What does the labour market require and what young people study in Kosovo

But are these professions that require the job market in Kosovo?

Doctors and nurses, yes. Health institutions, for years, report staff shortages.

According to the Kosovo Medical Oda data, 580 doctors have left Kosovo mostly towards European Union countries in the period 2018-2021. So did nurses.

Consured that in this situation it would be easier to find a job, Nature Statovci says he has chosen to study at the Faculty of Medicine.

The great role in selecting this profession has also had the fact that there are great benefits... prepare well for the work market”, says the new designer, who will start studies in this academic year.

Each year, thousands of young people who graduate in different directions in Kosovo end up unemployed.

According to Statistics Agency data, youth unemployment among 15 to 24 is currently 19 percent.

“Change positive”

Compared to past years, education experts say there is a positive change in this direction: Seniors have chosen to study professions that the job market requires.

However, they say, differences between their demands and market requirements continue.

The large number of graduates employed in different profiles from study profiles” is evidenced by this, says Radio Free Europe Qehaja, director of the Edgoodd Institute in Pristina, which deals with education issues.

A growing sector in Kosovo is that of information technology.

Currently, there are 1,950 companies offering information technology and communication services, compared to 930, as far as COVID-19 has been before the pandemic. The biggest growth in the sector occurred last year, when more than 700 new companies were added.

Pristina University Rectorate data shows that research requirements for the computer and software engineering programme are several times higher than the free countries.

For 150 countries in this programme of the Faculty of Electric and Computer Engineering have applied 449 candidates.

Blerim Rexha, professor of this faculty, says that these figures show that young people are realizing that this profession has a promising future.

Rexha says that to increase the number of accepted students, more academic staff is needed, meaning more budget for Pristina University.

For next year we plan to increase staff numbers, and with that we will significantly increase the number of admissions ever in compliance with the legal requirements set by the Kosovo Agency for Accreditation”, Rexha tells Radio Free Europe.

The Supreme Number of Economic Students

At 14 Pristina University faculties “hasan Pristina”, in the first year of basic studies for the 2023/2024 academic year, it is scheduled to register 4,192 students.

UP's Rectorate officials report to Radio Free Europe that in the first term of the competition, 6,104 seniors have applied and 3.393 have been accepted. Others are expected to be admitted to the second term in September.

In the last two academic years, according to the UP's Rectorate, the most interested programmes for young students are almost the same.

However, based on UP statistics of the last 10 years, the largest number of students continue to be at the Economic Faculty of Over 15 thousand in a decade and at the Jurydic faculty of nearly 10,000.

This, despite some business representatives, says the current job market needs less to graduate from these directions.

“We, over and over again, have produced some professions that most have been administrative, and have lacked most technical-invisibility professions. Businesses are being forced to take experts on different fields from other countries, because we have graduates in Kosovo, but are not of those required” profiles, Kosovo Business Alliance Chairman Agim Sahini tells Radio Free Europe.

It explains that in other countries, mainly people are hired for the engineering and management sector, but it says other quarts, such as welders, metalworkers, and others are missing.

With its four-year programme, the Kosovo government vows to harmonise education and professional skills with labour market requirements.

From the new school year 2023/2024, the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation has announced that the dual school means the skills of a company assigned to combine with subjects of a professional school will be expanded with eight new profiles.

This type of teaching started for the first time last year in four professional schools, with four profiles: cooks, host assistants at hotel manager, hairmaker and bricklayers.

It is also expected to expand with tailors, automechanics, metalworkers, wood processing, and so on.