20 July 2021
Titan-Polymer took part in a round table discussion devoted to the training of workers
On July 20 a round table discussion was held in Pskov on the subject: “Request for personnel. Secondary specialized education in the region.” Heads of executive authorities, secondary specialized educational institutions, representatives of the regional industrial enterprises participated in the event. The event was held under the support of the Russian Engineering Union.
The event became a result of a number of thematic meetings having been held in Pskov region with the participation of the regional business, being experienced an acute shortage of workers.
Opening the meeting, Ninel Salagayeva, Deputy Governor of Pskov region remarked that in the regional economy industry currently occupies up to 20% in the structure of the Gross National Product (GNP). There are 291 medium and large-scale enterprises on the region’s territory, 109 of which are in the sphere of processing industries. The demand for personnel is a colossal one: 10630 vacancies are currently free, 7308 of which are workers. Processing industries require 3250 specialists: 1182 with secondary education, 108 with higher education, and 1960 with basic general education.
The discussion moderator Alexander Kozlovsky, Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, head of Pskov regional branch of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, confirmed the problem urgency relative to the provision of the region with the personnel possessing technical education.
According to his version, enterprises suffer from a severe shortage of specialists. In the current conditions, enterprises undertake everything possible to train personnel, even obtain teaching licenses and efficiently start to train professional specialists. “This is not a principal activity, but we have no any other outlet for today,” Alexander Kozlovsky shared his opinion.
Discussing the necessity to revive the blue-collar worker popularity, Andrey Shpilenko, Director of the Association for the Development of Clusters and Technoparks of Russia spoke about the pilot project “Take-off runway”, which was launched in Pskov region under the support of Alexander Kozlovsky. Within the framework of the project implementation Pskov students got to know about the existence of large enterprises in the region which are in dire need of personnel. The students plunged into the production workflow and suggested ways for the performance improvement of the enterprises. At the final project stage, which is scheduled for August, employers will be able to invite the most promising young job seekers.
In their turn, the region’s enterprises are ready to support young people. German Petrushko, Director of Titan-Polymer plant, speaking within the framework of the round table discussion, admitted that the enterprise he headed had faced the problem of personnel shortage even within the preparation process of the production commissioning. According to his opinion, it is important that the future specialists should not only acquire education, but they also need to get a relevant qualification. “We are ready to go to universities for students, we are ready to take part in the training of qualified workers,” he said. I liked the proposals made by Natalya Ilyina, Rector of Pskov State University. I remarked for myself that the university can satisfy the needs of our enterprise in attracting mid-level specialists. "Titan-Polymer is ready to join these programs and this work."
Processing enterprises need 3250 specialists, and the number of students at PskovGU college is only 1600 people. Artyom Bagnyuk, co-owner of “M-Konstruktor” company from Velikiye Luki, paid attention to this fact.
“Enterprises are ready to receive school children and arrange excursions,” he remarked. “They visit us, see modern equipment, enter college, but along with the fact that there is no equipment, there are no even normal sanitary conveniences there.”
According to him, it is necessary to adjust training programs as well.
“Enterprises are ahead of the development opportunities of any educational institution,” considers Artyom Bagnyuk. “It is not possible to deliver equipment and train how to operate it during ten years, it is changed every three years. It is necessary to arrange the program in such a way that starting from the second year of education the students should have opportunity to spend more time at the enterprise.”
“There is no definite decision at the moment,” remarked Aleksandr Kozlovsky. “But let’s find it. Let’s see which programs can be brought up here, which laws we need to amend. As a result of the round table discussion, it was decided to create a working group, which will start to develop a strategy for the problem solution.
