FAI “ROSDORNII” General Director Aleksander Bedusenko took part in the meeting devoted to the issues of training highly qualified staff for the road industry with representatives of Russian universities and specialized organizations. The meeting took place at the Institute on the 8th of September, 2022.
The event was attended by Sergey Goshovets, Head of Scientific and Technical Research, Information Technologies and Economic Support Department of the Federal Road Agency, Nikolay Bystrov, President of "R.O.S.ASFALT" Association, Igor Starygin, General Director of RADOR Association, representatives of leading industry higher educational institutions (MADI, SIBADI, RUT, SGTU, KUBGTU, VGTU) and associations.
The problem of qualified personnel deficit in road construction industry has become more acute in the last years. The volume of construction activities is growing, and the specialized labor market is short of young specialists - engineers, technicians, skilled road builders. More and more high school graduates applying to construction universities are opting for housing construction.
«Today, a number of regions openly talk about the shortage of experienced road engineers, road construction equipment operators and designers. The leadership of the industry - the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation and the Federal Road Agency, set a task to understand the situation, to work in conjunction with universities on ways to solve the problem, to adjust the approaches to the training of road builders and tactics to attract students to the profession», - said Aleksander Bedusenko.
The experts invited to the meeting are sure that the situation can be corrected through the popularization of the profession. Without good advertising and demonstration of work opportunities as a designer or engineer in a large company, business will not attract professionals to the industry. Besides, it is necessary to involve in the educational process interested employers from large industry companies: they can help to extend the period of students' practical training at construction sites, and even organize long-term practical training of future specialists.
It is equally important to change the content and principles of the road industry specialists training programs. In this regard, experts suggest different proposals - from replacing the education system dividing bachelor's and master's degrees in the training of road builders, to the "separation" of faculties, training future road industry specialists, from construction faculties.
It has been stated that the order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation № 89 dated February 1, 2022 "On approval of the list of specialties and areas of higher education on bachelor's degree programs, specialist's degree programs, master's degree programs, residency and internship programs" which enters into force on September 1, 2024 will exclude the specialty "Construction, operation, restoration and maintenance of roads, bridges and tunnels" from the list of specialties with the qualification "engineer". However, the "Concept of the personnel training for the transport complex till 2035", approved by the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation on February 6, 2021, ¹ 255-r, stipulates for providing the country’s transport system with qualified personnel for its uninterrupted work. The document states that the training of workers directly related to the design, construction, maintenance and development of the Russian road network is a key element in transport education.
In addition, since the entry into force of the Order № 89, all transport operational specialties and areas of training will be allocated in a separate field of education "Transport". But the training of specialists in road construction was not included in it, and was included in the enlarged group of specialties "Technics and technologies of construction" - it is in the framework of this group the specialists for the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Communal Services of the Russian Federation are trained. Experts think that this discrepancy should be eliminated in order to improve the quality of road industry personnel training.
Another area that needs attention is improving the skills of the teaching staff at the industry's universities. FAI “ROSDORNII” is ready to cooperate with institutions of higher education within the framework of the advanced training system for road workers.
Teachers of the leading Russian universities will have an opportunity to receive training online on the unified industry-specific educational portal (rosdorspk.ru) and attend webinars of the Institute's specialists. All the participants will be given a state certificate of advanced training.
Reference Information
As part of the National Project "Safe High-Quality Roads" FAI “ROSDORNII” has created the System of Professional Development for Roadworkers. More than 30 industry-specific programs are available: new and best technologies, application of information modeling technologies (IMT), technologies to increase the service life of roads, design, asphalt mixtures production and laying, works quality control and so on.
Classes are conducted online at a single industry-specific educational portal (rosdorspk.ru). At the end of the course, students receive a certificate of advanced training.
It should be noted that earlier FAI “ROSDORNII” has obtained the license for educational activity # 041962. The document was issued by the Federal Service of Supervision in the sphere of Education and Science (Rosobrnadzor) on February 21, 2022.