The Fifth International Forum “Human Capital: Value. Quality. Development”, which took place on December 12 in the CLUST SPACE smartcity of the Scientific and Technical Library of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, became a platform where the heads of state authorities of Ukraine, business, international organizations, educational institutions and leading European and national experts discussed one of the important issues of ensuring the formation and growth of human capital in Ukraine - ensuring the development of the National Qualifications System, its adaptation to European standards and integration into the European qualifications space.
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For reference: The National Qualifications System is a set of mechanisms for legal and institutional regulation of employee qualifications, taking into account the needs of the labor market and the capabilities of the education and training system. The purpose of the National Qualifications System is to form a unified, holistic, open and flexible system of qualifications that will cover all levels of qualifications and types of primary, secondary, vocational, higher, postgraduate and lifelong learning.
The event almost coincided with an important event: as Yuriy Balanyuk, Head of the National Qualifications Agency, told the participants, a few days before the event, the Government adopted the draft Law “On the National Qualifications System” and submitted it to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
“The Ukrainian people have proven that our greatest strength is people. From our soldiers on the front line to every Ukrainian who learns new knowledge, acquires new professions, develops their skills, we are all building the future of our country together,” said Ruslan Stefanchuk, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, welcoming the Forum participants, ”The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is doing everything possible to ensure the adoption of legislation and adapt our qualification system to European standards and ensure the development of human capital. We are working to ensure that Ukrainian educational institutions have more opportunities for development and become centers of innovation, and that every Ukrainian has access to education that meets the requirements of the modern labor market.”
The main goal of the Forum was to develop consolidated approaches by the state and business to ensure human capital development and Ukraine's integration into the European Qualifications Area and, consequently, the development of the national economy. An important tool for this is the national qualifications system, which began to be actively implemented in 2022 and is now becoming an integral part of completing the training of specialists of various levels to work in many industries. However, when implementing it, it should be borne in mind that today the Ukrainian labor market is facing new challenges - global and purely national - that have arisen due to the terrible war that is raging in our country, so it is extremely important to adapt the national qualification system to modern needs. Moreover, in the Ukrainian context, as many speakers emphasized, the issue of inclusion in training, retraining, and assessing the capabilities and qualifications of employees is of particular importance. An important mission in this general movement is assigned to educational institutions, especially higher education. Not only can they become and are already becoming training schools, but they are also creating qualification centers in the relevant areas.
For reference: The forum was organized at the initiative of the National Qualifications Agency with the support of Helvetas Ukraine, the Ukrainian branch of the Swiss non-governmental organization Helvetas, and within the framework of an agreement between the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic and Helvetas Ukraine to implement the project “Support for the Economic Development of Internally Displaced Persons and Persons Affected by the War in Ukraine” in cooperation with the Czech Development Agency.
“Universities are one of the key elements in the formation of human capital,” said KPI Rector Anatoliy Melnychenko, ”Today, the task is primarily to preserve this capital, but at the same time to develop it. Ukraine will be able to win and ensure post-war recovery thanks to human capital, which will be involved both as a labor resource and as a creator of new technologies. We understand that the future economy of our country will have a slightly different structure than today, and it is important that we prioritize the quality of education that can compete with the European one.”
That is why the Forum's program covered many aspects of its main topic, which were discussed at separate sessions: “European Integration of the Qualifications System”; ‘Qualification Centers: Opportunities and Prospects’; ‘Regulated Professions: Advantages, Warnings, Implementation Strategies’; ‘Awarding Professional Qualifications by Higher Education Institutions’ and ‘Development of the Qualifications System’.
The Forum gave a new impetus to the modernization of Ukraine's qualification system in line with labor market requirements, including through wider involvement of educational institutions in this process. At the same time, the very fact that it was held at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute showed that our university is becoming one of the flagships of this cause among Ukrainian universities.