey, Finland and other countries. This expands the horizons of employment for graduates.

A separate topic of the forum is career guidance. Choosing a profession early increases the chances that a graduate will work in their specialty rather than waste years in college. On September 1, a new career guidance system based on the Edumark electronic diary will be launched in the region. The Profiway platform will collect data on students' academic performance, interests, and activities to form personalized recommendations.

— The system will create an individual portrait of the child and tell you in which direction it is worth developing, — explained Aidana Akynova, head of the Profiway project at the Center for Innovative Technologies "Orleu".

At the end of the forum, Ermaganbet Bulekpayev stressed that it is necessary to return to the initiatives discussed in order to summarize the interim results and see the results.

Source : https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/karaganda/press/news/details/987748?lang=kk