Directions of social partnership of employers and universities in the sphere of economic education in Ukraine

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the possible directions of social partnership of employers and economics universities. In order to generalize the experience of partnership in the field of vocational education, the choice of partnership approaches and the assessment of the possible benefits from partnership, there was conducted a study of employers in Ukraine. The article further developed the analysis of the directions of social partnership of employers and universities in the sphere of economic education in Ukraine. As the research showed, the average level employers will find attractive the following: - joint projects of practitioners from enterprises, lecturers and students to become aware of business problems and problems in the academic environment; - organization of trainings for practitioners in the role of lecturers with «case studies» as close as possible to the specifics of production; - exchange of internships for practitioners and lecturers in order to develop such problem tasks for students which will help to form the necessary competencies that are in demand in a particular field of activity; For employers representing top management, the following directions may be significant and real: - inviting of experts from enterprises to participate in «round table talks» with students and university lecturers, which will contribute to adjustment of graduates' values, awareness of the detailed specific characteristics of business, leading to the success of a particular business. This will help graduates to choose a model of behavior in situations of risk that are fraught with loss of profits, and sometimes bankruptcy of the enterprise; - organization of PR events by enterprises to improve their reputation, informing about partnership with universities, demonstrating readiness to contribute to improving the quality of higher education in Ukraine. Systematic and long-term cooperation of universities with employers, monitoring the specifics of not only the goals of employers, but also their various models of behavior, analysis of information about employment of graduates and problems associated with adaptation of graduates to the professional community, will allow universities to carry out the process of accompanying the orientation to a professional career during training of students. In order to provide consumers with a wide range of educational services, it is necessary to offer them competencies, which are in demand among employers and provide an opportunity for decent wages. This will be the basis for the self-improvement of graduates and will be in line with current trends in the labor market and will contribute to sustainable development of higher education. In addition, an advantage for employers will be the opportunity to improve sustainable development of the enterprises that will confirm their importance and relevance as mandatory partners. The results of the study allowed us to identify the possible barriers that arise during the formation of partnerships and the most significant areas of social partnership between employers and economics universities. Successful partnership between employers and universities will ensure relative sustainable development of higher economic education, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, improve the image and reputation of enterprises, which means their sustainable development and competitiveness. This will confirm the importance and demand of the enterprise as a mandatory partner for improving the quality of higher education.