In Belarus, the number of university students is rapidly declining, while the authorities are increasingly directing teenagers to colleges and vocational schools, trying to compensate for the labor shortage. This is reported by the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, according to UNN.
Details
According to the FIS, over the past five years, the number of college students in Belarus has increased by 17.4%, and the number of students in vocational institutions by 8.6%. At the same time, the number of bachelor's degree students has decreased almost fourfold — from 254,426 in 2020 to 69,199 in 2025.
An even sharper decline has been recorded at the master's level — the number of students has decreased from nearly 9,000 to just 23 people.
The Foreign Intelligence Service notes that the Ministry of Education of Belarus explains this trend by the high demand for mid-level specialists and plans to increase the share of ninth-grade graduates entering colleges to 50% by 2030.
According to FIS information, starting from the eighth grade, school administrations are essentially orienting students toward blue-collar professions, primarily promoting construction and other low-skilled specialties.
As Ukrainian intelligence notes, the main reason for this policy is an acute shortage of personnel. Currently, the Belarusian economy lacks about 132,000 workers. The authorities' attempts to attract labor migrants have not yielded the expected result, so the labor shortage was decided to be compensated at the expense of young people. The situation is also worsened by mass emigration of citizens, including for political reasons, and the demographic crisis.
In addition, the FIS notes that higher education in Belarus has gradually lost its prestige. Parents are increasingly disappointed in its quality, while blue-collar professions provide an opportunity to start working and earn income faster.
Intelligence warns that such a policy may have long-term negative consequences. According to experts, the forced involvement of teenagers in the labor market resembles the practices of child labor in the 19th century and negatively affects both the physical and psychological development of young people. Moreover, the focus on low-skilled labor, in their opinion, creates a risk of technological lag for the country and increases its dependence on foreign technologies.