Enhancing Graduates’ Employability Tracking in Moldova

ongoing

One of the important indicators characterizing the quality of higher education (HE) study programs is the demand of graduates in the labor market, which can be traced by analyzing their employment. The authorities of the Republic of Moldova have formulated the monitoring of graduates’ employability as an urgent priority for the upcoming period. The UPGRADE project is a bottom-up approach that starts from the graduates and its university, for modernizing and developing the higher education (HE) sector within society, strengthening the relations between universities, decision-makers & enterprises, and improving, in turn, the quality of HE in place. The objective of the UPGRADE project is to enhance monitoring the employability of university graduates in Moldova. The project envisages the following specific objectives: - To enhance monitoring the HE graduates’ employability and build up a national consensus between the key stakeholders involved; - To enrich and advance the legislative and normative framework on HE graduates’ employability at the national and institutional level; - To develop the capacity of ME and PCUs on graduates' tracking; - To develop the capacities of MD HEIs staff to develop and release graduates’ employability surveys, questionnaires to assess firms’ feedback on graduates’ competencies, to deliver efficient career guidance services & promote the professional insertion of students and graduates in the labor market. UPGRADE project envisages to design of the first Pilot Graduates’ Employability Survey and producing the first Graduate Employability report. The experience of the EU partners will be transferred and the practice of other EU countries will be researched in order to design a pilot employability survey that is in line with the EU standards. The report’s results will be uploaded on a national online portal for monitoring graduates’ employability. UPGRADE project will strengthen the HEIs capacities to track their graduates.