Wednesday, the 20th of November 2013, the Iasi students learnt about a new online job platform, created and administrated by the Ministry of National Education (MNE) and especially dedicated to Romanian graduates. The presentation of the platform was held during the conference “Responsibility for the higher education graduate youth”. The conference took place at the Faculty of Machines Manufacturing and Industrial Management from the “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, starting at 10.00.
Ph.D. Prof. Eng. Neculai Seghedin – Vice-Rector of TUIASI and host of the event – mentioned that one of the most difficult problems to be addressed by the university is the graduates’ absorption into the labour market, as well as the lack of any data about their whereabouts once their studies are completed. He also remarked that certain preconceived stereotypes from the Romanian past are still present, not to mention that the institution – graduate relationship is yet undeveloped. “When a graduate left the University, he was much like a product out of an assembly line. Nobody cared about that product. This product monitoring policy (something that we find elementary today – for a producer to monitor a product after reaching the market) is still poorly developed in Romania. Presently, all universities are making great efforts to maintain this connection between the graduate and the university”, noted the Vice-Rector.
A guarantee for the graduates
Ph.D. Lecturer Eng. Dan Dorin, the president of the Romanian Engineers’ General Association – the Iasi branch – welcomed the idea and also reminded to the students about “The Engineer’s Low”, an initiative that comprises among its objectives a record for the technical universities graduates. The record is to be made available to the employers, if required. Eng. Gheorghe Plesu – member of the Director Board of the Businessmen Association of Iasi – was among the lecturers, and he noted that some of the responsibility falls on the student during his study period, as he should strive to be the best in his field. Furthermore, he added that “for a company to be able to make it on the market, it must achieve global standards. To achieve global standards is critical for all its employees to meet these standards. Thus, our graduates must meet the system’s standards, if Romania is to be competitive among other countries. ”
The project manager is Laura Chira, European Affairs Counsellor with the MNE. She explained to the students present to the meeting that the cornerstones of the platform are the students, the universities and the employers. Furthermore, she mentioned that the project is not only a way to insert the graduates into the labour market, but also a way for the Ministry to exactly monitor the graduates and reach certain conclusions. The processed data are to be strictly confidential.
The only ones to be able to make an account to joburi-absolventi.edu.ro (the site of the project) are the employers. The students will be able to login only on e-mail invitation basis, after the university previously submits their graduates’ data bases to the ministry. “The support is mutual. By filling the survey on the site and having access to the employers, we help us in your turn to gather data about you. (…) You will probably ask me << what’s the difference between this portal and E-jobs or another? >> We intended to involve the university and grant a guarantee to the graduate. Thus ,the institution will be able to acknowledge and somehow influence the labour market”, explained Laura Chira.
The conference is part of the POSDRU project “INSERT – The management of correlating the education system and the labour market.” The project is implemented by MNE in partnership with the National Statistics and Training Centre, OSB Consulting GmbH from Austria and the National Research Institute for Labour and Social Security. 50 state and private universities from Romania are participating to this project. The project representatives have already sent a number of invitations to the 2012-2013 graduates.
[Iulian Bîrzoi, Opinia studențească]
