Skopje, 17 June 2021 

We live in times of technological revolution that fundamentally changes the way of our living and working. It is estimated that, according to its dimensions, scope and complexity, the transformation will be more different from everything that humanity has experienced so far. Although we still cannot accurately estimate how this process will take place, it is clear that the response to this new transformation must be comprehensive, including all stakeholders from our society, from both the public and the private sector. Following the data from the latest report of the World Economic Forum, the attention should be directed towards the need for transformation of the knowledge and skills of the workforce, which must be in step with the transformation of the entire economy toward its greater digitalization. This process was even more pronounced by the pandemic shock that the global economy faced.

This was emphasized by the Governor of the National Bank, Anita Angelovska Bezhoska, at the beginning of her speech at the webinar titled “Challenges for higher education in the field of economics in the period of POSTCOVID-19”, organized by the Chair of Economy at the Faculty of Economics - Skopje at the Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje.

She expressed support to the initiative of the Faculty, for the efforts to provide a process of innovating the teaching contents in terms of professional knowledge and qualifications of students, in accordance with the subjects and teaching contents studied by students in the field of economics. 

“The National Bank, as the current and future employer of the students from the Faculty of Economics, conducted an internal survey to assess the readiness of young staff to meet job requirements, especially taking into consideration the changes that have occurred in central-banking operations in the last decade and for which we believe that they will be even more rapid in the next decade.” - the Governor said.

Taking into account the results from the survey, Angelovska Bezhoska pointed to several dimensions with respect to the skills that students should acquire during their studies, which would be of great importance for their faster and more effective adjustment to the requirements of the positions in the National Bank:

• Knowledge of the basics of the applied econometric methods and models - through theoretical, but especially practical project activity during the studies. Moreover, she separately referred to the aspects that are relevant to monetary policy and research, in the field of financial stability and in the part of the foreign reserves management and the application of monetary instruments in the monetary policy implementation process;

• Learning and acquiring an ability to work with one or more econometric softwares (Matlab, STATA, E-views), as well as to work with large and complex databases, which also requires basic knowledge in the field of data science;

• Knowledge of the basics of macroeconomic statistics, given that the adoption of appropriate monetary and macroeconomic policies relies on the availability to high-quality statistical data and indicators;

• Professional knowledge and qualifications that are a prerequisite for the performance of the supervisory function when carrying out the monitoring of the banks’ operations, as well as of the other financial services providers - detailed knowledge of the business processes of the operations of the commercial banks and the financial activities they perform, the basic supervisory standards, as well as greater practical work acquired through the studies of the subject “Banking”, primarily conducted in the banks' operations.

In her speech, Angelovska Bezhoska also highlighted the data from the report of the World Economic Forum titled “Jobs of the Future”, which among other things suggests that the accelerated application of the new technology, at global level, will open new 97 million jobs, primarily in the field of artificial intelligence, data analysis, especially voluminous databases, digital marketing, business development, information security and fintech area, and will reduce the current jobs. This, as emphasized by the Governor, points to the necessity of preparation of a staff for the “jobs of the future”, and hence the insistence on constructive proposals at today’s webinar.

The e-event was also attended by the Minister of Finance, Fatmir Besimi, the Vice President of the Economic Chamber of North Macedonia, Zoran Jovanovski, and the President of the Competition Protection Commission, Vladimir Naumovski.

The National Bank and the Faculty of Economics - Skopje at the Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, in this period, strengthen their cooperation with joint ventures in order to provide preconditions for greater productivity in the economy, which is attainable solely with a high-quality staff prepared for the challenges of the new time.