Methodical Approach to Assessing the Demand for Higher Education in Ukraine

Abstract

The article is aimed at developing a theoretical and methodical approach to assessing the demand for higher education in Ukraine. Educational qualification levels, characterized by a specific range of information users, are analyzed. Accordingly, it is natural for every user to form a certain information environment, which can be useful and interesting for one level, but not in demand for another. Therefore, when learning environment coordinators develop a communication strategy, it is necessary to clearly understand, which level it is designed for. Thus, the issue of establishing a classification of learning environment coordinators, who will provide training for education seekers at different levels, is relevant. It is noted that the concept of demand for higher education should be differentiated between the demand in society and the demand among i education seekers. The choice of "fashionable" specialties without taking into account the needs of the labor market leads to increase in the disparity of the workload per vacancy for certain professional groups. In order to quantify the demand for higher education, it is proposed to use the coefficient of demand for higher education in society (CDHES). Necessity to take into account many factors influencing the demand for higher education in society has led us to choosing an integrated method, which is normally used to measure the impact of factors in multiplicative, index, additive index models. The coefficients suggested, in our opinion, will be important for higher education institutions (HEIs) wishing to develop a communication strategy for both the short and long term. The importance of such coefficients can be explained by the fact that the patterns and trends identified during the study of their dynamics can serve as an information field for the HEI management service when outlining key aspects in developing a new communication strategy or improving the existing one. The fundamental difference between the proposed coefficients and the already existing ones lies in the fact that the former take into account not only the dynamics of the labor market and employment opportunities, but also the economic feasibility of education costs, and calculation of the payback prospects of receiving higher education.

Keywords

• higher education
• demand
• methodical approach
• assessment
• strategy
• higher education institution