The Cabinet of Ministers, on behalf of the President, will develop a mechanism for a “student agreement”

Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to prepare proposals for the development of such an instrument as the “student agreement”. He spoke about this during his speech at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

“Separately, I ask the government to prepare proposals for the development of such an instrument as the “student contract”. Its meaning is that the employer, at his own expense, sends the employee to study, improve their skills, and the employee receives a guarantee of employment in more qualified places,” the president said. He noted that for this tool to work, it is necessary to think over incentives for business, including state support.

Putin also made two proposals in the field of vocational education, as it is necessary to increase their motivation to work for the result, i.e. for successful employment release.

“The first is to establish special key performance indicators for educational institutions, the main of which is the quality of employment of graduates. On the basis of this approach, I propose to form ratings of educational institutions of vocational education. And secondly, I propose to annually prepare a five-year forecast of the need for personnel at the level of the entire economy. This will allow maximum flexibility to take into account changing trends, new requests and priorities,” the president added.

In pilot mode, the mechanism of the “student contract” has already been tested in the Sakhalin region. It allows citizens to improve their skills, and companies to solve the problem of staff shortages.

As previously reported by Vedomosti, almost 180 educational programs in six Russian universities are participating in a pilot project for the transition from the Bologna system to a three-level system of vocational education. The Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov spoke about this on June 15 in the fields SPIEF.

In his address to the Federal Assembly on February 21, Putin announced a reform of the higher education system. On May 12, the head of state signed a decree on a pilot project to change the levels of vocational education. It provides for three levels of education: basic higher education (development period from four to six years), specialized higher education (development from one to three years), as well as postgraduate studies. Master’s and residency programs will be implemented at a specialized level.