A meeting of the Committee for Sustainable Development of the “Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs” Chelyabinsk Regional Public Organization was held at South Ural State University. Among the meeting participants were the Union’s core group, representatives of government authorities, of our region’s major industrial enterprises, as well of universities.
The key topic of the meeting’s agenda was the training of engineering specialists for our region’s industrial enterprises, promoting the prestigious status of engineering majors, as well as system-based approach to working with young people at all the stages of choosing their future professions.
“At our region’s level, a big-scale systemic work is being conducted, and we keep searching for joint solutions and new approaches. Our common goal is that as many talented young people as possible choose engineering fields of study while obtaining their higher education. The process of choosing your profession is a whole chain of stages: first, you need to assess your strong points; second, you must take into account that your parents and people surrounding you have a big influence on you; third, it is important to read the external environment’s signals. And it is also crucial to study information about the profession and the sector related to it,” noted Chairman of the Committee for Sustainable Development Evgenii Gubanov.
Minister of Education and Science of the Chelyabinsk Region Vitaly Litke drew attention to using a system-based approach to this work starting from school and to the role of the human capital in the development of economy:
“Human resources are the key. This is the pivotal issue today. We keep saying that qualified personnel, first of all, are the people, human capital, potential and talents, who are developing the economy and various sectors. So, the higher the quality of training of such personnel, the better their potential and talents can be uncovered, and the more actively enterprises, sectors and the economy in general will be developing. Our main task is to improve the quality of training, starting already from school level, and next, within the professional education system – by interacting with enterprises, leaders in relevant sectors.”
The meeting participants paid special attention to the interaction between enterprises and universities and to the issues of practice-oriented training of students.
The SUSU Rector Alexander Wagner presented his report on modern trends, practices and approaches in engineering education:
“By the end of 2024, the number of graduates with engineering majors increased by 15.6%, and the demand for engineers and the number of vacancies increased by 13%. The most important thing is that the profession of an engineer itself is again considered as a prestigious one today. In our practice, there are many formats of interaction between the university, digital education, government, and industrial partners. For example, SUSU has a Faculty of Mechatronics and Robotics, a Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Technology, and a Faculty of Aerospace Engineering. And soon, we are planning on opening a Faculty of Energy and Power Engineering. This is an absolutely new format: each division has its own industrial partner, and this is crucial for the development of engineering education.”
Minister for Youth Affairs of the Chelyabinsk Region Iurii Boldyrev stressed the importance of a frank dialogue with the young generation and of the support on behalf of companies:
“We work with young people, who are interested in different fields of activity and have various hobbies. But we have set ourselves a task to reach out to each young individual in the Chelyabinsk Region and provide him/her with those opportunities that s/he thinks about and dreams of. Support from enterprises is important for us, so that we could guide young people along the paths they are truly interested in. It is crucial to speak frankly with young people. We are ready to input our emotions and efforts in order to generate ideas and involve young people into such important fields as industry and engineering.”
As a result of the meeting, the participants noted the necessity for further development of partnership between educational organizations, industrial enterprises, and government authorities in order to form a modern system of training engineering personnel in the Chelyabinsk Region.