It is proposed to reorient technical education in the Russian Federation to graduate project teams

The transformation of the training of engineering personnel for technological sovereignty involves a transition to the creation of ready-made engineering teams for the industry in universities, follows from the Development Strategy of Bauman MSTU until 2030. The document was considered at a specialized strategic session led by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on January 10. The need for changes in training in the White House was explained by the need for reverse engineering, development and operation of fundamentally new technologies in the Russian Federation. In the future, Baumanka’s experience is expected to be extended to other leading engineering and technical universities to focus them on megaprojects.

“Kommersant” studied the Development Strategy of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University until 2030 – the document was considered on January 10 at a government strategic session on the development of engineering personnel to ensure the technological sovereignty of the Russian Federation, chaired by Mikhail Mishustin. As follows from the presentation published on the university website, the education of the future involves a transition from routine training of engineers to the preparation of members of engineering teams capable of configuring to solve specific practical problems of the industry, for which it is planned to integrate education with industry, science and government authorities. Students should receive an education that includes project experience, which will allow them to work on practical projects, the demand for which is created by the “technological sovereignization” of the Russian Federation. Education is supposed to be organized in a new way “in one step” – according to long programs (70% of students in 2030 should study in basic six-year education programs).

The Ministry of Education and Science, in pilot mode, carried out comprehensive work with the university to formulate a new strategy – due to the need to improve the quality of personnel training and revise some outdated principles in training, caused by the need for both the operation and reverse engineering of existing and the independent development of fundamentally new technologies. It should be noted that the demand for highly qualified engineers in 2022, according to the Institute of Statistical Research and Economics of Knowledge of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, increased to 79.8 thousand people, 2.7 times more than in 2010 (29.9 thousand people), and 43.5% higher than in 2021 (55.6 thousand people). Because of this, the authorities see universities as one of the key participants in the implementation of megaprojects and the development of critical and end-to-end technologies. At the same time, the experience of MSTU in terms of strategy is planned to be extended to leading universities (within the framework of the Priority 2030, Advanced Engineering Schools, etc. projects) to focus them around megaprojects.

Engineering education “in a new way” should provide competencies for work at all levels of technology readiness – from research to implementation of product solutions. In this case, the work will be carried out with the involvement of industrial partners. Within the framework of project financing, it is possible to carry out contract work – engineering, applied R&D, supplies for industrial customers. The MSTU strategy also involves the creation of ten interdisciplinary clusters on critical and end-to-end technologies, including robotics (with the participation of Rostec and Rosatom), digital transformation and artificial intelligence (Sber, VK), environmental protection technologies – Green house” (“RusHydro”), etc.

The strategy also provides for the possibility of venture financing and involves the joint work of a management company and an investment fund to create technology startups and a network of technology spin-off companies starting from the second level of readiness. According to the document, it is planned to increase the volume of R&D performed by the university from 5.9 billion rubles. in 2023 up to 30 billion rubles. in 2030, the involvement of teachers in R&D will be from 20 to 75%, and the share of students and graduate students in the R&D payroll will be from 2% to 10%.

Venera Petrova