Human capital for a new Eurasia

4 September 2019

Human capital for a new Eurasia

KEY CONCLUSIONS

Human capital is the foundation of economy

“The population is the backbone of our economy. Consumption is the most important factor in the economy, and consumption depends on the size and solvency of the population. Human capital is becoming a higher priority for us,” Bambang Brodjonegoro, Minister of National Development Planning of the Republic of Indonesia.

“The quality of the human capital, that is the capability to create a team, find people that possess necessary competences and skills: these are the challenges that our students are facing,” Andrey Sharonov, President, Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO.

“In economy, human resource is the most critical component,” Olga Arkhangelskaya, Partner, Head of Real Estate, Hospitality, and Construction Services, Head of the Transportation, Infrastructure and Government, and Public Group in the CIS, EY.

Educational systems need to be changed

“The world is changing. Educational institutions do not provide experience that is necessary for learning <...> Institutes and business need to work together to train people,” Rajendra Srivastava, Dean, Indian School of Business.

“We need to nurture a new mindset, a new approach, a new thinking, a new attitude. We believe in entrepreneurship, in people with entrepreneurial mindset,” Shiv Vikram Khemka, Vice Chairman, SUN Group.

PROBLEMS

Education lags behind technological changes

“It is not only about skills; it is about the speed of change. If we talk about information technologies, the contents should be updated every three years. Millions of people need to keep their skills up to date,” Shiv Vikram Khemka, Vice Chairman, SUN Group.

“Changes are happening really fast. I believe that there are natural limits to this growth, as the human brain cannot embrace these drastic quantum leaps,” Alexander Sergeev, President, Russian Academy of Sciences.

Lack of methods for development of soft skills

“We analysed and tried to compare CVs of international managers. There is a difference <…> Our managers, first of all, demonstrate hard skills, whereas their foreign colleagues show soft skills first,” Andrey Sharonov, President, Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO.

“Apart from skills, there are relationships. When a person can handle them, this is top performance,” Dilip Chenoy, Secretary General, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

Lack of standards in training

“There are no common standards in this area (training – Ed.) It prevents skilled specialists from moving between industries, between regions of certain countries. And it is a hindrance for international cooperation,” Petr Shchedrovitskiy, Member of the Management Board, North-West Foundation Center for Strategic Research.

Robotization and aging of population exacerbate the employment problem

“Robotization will wipe out many jobs: will people be able to keep up with this quantum leap in technological development? <…> Education means not only higher or academic education; it means how you will be able to survive, to get a job,” Shiv Vikram Khemka, Vice Chairman, SUN Group.

“What to do with qualified staff who reach the age of retirement? <…> In Europe, when retiring, people receive 60–65% of their last salary. In Russia, this figure is much lower. That is why such future does not look attractive <…> life expectancy is growing. <...> It is great that we now live longer, but what are we supposed to do with ourselves in the second part of our lives?” Alexander Sergeev, President, Russian Academy of Sciences.

SOLUTIONS

Expansion of international cooperation in education

“We’ve got a large pool of human resources, and we need to keep the pace, increase it. We must learn from such countries as Russia, Japan, India, Korea; it is our opportunity to improve our human capital,” Bambang Brodjonegoro, Minister of National Development Planning of the Republic of Indonesia.

“There is an excess of engineers in India, and if we could cooperate with Indonesia, we could share the school of engineering and specialists <…> It is crucial to use cooperation between science and business, as they tried to do it in Skolkovo”, Rajendra Srivastava, Dean, Indian School of Business.

Creating conditions for employment of senior generation

“We need to make sure that the aging population works as long as possible. It would be a professional source that would invest in what we receive as the first bonus. The aged work longer to help the youth achieve more,” Bambang Brodjonegoro, Minister of National Development Planning of the Republic of Indonesia.

Implementation of new educational methods

“When developing an educational system, we need to add soft skills to hard skills. Soft skills mean being able to be a leader,” Bambang Brodjonegoro, Minister of National Development Planning of the Republic of Indonesia.

“In Russia we set a task of having something like a skills passport that will be the same for employers, administrative workers and people. So that there is an established set of criteria and standards,” Petr Shchedrovitskiy, Member of the Management Board, North-West Foundation Center for Strategic Research.

“We need to create 1,200,000 jobs over the next 30 years. We are now on the threshold of an educational revolution. Technologies will make education available,” Shiv Vikram Khemka, Vice Chairman, SUN Group.

For more information, visit the Roscongress Foundation’s Information and Analytical System at roscongress.org/en.

Human capital for a new Eurasia

Read more