One of the problems hindering the reduction of the shortage of personnel in the real sector of the economy, he called the excessive "digitalization" of the consciousness of young people.
On Thursday, June 6, a panel session "Russian Engineering Education in a multipolar world" was held within the framework of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum: new opportunities and fundamental changes." The discussion was moderated by Valery Falkov, Minister of Science and Higher Education, and its participants were Vladimir Litvinenko, Rector of the Empress Catherine II St. Petersburg Mining University, Vladimir Gutenev, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Industry and Trade, Sergey Kogogin, CEO of "KAMAZ" and Kirill Lippa "Transmashholding".
Valery Falkov drew the attention of the audience to the fact that the Mining University has become the only university in our country that has already "fully entered the experiment" and implemented modernized curricula. There, in particular, "the fundamental component of educational programs and the terms of production practices were increased."
The Minister emphasized the creation of the so-called "core of engineering education" - the modules are the same for all areas of general education and general technical disciplines. Students study them for the first four semesters and only then move on to specialized subjects.
«To obtain an engineering profession, it is fundamentally important to have a fundamental base, which is laid down in the process of mastering a single "core". Scaling this idea to the whole of Russia will ensure a common educational space from Kaliningrad to Kamchatka, and create new opportunities for student mobility.», - Valery Falkov noted, after which he gave the floor to Vladimir Litvinenko.
The Rector reminded the audience that the term "entropy" is widely used in the natural and exact sciences, which denotes a measure of irreversible energy dissipation or its uselessness. And he stated that this concept is fully suitable for describing the two-tier higher education system that is still in operation in Russia. After all, a bachelor is a person who "has received general theoretical knowledge, without consolidating it in practice," and no one is waiting for him at work. The paradox lies in the fact that it is the training of personnel for the real sector of the economy that is the main task facing technical universities.
«20 years ago, we blindly copied the standards imposed on us, forgetting that the twentieth century was the century of Russian science. Thermophysics, space, peaceful atom – in these and many other areas, our country was the undisputed world leader. Today it is time to correct previous mistakes, but this can only be done if efforts are combined and an environment of trust is created. The success of our initiatives in the field of modernization of higher education depends on whether we are able to form a team of like-minded people, both globally and locally. Each rector should do everything possible to ensure that the team he leads believes in the need for future changes, consolidate vice-rectors, teachers, and students around him. Only in this case will we succeed and regain the status of a state with the best engineering education on the planet», - Vladimir Litvinenko emphasized.
Another condition necessary to achieve a positive result, he called a return to analog thinking, which many teenagers do not develop due to excessive fascination with gadgets. According to statistics, high school students spend 3 to 8 hours daily on social networks, getting used to receiving information "in one click" and not thinking about who uploaded it to the Internet and for what purpose. As a result, a lot of elementary students cannot answer a question if there are no answers attached to it, to support a discussion on an actual or abstract topic. In addition, modern boys and girls adapt worse to their new academic environment than their peers 30 years ago.
«As part of the pilot project, we have already introduced new standards into our curricula. This is, in particular, the "core" of higher education, which is uniform for all specialties. This module of disciplines, which takes the first four semesters to master, includes such subjects as the basics of Russian statehood, Russian language and speech culture, higher mathematics, physics, introduction to IT, descriptive geometry, mathematical and computer modeling, and industry economics. The total period of study is 6 years. During this time, the student must necessarily complete at least two production and pre-graduate internships, 42-44 weeks are allocated for this. In addition, it provides for obtaining additional competencies in the field of IT, economics, management, and so on», - Vladimir Litvinenko explained.
Almost all the participants in the discussion said that the problems of the higher education system are directly related to school problems. It is obvious that the reduction in the number of people willing to take the Unified State Exam in physics and chemistry, the excessive "digitalization" of youth consciousness, a decrease in the general level of knowledge and, moreover, the skills of applicants is, among other things, a consequence of the lack of "interesting" teachers in technical subjects who are able to captivate children with their discipline.
In addition, the issue of the need for closer integration of universities and industrial enterprises was raised. Representatives of industrial companies were called upon to engage more actively in recruiting and, already in the first year, to "single out" groups of promising students, inviting them as a first step to introductory practices. After all, the lack of interest on the part of business may well motivate young people and make them want to engage in other fields of activity. For example, the delivery of goods from the marketplace. Such "specialists", by the way, sometimes get even more than qualified engineers.