Study on the professional employment of higher education graduates of physical education and sport in the Republic of Moldova

Actuality. Higher education can ensure, directly and indirectly, the progress of the entire society. In an era in which information and knowledge in general become the main factors of development, it is expected that the importance of the university will increase. The role of higher education is growing under the conditions of the economic, political and social crisis. Moreover, education and, first of all, higher education must be seen as a strategic factor for development and exit from the crisis. Education is the foundation of national economic, social, ecological, ethnic security. According to the Education Code of the Republic of Moldova, higher education is a key factor for the cultural, economic and social development of a society increasingly based on knowledge and a promoter of human rights, sustainable development, democracy, peace and justice. Thus, the higher education of physical education and sport is an important pillar in the activity of raising awareness of the importance of physical education and sport and its integration at as many levels of society as possible. The purpose of the research is to study the professional insertion of the graduates of the higher education of physical education and sport in the Republic of Moldova. Methods of research: study of specialized literature, sociological survey; analysis of documents and materials regarding the professional insertion of graduates, observation, mathematical processing of statistical data and their graphic presentation. Findings and results. Knowledge of the labor market insertion process of young graduates from the Republic of Moldova, as well as the characteristics of this process, has become a priority both in the formulation of employment and educational policies. As a result, by evaluating the degree of professional insertion of young physical education and sport graduates, we obtain, on the one hand, an image of the transition of young people from university to work, of the degree of concordance between demand and supply existing at a given moment on the labor market, and, on the other hand, essential information regarding the effectiveness of the relevant educational act. At the same time, following the study we will obtain results regarding the degree of employment of graduates specialized in physical education and sport and the utility of the program for employment in the labor field. Graduates will also express their degree of satisfaction regarding the quality and usefulness of university studies for the labor market. Monitoring the insertion of graduates into the labor field is a mandatory indicator to be met for the accreditation of study programs, provided for in the External Evaluation Guide for Higher Education Programs, approved by the ANACEC Governing Board. At the same time, we note that the market's requirements, always changing, require a reformation of the skills necessary for the young specialist to be employed in the field of work. In this context, one of the fundamental objectives of the higher education of physical culture resides in the formation of a specialist in the field capable of adapting to the constantly changing conditions of the labor market. Conclusions and recommendations. Monitoring the professional insertion of graduates specialized in physical education and sport is a very important indicator for the efficiency of the educational process of the profile and the external evaluation of the study program. However, insertion on the labor market is a priority of the responsibility of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, a fact also reflected in the Faculty's Development Strategy for the years 2021-2025. The study carried out allowed us to highlight the degree of employment of graduates specialized in physical education and sport from the Republic of Moldova. The labor market being always changing requires a reformation of the necessary skills for the profile specialist, focused on the "customer orientation" principle.