Belarusian universities produce too many IT specialists - Minister of Education

Belarusian universities produce a lot of IT specialists. In the current economy, they need half as many, said Education Minister Andrei Ivanets. "We see a certain imbalance in such areas as information technology," Sputnik quoted him as saying. Every engineer should be an IT specialist, but in his or her applied profile, the minister said.

This fall, the Ministry of Economy noted positive trends in the Belarusian IT sector, which needs to be "restored" after the mass exodus of IT workers abroad due to repression and sanctions. A "slight growth" was announced. The number of IT specialists was not mentioned.

On December 17, the Belarusian National Technical University held a meeting on the quality of engineering education. Prime Minister Raman Halouchanka took part in it. According to him, "raw" specialists come to the enterprises after higher education, and they "need to be retrained and re-educated". The Prime Minister recognizes that "no university will replace real production. However, changes are expected from education. "Prompt mastery of new technologies is impossible without trained, motivated specialists," Halouchanka said.

Ivanets said that the education system "must clearly respond to the needs of the labor market for engineering personnel. There is a shortage of them in the country and not enough of them are being trained, the prime minister admitted.

The Ministries of Education, Economy, Labor and Social Protection will prepare a "personnel forecast" for 4-5 years.