USTU rector report to the President of Russia

On October 14 - 15, 2014 the All-Russia People's Front (ONF) forum "Quality Education for the Country's Good" took place in Penza within the premises of Penza regional library named after Mikhail Lermontov. As part of the discussion platform "New agenda for economic development: education requirements" two round tables took place, namely - "Assessment of the quality of higher education and its development prospects in the new conditions" and "Vocational secondary education in the nationwide development agenda." Rector of Ukhta State Technical University, Professor, Trustee of the President of the Russian Federation, Nikolay Tskhadaya took part in its work as a moderator of two round tables.

One of the key speakers at the roundtable on higher education was Alexander Rusakov - Rector of P.G. Demidov Yaroslavl State University, who stressed the importance of strict correlation between professional and educational standards, as well as the special role of regional universities in the country's economy. 

After the first round table, Nikolay Tskhadaya told that the first threshold issue raised on the discussion platform was the return to the specialist programme at the initiative of the Consortium. "We are deeply convinced that the specialist programme in engineering specialties in the form it was available in Soviet times is absolutely essential to our society. We already have certain prerequisites to turn this into reality: federal education standards have been established to enable us to carry out admission to bachelor's programme in parallel to the specialist one," he said. 

He also noted that "the second question raised at the venue focused on what the President said in his message to the Federal Assembly on December 12, 2012 - namely, the vector of attention should be turned to regional universities." "Today, there is a serious problem of youth migration to big cities." "We need to refocus the financial flows to the regions, creating highly organized scientific and educational centers to attract young people," emphasized N. Tskhadaya.

The roundtable also addressed a number of issues and drew attention to the promising and important areas of development of higher vocational education. 

The next event, held in the framework of the discussion platform was a round table on "Vocational secondary education in the nationwide development agenda." One of the most important issues today is staffing of various Russia's industries, that's why a separate round table was dedicated to discussion of this topic. The discussion focused on challenges facing the vocational secondary education system, the issues of interaction between government and business, patriotic education of youth, issues of specialized training programmes and vocational guidance of Russian pupils. 

USTU Rector Nikolay Tskhadaya reported to Russia's President Vladimir V. Putin and the participants of the ONF forum on the results of both roundtables and the discussion platform in general at the final plenary session on October 15, 2014. 

Participating in the discussion platform "New agenda for economic development: education requirements" and relevant thematic round tables were D.V. Livanov, Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation; A. A. Fursenko, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation; I.P. Bilenkina, Head of the Presidential Directorate for Science and Education Policy; V.A. Sadovnichy, Rector of Moscow State University, President of the Russian Union of Rectors, as well as representatives of academic teaching staff, parents, heads of subject ministries and departments, deputies of the State Duma and the Federation Council, the leading industry experts, members of the Public Chamber and Trustees of the President of the Russian Federation. 

"The Rector of Ukhta University for many years has been bringing up the most pressing issues at the municipal, regional and federal levels, and offering effective solutions in the field of school education, secondary vocational and higher education in our country" said Georgy Korshunov, Vice-Rector for external affairs - Chief of staff in the Rector's Office. "Increased level of training of students in physics and chemistry, prestige of engineering and working specialties, retention of young people in the Russian regions and in the Komi Republic in particular, the return of specialist's degree - these and many other questions are constantly in the focus of special attention of USTU Rector. Nikolay Tskhadaya solves many of the issues and problems as a Trustee of the President of Russia", emphasized the USTU representative.