The great farmers were surprised when they were compared to the feudal lords in the Education and Science Committee of the Seimas.

The Seimas Education and Science Committee, which met last week, devoted part of its time to this topic. However, the attitudes heard shocked the agribusiness. It turned out that policy makers in higher education today do not even understand the exclusion experienced by children from the regions and why modern agriculture needs a corresponding number of university-educated specialists, according to the Lithuanian Agriculture Council report.

Vytautas Magnus University (Vytautas Magnus University) Rector prof. Juozas Augutis and Vytautas Magnus University Academy of Agriculture (ŽAA) Rector prof. Astrida Miceikienė’s forecasts presented to the Seimas Education and Science Committee sound pessimistic: the disproportion between the need for agronomists, engineers, livestock specialists and other important professionals for agriculture and the number of graduates is enormous, reaching two to ten times.

Paradoxically, there are those who want to study study programs related to agricultural activities, the universities are also fully prepared for it and the agro-industry itself is determined to give economic incentives to these young people, but due to the current admission system to higher education institutions the last year approximately. 250 potential students. The absolute majority of them are motivated regional graduates who wanted to connect their professional future with agriculture and forestry. However, the chairman of the Education and Science Committee of the Seimas, Prof. According to Artūras Žukauskas, young people from the regions have no problem getting into a university in Lithuania.

Statistical interpretation

The director of LAMA BPO, prof. Pranas Žiliukas presented statistics that confused those who work in the education sector. P. Žiliukas used a very strange indicator: in 2020, the requirements for state-funded places were met. The proportion of graduates is compared to all municipal entrants who graduated from schools in 2020. As a result, it has been argued that regional schools prepare graduates even better than large cities. According to P. Žiliukas, the municipalities of Biržai, Mažeikiai, Plungė, Pasvalys, Kupiškis, Lazdijai and other districts prepared graduates much better than Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda and other big cities. In other words, it is the percentage of participants who submitted access documents and met the requirements for state-funded places. This indicator shows how realistically participants rated their achievements, but it lags behind the overall level of readiness of graduates in those regions.

In fact, the actual situation is completely different. A very clear and easy-to-understand indicator for everyone is the number of graduates per thousand inhabitants of the municipality who have entered places financed by the State. Here is Biržai d. The municipality has a population of 22,719 inhabitants. 88 graduates of this municipality entered places financed by the State. Thus, there are 3.8 entrants per thousand inhabitants. And that’s a very modest number. Although, according to P. Žiliukas, this municipality is among the leaders who best prepare graduates.

Agribusiness is outraged

The leaders of the agricultural business organizations are surprised and outraged not only by these statistics, which are heard in the Education and Science Committee of the Seimas. Urged to solve the problem of training of specialists necessary for agriculture in principle, committee chairman A. Žukauskas suggested that agricultural enterprises close their businesses if there are no specialists. “Here, dear social partners, so to speak, yours deal. If you want an educated person to come to town to work for you in vain and without creating a job, unfortunately this is the case. deal it must be closed if it cannot create the conditions. There is no slavery. Feudalism is over, there is no Soviet era in which a young specialist was sent to that town. So be good, take care of the attractiveness of your work places ”, said A. Žukauskas during the meeting.

Leaders of agribusiness organizations have been shocked by these proposals as they degrade agribusiness, where salaries are competitive, often well above the Lithuanian average. The salaries of specialists with higher university training are even higher.

The statements that did not correspond to reality were made during the Seimas Education and Science Committee session due to the low employment rate of agricultural specialists. Although acknowledging that the employability methodology is inaccurate and less suitable for agriculture, A. Žukauskas still emphasized this as the biggest problem, completely ignoring the arguments presented.

It should be noted that poor employment does not reside in reality, but in biased employment rates. As the commission president himself confirmed, the statistics on employability do not include the self-employed, often with inaccurate job categories. Furthermore, in the Occupation Classification, not all farmers are classified as managers and not specialists, but as skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers, and it is sufficient for them to complete vocational training programs. This harms farmers who, based on the latest scientific knowledge, develop their farms in a strategic and innovative way, contribute to addressing climate change, ecological change and other problems of national importance. A large number of graduates of agricultural studies programs take over and develop their parents or intentionally create new farms, while contributing to the generational change of agricultural, social and technological progress in rural areas, but all these people they are counted as not occupied. by specialty.

The fact that there are members of the Seimas who have a good knowledge of the magnitude of the problem and its consequences encourages the leaders of agricultural business organizations not to stop halfway and to continue actively seeking changes in the system of training of specialists necessary to the sector. Seimas member Edmundas Pupinis reasonably asks if he would be more valuable and should be a casual young man who, having obtained a sufficient competitive score, enters a state-funded place or enters the agricultural specialty with high motivation to work. But, having hit a part of the score and not having entered a place funded by the state, he is forced to drop out.

The leaders of the agricultural business organizations do not doubt that in order to preserve and sustainably develop one of the main values ​​of the independence of Lithuania – modern and developed agriculture managed on a modern scientific basis and the infrastructure necessary for its successful operation, sustainable rural development. sustainable use of natural resources and natural biodiversity, we must, above all, provide the necessary human resources and modern skills to face new challenges and risks.

The current Seimas and the Government are expected to understand the importance of this business sector and take decisive measures to solve the problem of training agricultural specialists, allowing graduates to study in study programs relevant to agriculture not only according to the maturity exams but also to motivate participants.

Thus, Mr. Chairman of the Education and Science Committee A. Žukauskas, the “business” can be closed according to your proposal, but then the “error” will remain empty.