Proposal: ban quota increase if less than 70% of graduates secure jobs in their field

Universities with over 15% first-year dropouts or a post-graduation employment rate below 70% are projected to face restrictions on increasing enrollment quotas.

The Ministry of Education and Training announced a new draft circular on 6/2 regarding the determination of university enrollment numbers. This proposal aims to enhance the actual quality of training and the effectiveness of graduate outcomes.

Under the proposed regulations, universities will only be allowed to increase their annual enrollment quotas if at least 70% of their graduates find employment relevant to their professional qualifications within 12 months of graduation. This marks a significant shift from previous requirements, where the Ministry only mandated an employment rate of not less than 80%, without needing the jobs to be relevant to the field of study.

Currently, graduate employment rates are self-surveyed by universities, with most reporting figures around 80-100%. However, these reports often lack transparency, as the number of student respondents or the proportion of employment directly relevant to their field of study is not consistently specified, leading to ambiguous graduate employment rates.

Annual enrollment quotas for universities are currently based on several factors: built floor area, student-to-lecturer ratio, facilities, technology, learning materials, first-year dropout rates, and post-graduation employment rates. The draft circular introduces additional new provisions to these criteria.

These new provisions include applying separate enrollment numbers for main campuses and individual branches, allowing the inclusion of full-time visiting lecturers when determining quotas, and requiring a minimum floor area of 2,8 m2 per student. Furthermore, the Ministry plans to allow universities to exceed enrollment quotas by no more than 5% for undergraduate programs and 20% for master's and doctoral programs, provided that training capacity is maintained.

"This regulation provides flexibility for training institutions in admissions, while still strictly controlling quality," the Ministry stated. Public feedback on the draft is being collected until 13/2.