EU subsidies funding discontent

The president of the Polish Chamber of Training Companies, Piotr Piasecki, believes that there is still plenty of room for growth in training. However, much-heralded EU funds have generated both joy and concern.

Michał Pakulniewicz: According to the recently published 'Education at a Glance' report prepared by the OECD, Poles are much less likely to attend post-education courses than inhabitants of Western countries. Why do you think are the reasons for that?

Piotr Piasecki: The first and most obvious reason would be the wealth of an average Pole, who just doesn't have the money for training. Another reason is the lack of tradition of learning after entering professional life, apart from the training that is provided by their company. I would say that three-quarters of all training, excluding training courses for the unemployed, are organized and provided by the company.

Although there is a lot of talk about learning your whole life most Poles still do not live by this rule. We also do not have a thorough information system about adult education - not only about different trainings, but also some kind of guidance and advice about how to achieve life goals.

What is the current shape and state of the training market?

The commercial market of training companies is very young, as it began to form only after 1990. This market is a very fragmented market - there are a few large training companies, there are a dozen or so medium-sized entities and then there are small companies and individual freelancers.

No official market research has been done up to date, so I can only estimate that there are up to 2,000 entities offering training services. Among them there are many Polish companies with Polish know-how, there are also international network companies and as I mentioned there are many freelancers, who cooperate with and are hired by companies.

As far as the structure of the market goes, the offer is very similar to the offer on the Western markets. The most popular training is so-called personal skills, like for example, sales and management training. Another segment specialized training, which are  offered to lawyers or accountants. I should also mention that language training is still very popular in Poland.

Who are the training companies' main clients? Do you see a growing interest in training courses among small companies? 

I would say that 70 percent of training company clients are medium-sized and large companies, including international corporations. They are more aware of the need to train and educate their employees. There may already be some training structure in the companies, they see training as way to achieve their business goals, and of course there is also the money factor - they have more funds than small firms.

As far as small companies are concerned, they tend to use training services when they are in process of transformation or development.

What are the main problems facing training companies on the Polish market?

We all as training companies compete for the same client. There is a group of companies who regularly use our services and most of the training companies work within that group. Sometimes new companies, who for example are going through restructuring phases join in, but the market is still very narrow.

In effect, the supply of training services is larger than the demand. The companies take advantage of it and negotiate more profitable conditions as well as have higher expectations with regards to pre-training services - the preparations to the training itself and the analysis of needs. This is the field that training providers included in the training  package and didn't separate it from the core training session. Of course, this has its bright sides as it puts stress on quality.

It would be much easier to convince managers to invest in trainings and it would be easier to set goals and expectations for the training if the process was seen as more than just those two training days.  Only about a third of all companies have cohesive training plans prepared, the rest carry out training only when employers ask for them, or when an emergency or unusual situations arise.

The lack of support systems for adult education is also a big problem. I would like the state to create an information system, some kind of system of support, and passing regulations that would stimulate education, for example - introducing tax breaks for training companies.

In Poland's National Development Plan there are paragraphs on building a knowledge-based society, but I do not see concrete projects, just visions. We are going to continue to speak out loud about building a partnership between the public sector, private sector, training companies, universities and vocational schools. 

Has Poland's entrance to the EU had any effect on the market?

Ironically, one of the problems facing the market is the arrival of the European Social Fund (ESF). These funds are comparable to the value of the commercial training market, so they are worth fighting for. It is a quasi-state interventionism, until now competition was based on market rules - good companies had clients, poor ones did not.

Today it no longer is the quality of services, but rather the fact of who got funds from ESF that decides whether the company prospers on the market. Technically it is not the quality of the training company, but the quality of the claim which could decide who gets the money as those who distribute funds have no time and resources to analyze projects.

There is also another problem with getting help from the EU. Since training companies didn't have much capital and didn't have the need to invest in infrastructure, because all the training takes place at someone else's office or away from the city, they may have difficulty fulfilling requirements when it comes to getting EU funds or even regular loan.

It seems like EU entrance and EU funds have not been a blessing for the training market?

ESF can be a big boost for the market, but it needs proper management. We are just complaining about the way these funds are distributed.

It is good that we have this money at our disposal, that we can invest them in education, but we must know what to do - invest them in training of micro-sized companies or larger ones, in concrete fields of education or just give them to anyone who files in a proper claim.

We as the chamber are working on proposals of changes for the next phase of distribution of those resources from the EU. We are thinking that it could be better if the entrepreneur himself filed for funds instead of a training firm doing it for him as it is now.