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SUMMARY:University credentials and labour market skills in post-Soviet Taj
 ikistan - Dilrabo Jonbekova
DTSTART:20120228T130000Z
DTEND:20120228T140000Z
UID:TALK36315@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Moritz Sowada
DESCRIPTION:Education is generally argued to be a critical factor in human
  development and important for achieving a broad range of social\, economi
 c\, political and humanitarian goals in post-Soviet Tajikistan. Over the p
 ast few years\, the numbers of schools and universities have increased wit
 h a high enrolment and academic achievement rates. Yet\, skill shortages a
 re being argued to be a key barrier to firms’ expansion and an important
  constraint to economic growth. This raises an important question of: why 
 are skills argued to be a critical constraint\, if higher education is exp
 anding and producing ‘notable outputs? \n*\nUtilising a mixed method app
 roach\, this paper examines perceptions of recently employed university gr
 aduates and their employers about a) quality and relevance of higher educa
 tion degrees and b) graduates’ competency in employment skills and exper
 ience in transitioning to a workplace.  There are no previous studies that
  have taken into account perceptions and experiences of university student
 s\, nor perceptions of their employers\, in order to understand the nature
  of mismatch between higher education credentials and labour market demand
  for skills in Tajikistan? Previous studies have relied mainly upon supply
  and demand issues\, omitting important aspects of education quality and r
 elevance and type of skills acquired.   This study can contribute to the l
 iterature on higher education and skills debate\, by addressing contextual
  challenges and dysfunctions within the Tajik education sector\, and sugge
 st policy reform that can assist in filling the skills gap in the domestic
  labour market.\n
LOCATION:Room 2S3\, Donald McIntyre Building\, Faculty of Education\, 184 
 Hills Road\, Cambridge
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