On March 11, The Organizing Committee of the VI All-Russian Engineering Competition held an online meeting. The organizer of the competition is the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. MEPhI became its main venue for 2020/21.
The organizing committee includes representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science, top managers of Rosatom State Corporation, Russian Railways, Russian Helicopters, United Aircraft Corporation, United Shipbuilding Corporation, other large enterprises and heads of Russian engineering universities.
Elena Druzhinina, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, noted that the competition is one of the events in the framework of the Year of Science and Technologies and it is carried out in accordance with the action plan for promoting the engineering professions. She underlined that the winners and prizewinners will have the opportunity for further employment in the high-tech industry.
In her speech, E. Druzhinina told about the trends and directions of state youth policy and stressed that today the training of engineers is driven mainly by the speed of technology change. It takes 7-8 years as the university develops an educational program and prepares specialists; during this time, the technologies taught to students have been becoming obsolete. “Nowadays all breakthrough technologies are interdisciplinary. It is extremely difficult to make a breakthrough in interdisciplinary technologies for specialists trained just for engineering industry. Thus, on the agenda is the training of specialists whose knowledge and skills will correspond to the needs of business and the real sector of economy”, noted Elena Druzhinina.
Rector of MEPhI Mikhail Strikhanov noted that the All-Russian Engineering Competition is a tool for the creation of a sustainable interest in the engineering as a profession among young people. It based on the unity of science, education, innovation and digital technologies. “Engineering universities should revise the educational agenda taking into account urgent tasks — interaction with industry and digitalization — to ensure the high quality of educational programs”. According to the rector of MEPhI, it is important to develop the various formats of practice-oriented educational programs and create effective tools for career guidance, employment and realization of talented youth in the tech-intensive sector of the economy.
More than 1,000 graduate students from Russian universities took part in the preliminary stage of the All-Russian Engineering Competition; 214 people entered the face-to-face stage. Specialists and representatives of the academic community who will help to polish projects up will evaluate the ideas.
In addition to working on projects, a rich business program will be organized. Experts will discuss with the participants topical issues of engineering education.
In May 2021, the final stage of the competition will take place, where the organizers will determine the winners. The best projects will receive support from industrial partners of the competition — state corporations and high-tech enterprises.
The All-Russian Engineering Competition has been held since 2014 on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation. The mail goal of competition is to develop the engineering human resources potential by increasing the general level of engineering training, as well as popularizing engineering education and professions in the country. More details about the All-Russian Engineering Competition: https://vikrf.ru/
