In One Area, Belarusian Universities Are Severely Lacking In Applicants
- 22.05.2025, 8:40
Lukaszystas are sounding the alarm.
The entrance campaign will only start in July, but the State Control Committee is already sounding the alarm about applicants for agricultural universities. There are at least two difficulties. The first is that the economy needs more veterinarians, agronomists and engineers than educational institutions are ready to accept. The second is that universities cannot find even this minimum number. The scale of the problem is becoming so tangible that the SCC has turned to the Council of Ministers for help in solving it. In April 2025, the agency appealed to the government and asked it to influence the situation. "Zerkalo" published data from the closed correspondence.
The SCC specialists took up the figures of admission to agricultural universities. They analyzed how future veterinarians, zoo-engineers, agronomists and engineers study, are distributed and whether they stay after. The situation turned out to be alarming.
- It was found that the control numbers of admission do not agree with the real need for personnel, - concluded the department.
So, according to the information of the SCC, in 2024 the universities received applications from organizations for 2900 agricultural specialists, which they will need in the future. However, in the 2024/2025 academic year, educational institutions were ready to accept only 2,000 students, 31% less.
- For example, in the Vitebsk State Academy of Veterinary Medicine in the 2024/2025 academic year, according to cooperation agreements (we are talking about target contracts. - Editor's note.), the need for training of specialists amounted to 951 people, - the National Audit Office dwells on the details. - At the same time, the enrollment plan was approved for 651 places.
The problem, it would seem, is easy to solve - to recruit more applicants. But it's not that simple. The fact is that even the number of places that agricultural universities are now ready to offer is not filled. Thus, from 2022 to 2024, the shortage in all institutions that train agricultural specialists needed by the economy has increased more than tenfold - from 50 to 525 people. In 2024, it amounted to 26% of the admission plan.
- For example, in 2024, in the BGSKhA in the specialties "production of products of plant origin" and "production of products of animal origin" demanded by the economy, the shortage of full-time students amounted to 75 and 79 people respectively (43 and 69%). In 2023 - 66 and 39 people (39 and 35%), - explains KGC.
The situation is even more complicated with those wishing to enter agricultural universities on target direction. In 2024, 58% of such applicants did not reach the plan, and 56% a year before that.
The National Audit Office analyzed the situation and identified the causes of the problem. Among them are:
the lack of demand for agricultural professions among young people;
insufficient career guidance among schoolchildren, including those who study in agricultural classes.
But as the SCC makes clear, these two difficulties are only the tip of the iceberg. According to their information, half of graduates of agrarian universities leave their first jobs after working out the distribution.
- The outflow of young specialists from the industry is due to low motivation for choosing a profession, difficult working conditions, living conditions and violations of labor laws by employers, - says the agency. - Thus, in 2024, the Department of State Labor Inspectorate revealed 77 violations of labor laws in agricultural organizations committed against young specialists and workers.
- The bonus for guys from the Ministry of Defense also has a bad effect on the desire to stay in agricultural organizations, according to the SCC. It consists in the fact that after compulsory service young people get the opportunity of free employment.
The representatives of the Committee emphasize that the lack of applicants for agricultural specialties, as well as the fact that many leave the field, leads "to the insecurity of the industry in personnel".
- As of January 1, 2025, 271 positions of chief veterinarian, or 27% of the required number, 1,055 veterinarian positions (21% of the required number), 272 positions for chief zootechnicians (29%) and 447 positions for zootechnicians (18%) were vacant in the country," the CGC explains.
The Ministry believes that the Council of Ministers and interested bodies should:
strengthen the interaction of higher education institutions with organizations - customers of personnel to implement the recruitment plan, including targeted training;
increase the motivation of graduates of profile agrarian classes (groups) for further training in agricultural educational institutions of the country;
correct the list of specialties and exclude irrelevant ones, for which there is no need for training.
- In addition, given the problems in the agrarian sector, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Belarus should also take into account the need for training of personnel.