In recent years, there has been a constant deficit of students in technical specialities in higher educational institutions. This problem is especially significant for industrial engineering area. To solve this issue, the authors initiated the joint project with participation of three universities in the Baltic region. This project aims to develop a new approach for preparing schoolchildren to choose the right profession through collective efforts of university, schools and enterprises. Authors address the critical issue in this paper, the gap between the needs of companies in the region and university education. Authors introduce this problem based on the questionnaire answers provided by the metal and machinery industries of the Baltic countries. Results of the current analysis may be useful to other nations and readers can apply them to other sectors.