A new workforce for the new economy: Achieving a major improvement in the quality of education

5 September 2019

A new workforce for the new economy: Achieving a major improvement in the quality of education

KEY CONCLUSIONS

Economy growth in the Far East creates favourable conditions for human capital development

“In terms of human capital development potential the Far East is developing fairly well compared to the average in Russia: first of all it is good demographics, a higher share of young people than on average in Russia, a big share of men,” Marina Dedyushko, Deputy Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East.

“We cater to mining universities in Yakutia and beyond. Over the first 8 months in 2019, we have employed 2 thousand people. <…> Young people are relocating, and the trend shows they will keep coming,” Artem Levin, General Director, Management Company Kolmar.

The region’s demand for higher education and vocational training is on the rise

“The Far Eastern Federal District has 231 secondary vocational training facilities and 24 universities that also provide vocational training. <…> 55% of their alumni find jobs within a year after graduation,” Pavel Zenkovich, First Deputy Minister of Enlightenment of the Russian Federation.

“This year, the whole system of secondary vocational training is on the rise. <…> We had a public contract for 115 people, but we enrolled 400 students, which means that they are paying for their education,” Andrey Leifa, Acting Rector, Amur State University.

“Over the last years, our region – Amur Region – has been going through major changes, we have large investors and big operations. <…> Of course, it has an impact on developing the system of vocational training in the region. Basically, Amur Region has 5 public educational facilities, including 4 industry specific ones,” Andrey Leifa, Acting Rector, Amur State University.

“In Yakutia we definitely see a new evolving economy that is being created in traditional industries because requirements to professions change, and this is a completely new economy, where new competencies are needed,” Vladimir Solodov, Chairman of the Government of Sakha Republic (Yakutia).

“The revision cycle for technological solutions in complicated operations is 2–3 years. <…> We strive to organize our work for the next three years in such a way that we have a training programme planned and executed. This is a fairly big challenge,” Alexey Ponomarenko, Head of Engineering Competencies Development Office, Rosatom Academy.

PROBLEMS

Education related infrastructure needs improvement

“Small communities are a challenge for us. <…> Near half the population lives in such communities, and we need to create conditions to raise as many new Lomonosovs as possible there,” Marina Dedyushko, Deputy Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East.

“Today, the system of higher education is split into groups – federal, national research and flagship universities. We need a network of flagship universities in the Far East," Andrey Leifa, Acting Rector, Amur State University.

Education lags behind the needs of the economy

“If we look at the ratio, it is only 10% of new type workforce that we train for the new economy. The rest 90% is either new or old type workforce for the old economy,” Petr Shchedrovitskiy, Member of the Management Board, North-West Foundation Center for Strategic Research.

“Existing economy is limited in terms of intellectual saturation, which means that markets in the existing economy grow at a lower rate than in the new one,” Robert Urazov, Chief Executive Officer, Agency for the Development of Professional Communities and Skilled Workers (WorldSkills Russia).

The region’s out-migration of educated people

“People with good education, with high-quality education are frequently unable to apply their competencies and leave,” Andrey Sharonov, President, Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO.

SOLUTIONS

Creating flagship educational facilities in the Far East

“We would like to see interregional flagship secondary vocational institutions, then we could talk about higher quality of education. <…> We would like every promising industry to have a flagship educational facility in the Far East, where people would get training and retraining. <…> The system of secondary education is fragmented, that makes it hard to concentrate and mobilize its best resources,” Marina Dedyushko, Deputy Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East.

Targeted personnel training for companies

“Now many production facilities and students entering a university strive for some sort of an agreement with mutual guarantees and support measures for students like additional scholarships or internships or financial coverage for certain modules or courses,” Pavel Zenkovich, First Deputy Minister of Enlightenment of the Russian Federation.

“We cater to the opportunities the big manufacturing facilities have in our region. The university has over 400 agreements with various companies, so <…> today we have a different approach to employer-sponsored training – it is the employer who bears full responsibility to the students, the future alumnus they will later employ. And of course, those companies’ bear the responsibility in terms of social security,” Andrey Leifa, Acting Rector, Amur State University.

“We try to make shorter module-based programmes where some industry professionals get part-time training. Other employees are involved in training quality assessment, demo-tests and other types of tests,” Alexey Ponomarenko, Head of Engineering Competencies Development Office, Rosatom Academy.

Upgrading the system of education

“First of all, we need to stop focusing on educational facilities and go for individual or personal educational programmes. <…> Secondly, we need a drastic change in the technology used for personnel training and education. <…> Thirdly, a really important point here would be changing the content of our training and education,” Petr Shchedrovitskiy, Member of the Management Board, North-West Foundation Center for Strategic Research.

“What secondary vocational training needs is of course network training programmes, <…> shaping an entrepreneurial mind <…> and English,” Vladimir Solodov, Chairman of the Government of Sakha Republic (Yakutia).

“Executive Order of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1727 of August 2018 refers to training young personnel for the Far East. <…> This helped us collaborate with Gubkin State University in creating the Chemical Technology Research and Educational Centre and with Moscow Aviation Institute in creating New Workforce Research and Educational Centre for the Far Eastern Federal District,” Andrey Leifa, Acting Rector, Amur State University.

A new workforce for the new economy: Achieving a major improvement in the quality of education

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