Tertiary stem fields education in the context of the Baltic States

Engineering and other STEM fields education is the activity which involves both theoretical knowledge and highly practical skills. The Baltic States evidence the strength in the field of human resources with a very high level of tertiary education among the employed population. The quality and professionalism of the labour force improve with the increase in the proportion of people with higher education. The research aim is to evaluate the tertiary STEM fields education and its demand in the labour market. The research applies the monographic method, methods of analysis and synthesis, data grouping, logical and constructional methods. The analysis of statistical data shows a high demand for engineering specialists. The share of Latvia’s population studying in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) at a tertiary level has reached the OECD level; though, it is slightly below the EU average rate. The employment rates evidence high demand for STEM graduates both in the Baltic States and the OECD and the EU on average. In 2018, the employment of all fields of the STEM graduates in all Baltic States is higher than the respective figure in the OECD countries and the EU on average. The highest rates of employment fluctuating between 91.8% (Latvia) and 93.7-93.8% (Estonia and Lithuania) are observed in the field of information and communication technologies. Nevertheless, agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary are lowly demanded by young people and produce low proportions of graduates (around 2-3.5% of all tertiary graduates), the employment rates are quite high exceeding 85%.