25 March, Vitebsk /Alena Tikhonova - BELTA/. The opportunity to admit graduates of urban schools for targeted training will help agricultural universities solve the problem of student shortfalls. This opinion was expressed in an interview with a BELTA correspondent by the Rector of the Vitebsk Order of Friendship of Peoples State Academy of Veterinary Medicine, Professor, Doctor of Veterinary Sciences Anton Yatusevich, commenting on the new edition of the rules for admission to higher and secondary vocational education institutions.
According to the Rector, the experience of past years can also be useful in solving this problem. "Farm managers themselves looked for promising school graduates, sent them to study under a targeted program, and paid an additional 25% to their scholarships. At our university, the number of such students reached 80%, and by the 1990s, the problem of a shortage of qualified personnel in rural areas was almost completely solved," said Anton Yatusevich. "Now the situation has become more acute also because, compared to the end of the last century, the proportion of rural youth has sharply decreased. The new edition of the admission rules allows us to admit not only rural residents but also urban applicants for targeted training, and this will undoubtedly have a positive impact on solving the problem of student shortfalls."
Anton Yatusevich noted that future veterinarians, agronomists, livestock breeders, and crop farmers must be trained starting from school. "Currently, farm managers and local authorities only demand qualified specialists from us, but at the same time, they do not take any part in career guidance work and do not help attract applicants to agricultural specialties," the professor stated. In his opinion, the situation will only move forward when farm managers abandon their consumerist attitude and actively engage in the process of training the personnel they so desperately need. -0-
News of Belarus (BELTA)