Study: about 50% of IT departments’ graduates have no intention to work in this area

YEREVAN, September 16. /ARKA/. About 50% of IT departments’ graduates have no intention to work in this area, and 50% of the remaining graduates can’t find jobs here because of unfit qualification, Bagrat Yengibaryan, director of Enterprise Incubator Foundation, said Saturday at an informal meeting of leaders of IT sector, presenting the results of the study conducted by the foundation.

Only 25% of the funds spent for IT sector’s needs come back, and this is a grave problem, since specialists are in demand in Armenia.

Yengibaryan said that many work here without necessary higher education.

He thinks a dialogue between the economy and education sector is needed.

“Various education models are being worked out, and we try to spur cooperation among various agencies with them.”

Under such circumstances, many companies have to invest money in training.

“Studies show that not only Armenia, but also the United States and India face a similar problem. Many specialists work in this area only after retraining. However, our problem is not only additional expenses, but also secondary schools, which could train specialists”, Yengibaryan said.

He singled out Synopsis-based IT department of State Engineering University of Armenia as cooperation model.

Yengibaryan also pointed out Sun Microsystems, who created own system for training specialists and improving knowledge to due criteria. The Company cooperates with Yerevan State University, State Engineering University of Armenia and Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University.

Said that IT specialists mainly work in Yerevan, the director of Enterprise Incubator Foundation stressed the necessity to establish training centers in provinces.

He said IT center in Gyumri and 3D laboratory are successfully training specialists.

“These various models are first steps, taken in an effort to spur cooperation, but universities should set a clear objective – to train specialists, and the private sector should offer support to them to solve the problem with joint efforts.”

Yengibaryan said the government should be interested in supporting cooperation.

“Not only information technologies, but also other education segments face this problem. I wonder why some strategy has not been worked out, since universities educating students receive no support from the government in employing them. As a result, everybody do own job, but all are unhappy about each other”, he said. M.V.-0---