INTERNATIONAL EDUCATIONAL MIGRATION OF UKRAINIAN YOUNG PEOPLE: REASONS, CONSEQUENCES

Abstract

The article includes analysis of empirical sociological study on student opinions about the causes of international educational migration of the Ukrainian youth and the consequences of its transformation into a work migration. The study was conducted by the Center for Black Sea Studies in Sociology National University Petro Mohyla in February 2017. The object is students of higher educational institutions of 3–4 accreditation, Mykolaiv (396 pers.). Type of research: a representative survey. Sample — multistage: the first stage — the general group; the second stage — the target group (graduating students and students of the first courses); the third stage — the quota group (50 % of male and 50 % female). The survey was conducted by online questionnaires, processing — using integrated application package SPSS.

Students respondents consider that the main reasons for the increasing number of educational migrants among the Ukrainian youth are: the insufficient state of training in institutions of higher education of Ukraine (the problem of employment with Ukrainian university education, corruption) and lack of stability in the country and prospects for improvement. Respondents have an interest in international educational migration intentions to Europe, USA, Canada, Australia by themselves. This intentions can be explained, other than mentioned above, by the specialty of the Mykolaiv region’s settlement, multi-ethnic composition of its population.

Respondents were asked to evaluate such effects of transformation educational migration on work migration as worsening of the demographic situation in Ukraine, decrease in the number of working-age population, loss of intellectual capacity, economic losses due to transfer of people’s own savings outside the country, decrease in demand for national products and services and as a consequence — reducing employment in the country. For each of the above factors was high enough percentage of answers «difficult to answer» and «not important». That may be associated both with a positive perception of students’ work migration, and with the features of this sociodemographic group.

In the opinion of the survey compiler, solving the problem of slowdowns in the international educational migration of the Ukrainian youth is to reform higher education system of Ukraine in order to bring it to the level of European quality standards and overcoming such a negative phenomena as a corruption and academic plagiarism. This can be achieved only through joint efforts of the educational process actors and authorities in the context of progressive changes in economic, political and social spheres.