Engineers of the future: how Russia is overcoming personnel shortages in the energy sector

The session was attended by representatives of business, government and the scientific community. Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation Dmitry Afanasyev, Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Oksana Dmitrieva, Rector of MPEI Nikolay Rogalev, Deputy General Director for Personnel Management of En+ Natalya Albrecht and Chairman of the Board of the Union of Oil and Gas Industrialists of Russia Yuri presented their proposals on achieving the national goal Saffron.

Lost prestige and personnel shortage

In recent decades, Russia has seen a loss of prestige for engineering specialties. This has exacerbated the problem of staff shortages. Also one of the reasons was the “brain drain” abroad. This is especially acute in strategically important areas, such as the fuel and energy complex. To overcome the crisis, updated approaches to personnel training are required.

Natalya Albrecht, citing Rosstat data, said that by 2030 in the main regions of En+, which include the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Irkutsk Region and Nizhny Novgorod Region, there will be a significant shortage of personnel.

“2020 by 2030, age 25-44 years - minus 21%. These are people who were not born, these are Rosstat numbers. If we add to these figures all the processes that we are currently undergoing, according to our estimate, the drawdown will be up to 30%,” the speaker said.

The shortage of personnel in the real sector was confirmed by the Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation Dmitry Afanasyev. He noted that the shortage of specialists is felt both at the level of workers and at the level of engineers.

“We have passed the low point of graduation rates in 2021, and the number of graduates from schools and colleges, as well as the number of higher education students, is starting to increase. But compared to what it was 10-12 years ago, we have fallen by half,” Afanasiev said during his speech.

Technological development until 2030

Currently, the priority areas of development are restoring the prestige of engineering professions and overcoming personnel shortages. It is important that the preparation corresponds to the technological tasks of the economy.

“We started with “Energy Classes” - we included additional classes in physics and mathematics in the school curriculum. Starting from the 5th grade, we conduct excursions for students to all our enterprises. Our main task is to ensure that the student reaches either a technical school or a university and chooses an energy specialty. In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, our base university is the Siberian Federal University, in the Irkutsk region - the Irkutsk National Research Technical University,” Albrecht continued.

She noted that the company is creating other educational projects on the basis of universities and colleges - “IT Academy”, “Energy Academy”. “This is the only opportunity to assign guys to enterprises and help them make a choice. Without being immersed, they cannot imagine what energy is,” Albrecht is convinced.

Let us recall that by presidential decree a pilot project was initiated to improve the higher education system, aimed at training highly qualified specialists.

“Popularization, career guidance in engineering, technology and natural sciences, all this should have a systemic effect. The participation of employers is important here, because even the most trained teacher will tell worse about the future place of work than an employer who knows this to his fingertips,” added Deputy Minister Afanasiev.

Practical skills for technological sovereignty

One of the key factors in training engineers is not only fundamental knowledge, but also practical experience. Russian companies in the fuel and energy sector have an extensive educational base.

“If we are talking about designers, we have four years [реализуется] project, more than 1000 parts and structural elements [студенты] manufactured, which went into series, there are mentors from the industry and from our side. Material and technical base. We are really developing it so that there is more practice-oriented training; without practice, an engineer is useless,” MPEI Rector Nikolai Rogalev is convinced.

To achieve technological sovereignty in the country, personnel who know how to apply the acquired knowledge in practice are required.

Communication between business and universities

One of the trends in recent years is the strengthening of interaction between specialized universities and the fuel and energy complex. Universities are introducing new educational tools, including internship programs, advanced training courses and practice-oriented training. This collaboration creates a workforce ready to work in a rapidly changing technology landscape.

Today, it is more important than ever for Russia to establish a system for training engineering personnel capable of ensuring Russia’s technological leadership. The key to solving the problem lies mainly in updating educational programs, strengthening interaction between universities and business, as well as integrating experience into educational processes.

“Personnel decides everything. It’s easier to teach a young person quickly, so there’s no need to be nervous. Manufacturers have started doing this, and the ministry needs to strengthen the trend. We need to provide stability for several years,” concluded Yuri Shafranik.