The FINANCIAL — The days when college was only accessible to the rich and elite are over.
College has become much more affordable and isn’t so prestigious any more however it is still difficult for college graduates to find a good and well-paid jobs today. We have investigated why this is.
“The main problem of the vocational education system in Georgia is the high unemployment rate of our graduates,” Irina Zedginidze, Director of Dimitri Kipiani school-college, told The FINANCIAL.
According to the Ministry of Education and Science there are 20 public and 59 private colleges all around Georgia. Five of these colleges are functioning in the universities in the regions.
The most common courses offered by colleges are: nursing, dentistry, banking, accounting and secretary-referent. The Georgian Ministry of Education and Science made vocational education one of its priorities a short time ago. After it did, the number of public and private colleges increased and they started offering specialist courses to train people to be guides, joiners, IT specialists, enamel workers, tailors, cooks etc.
Banking, accountant and dentistry are the least successful courses for college graduates.
“Higher education is mandatory for anyone who wishes to begin working at TBC bank in a position of responsibility,” Lasha Chkhaidze, Department of Human Recourses Management of TBC bank, explained. “However we sometimes we hire college graduates for short term occupations to build their portfolios.”
Following this experience, such graduates are able to start working at small private stores and companies as accountants.
The situation is the same for dentistry graduates. High standard clinics always ask for the applicant to have completed higher education. Finding jobs for other course graduates is generally easier. As they have mastered a specific specialty, they can work independently and not for a company.
Nursing has been one of the most popular courses at colleges for a long time. All nursing graduates have the possibility to start working at any clinic as there is no higher education demand for this profession.
“Every nurse who has a college diploma can fill out our application. In the case of a vacancy we choose the best one and recall them for potential recruitment,” Tamar Kanchashvili, Specialist at the Department of Human Recourses Management of Aversi Clinic, said. “The exam is the first stage graduates have to go through. Those applicants who pass the exam will then have an interview, the next stage to being hired.”
“Work experience is a big priority among applicants, but sometimes if a newly graduated nurse passes the two steps of recruitment better than an experienced one, we hire her,” Kanchashvili added.
The problem of the nursing profession is that they don’t have chance of professional development.
Tamuna Sidamonidze, 34, has been working as a nurse for 15 years. She started working directly after her graduation from Barakoni college. Sidamonidze has changed her working place several times and now she’s working as a nurse in an intensive therapy department. Her salary is 250 GEL monthly.
“I regret that I didn’t continue studying,” Sidamonidze said to the FINANCIAL. “I started working when I finished college and thought that higher education was not necessary anymore. My family urged me to continue studying but I instead made a stupid decision.”
“Now, as I have quite a lot of experience, I have gained many extra skills which are primarily used by doctors,” she said. “But I don’t get a salary for it as doctors earn much more than nurses. Of course it’s logical but I keep asking myself: if I can do things that doctors can, why didn’t I continue studying?”
The Learning Centre of Hairdressing Vocation was founded in 2005 and since then up to 30 students have graduated the centre annually.
“The number of our students is slowly increasing as we are the only vocational college in this field in Georgia,” Nargiz Charkviani, Director of the Learning Centre of Hairdressing Vocation, said.
The college offers the courses of both male and female hairdressing, specialising in manicuring, pedicuring and make-up and cosmetology. The duration of the courses are between two and six months and the fee varies from 500 GEL to 1,500 GEL.
“We take responsibility for finding employment for our best students but excluding them, about 95 % of our graduates find adequate jobs. Most of them find work at beauty salons, fitness centres, theatres, cinema studios and modelling agencies however a small number of them are self-employed,” Charkviani states.
“The age range of our students varies from 15 up to 45, as we offer professions ensuring future employment. Half of them are residents of Tbilisi, while the others are from other regions in Georgia,” she added.
The college grants state diplomas to its successful graduates but Charkviani worries that the employers in this field rarely pay attention to the significance of this document.
“They aren’t taking proper attention to these diplomas,” she said. “Beauty service is directly connected to health safety. Not knowing the importance of sanitation in these clinics may cause sources of infections to arise, such as Hepatitis C or HIV.”
The vocational college Balavari offers a larger range of training in particular professions, such as felt specialists, leather specialists, tailors, cooks, IT specialists etc. The course lasts between six months and a year and the fee varies between 25 GEL and 100 GEL.
“The averages we experience are approximately 350 students annually and 60 % of our graduates finding employment,” Manana Niazashvili, Deputy Director of Balavari, said.
‘Unlike other colleges, 70 % of graduates from Dimitri Kipiani school-college continue their studies’, the College Director claims.
“We have special courses for university entrants as most of our college graduates choose to take these courses,” Zedginidze said.
The majority of college students belong to the middle and lower social classes.
“Very seldom do our students come from the high social class,” Charkviani noted.
Sometimes people study at colleges not for future employment purposes, but just for entertainment and for the opportunity to gain unusual but useful skills.
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