On the eve of the admission sessions in Romanian universities, many young people from the Republic of Moldova are looking for the most suitable fields of study for them. This article can help them make the right choice.
So what motivates us to choose one college or another, one profession or another? What criteria guide us? It is a well-known fact that we often go to a particular university just because a high school friend has enrolled. Or because there is less competition than elsewhere, and we think the chances of being enrolled would be better. Or because we are only interested in getting a bachelor's degree, it doesn't matter in what field, it matters to have a college degree.
Unfortunately, such an uninformed, random choice then leads to a series of other wrong choices, or simply to a higher education that is no longer of any use to us. We are educated, but we cannot commit ourselves to our chosen field. In other words, we became pilots, but we have no air fleet, or we studied marine engineering, but we have no maritime fleet and no seafaring.
So what should we consider when choosing a college?
Of course, vocation and personal abilities matter a lot. But so does the pragmatic side of the choice we make. If we plan to work in Romania after university, we should know in advance what the trends are on the labor market. Is there or is there not a shortage of professionals or, on the contrary, a surplus of professionals in the field we choose? Does the field have growth prospects or not?
According to a RO-MD cross-border project DIRECT ACCESS TO STUDENTS, the most in-demand professions in Romania are in Textiles, Construction and IT. In the last 5 years, the number of registered companies has increased in these sectors. In the case of the IT sector, the increase was over 40%. Along with the number of companies, there has also been an increase in the number of employees in each of the three sectors. While the number of employees has steadily increased, labor productivity in these sectors has also steadily increased over the 2015-2020 period, indicating a higher skill level of employees.
Thus, from 2015 to 2019, the total number of companies operating in the specific industry increases from 410 to 488 in the textile industry, from 691 to 981 in the IT industry and from 2341 to 2522 in the construction industry. At the same time, with the increase in the number of companies, the total number of employees also increased from 23 thousand to 25.9 thousand in the textile industry, from 8.2 thousand to 11.7 thousand in the IT industry and finally from 27.4 thousand to 28 thousand in the construction industry.
The study also shows that as the number of employees increases, labor productivity also increases. Thus, from 2015 to 2019 the average productivity in the textile industry increased from 200 thousand MDL to 236 thousand MDL, in the IT industry from 300 thousand MDL to 439 thousand MDL and in Construction from 543 thousand MDL to 747 thousand MDL.
The analysis of the labor market supply reveals that the educational offer of vocational education and training (VET) institutions is consistent and able to prepare the professional workforce in the mentioned industries. However, in some cases not all institutions are well equipped for practical lessons. In particular, this is specific to the institution training the textile workforce.
Therefore, before choosing a faculty in Romania, it is advisable to find out more than just about the admission conditions or the educational institution. It's a good idea to find out as much as possible about the field/industry you are opting for, so that you can then have real job opportunities.
Adrian Vâlcu