Start date:
October, 2015
Completion date:
February, 2016
Client:
European Union, and GFA Consulting Group
Location:
Type:
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Survey scope: The Survey of best practices in the vegetables, livestock and textiles sectors covered the provinces of Arkhangai, Bulgan, Khentii, Orkhon, Selenge and Tov, the capital Ulaanbaatar, and included some parts of he Gobi and Western Regions of Mongolia. primary data were collected by means of 1,212 questionnaires and 43 key informant interviews. Moreover, 141 items of secondary data were also collected.

Background: Despite the impressive aggregated figures, Mongolia remains an unequal society, where about ¼ of the population living below the poverty line and one third of the youth is unemployed and underqualified. Notwithstanding the worries for the difficulties in achieving a sustainable process of growth, the opportunities offered by the current situation for younger generations of Mongolians are enormous and there is a clear rise in the demand for skilled ‘employable’ labour. The European Union has thus responded to the request of the Mongolian government to assist in the establishment of a well performing Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector able to meet the requirements of a rapidly changing economy.

Survey results: 

  • Western region, in comparison with others has the highest number of students in the livestock sector, whereas student numbers in other regions - Ulaanbaatar, Central and Mountain - are about the same.
  • Ulaanbaatar has the highest number of students enrolled in the textiles sector. Analysis on programme content, reveals that Western, Mountain, Central and Eastern regions train traditional livestock farming, vegetable growing, and primary production of these raw materials (and farming in these two sectors) whereas in Ulaanbaatar training for preparing industry technologist in these three sectors takes place.     
  • For most TVET schools, efforts to improve training practices were mainly directed to increasing/improving physical facilities.
  • For improving knowledge among staff, many TVET schools relied on formal and informal communications among staff, but 18% were said to do nothing at all.
  • Most employees in the target sectors are working in raw materials production and preparation (and the initial, primary processing); 99% in the livestock sector - 97% in textiles - are the herders engaged in production, and 83% in the vegetables sector are the farmers responsible for production.
  • Herders’ participation in training during the last three years was very low.
  • Horticulturalist, food technologist, seamstress, sewer were the highest demanded (yet unfilled) occupations in 2013 and 2014.
  • Employers and entrepreneurs want their employees to receive personal skills improvement and machinery operation training.
  • There is a desire among rural unemployed people to work both in husbandry and agriculture industries at the same time.
  • There is a need for training related to improving business knowledge for rural entrepreneurs.
  • 39.3% of small business entrepreneurs want to hire TVET graduates, and/or require training for existing employees; including: occupational skills (41.5%), operation of machinery/equipment (29.5%) and team working skills (23.7%).