OREANDA-NEWS. August 15, 2013. IBS Group, a leading software development and IT services provider in Central and Eastern Europe, announces that IBS IT Services, a subsidiary of IBS Group, has successfully developed an analytical system for the Russian Ministry of Education and Science that forecasts the Ministry’s demand for trained personnel.

This system, which has already been provided to the Ministry, is aimed at determining demand for professionals based on objective data. This data will also be used by colleges and universities to determine the number of students that should be enrolled in programs that are funded by the Federal government.

Given the market’s current shortage of professionals, caused by many factors including a sharp decline in number of births in the 1990s, it is crucial for Russia’s higher education system to provide sufficient professionals to meet high demand. This is regulated by the state through the Ministry of Education and Science, which determines admission targets and distributes them among colleges and universities on an annual basis. The accuracy of these figures determines the employment opportunities of the students and whether or not the demand in human resources of the Russian companies will be met. The system is capable of factoring in different scenarios of economic development (base case, optimistic and conservative), and determining the most relevant measures to fine-tune the national education system.

Using reliable and scientifically proven methods of analysis through socio-economic modelling will bring the professional education system in line with market demand, decrease unemployment and make available enough professionals for both state and business.

Sergey Matsotsky, Senior Vice President of IBS Group, commented, “The forecasting system that we have developed will enable the Russian Ministry of Education and Science to adjust more quickly to market demand for professionals.Without a skilled labour force the economy simply can’t develop. For this reason, it is of utmost importance that the Ministry now has one more reliable and convenient tool to be added to its methodology for managing the country’s professional education system.”