Partnership with secondary vocational education institutions is a strategic tool for business personnel policy. We will find out how to effectively “configure” graduates and raise the prestige of blue-collar jobs
About the expert: Bulat Zaripov, curator of the “College League” project of the Gazprom Neft company.
Why the Economy Needs College Graduates
President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia is in dire need of blue-collar workers: “To enhance the prestige and popularity of these areas, we will continue to establish partnerships between colleges and technical schools and employers.” The head of state also spoke about the need to improve working conditions and that Russia should become a “high-wage economy.” In his opinion, this is where “the key to increasing the efficiency of production itself” lies. These statements accurately reflect the trend toward solving the systemic problem of personnel reproduction. Let’s figure out why.
The first question that requires clarification is what specific blue-collar jobs are we talking about. The most vulnerable part today is the line personnel. These are mostly blue-collar workers: operators, fitters, welders and other specialists. Not long ago, many thought that the niche would be filled by automated systems. However, it is impossible to replace blue-collar workers, because industrial systems require a “human” approach to management and control.
If we talk about the fuel and energy industry, there are at least 20 more job titles that directly support the “extraction-processing-sales” chain. Today, companies need many more specialists in various professions. The requirements for employee training are very high — they work with complex equipment and must have competencies from related fields.
How business relations with secondary vocational education are developing
Gazprom Neft has systematically started developing partnerships with educational institutions since 2020. We were the first to launch a project for cooperation with higher education institutions, the League of Universities. The support system for educational institutions of secondary vocational education, the League of Colleges, has become a logical continuation of this work; educational institutions training specialists in oil exploration and production were the first to join the partnership. The League of Universities today includes more than 40 universities in Russia, and the League of Colleges, which we launched in 2022, includes 20 educational institutions of secondary vocational education. This is about 3,000 students in 20 specialties of interest to the company from 19 regions.
The “College League” was created primarily for the joint development of vocational education and raising the level of personnel training in accordance with business needs. The project’s objectives include facilitating the “tuning” of educational programs to meet industry demands, supplying educational organizations with the necessary resources, and organizing internships for teachers and practical classes for students at our sites.
Why Invest in College Partnerships
Only highly qualified specialists can use modern technologies in industrial production. And training such specialists is expensive and should be financed at the appropriate level. In dialogues on this topic, the most effective strategies for business are often discussed: to train from scratch on the job and gradually improve qualifications “without interrupting production”, to invest in recruiting specialists with experience and the required level of qualification, or to develop a strategic partnership with educational institutions. Today, Gazprom Neft is concentrating on developing the third direction.
The emphasis on training specialists at the college level is explained simply – it is an opportunity to directly participate in the educational process. Together with the college management, we analyze educational programs. And thanks to access to Gazprom Neft’s expertise, college teachers independently modernize educational programs, understanding the current requirements of the industry. Together with the opportunity to do an internship, this approach gives us priority candidates for the most in-demand vacancies.
In fact, today we are more likely to prevent a personnel shortage than to actually feel it. Current needs for employees do not go beyond our standards. However, we feel that the demand is gradually growing. There is a possibility that we may also face an imbalance: there will be fewer people on the labor market than vacancies. So there is a growing interest in blue-collar jobs. According to the forecast, a real shortage is possible in three to five years. Accordingly, we are already forming a certain strategy: we are building an ecosystem to cover our prospective needs for personnel in the future.
Areas of work with secondary education
Within the framework of the “College League”, there are three main areas of interaction and work in the “partner-partner” format:
Joint development of educational programs. Our attention is focused on the most accurate correlation of educational programs and curricula with the realities that await children in the workplace. And this means compliance with the system of requirements, permits and technologies used today. Within the framework of educational programs created jointly (with the administration and teaching staff of educational institutions), our corporate trainers and experts transfer knowledge to students. Colleges regularly involve our employees in teaching certain disciplines.
Development of college infrastructure. The territory of the educational institution functions as a platform for practicing the required skills of students, where all equipment must correspond to the workplace at enterprises, that is, operate on the principle of a testing ground. The tools must be completely identical. The result is a seamless transition of the student to the workplace.
Development of the college management and teaching staff. Two special programs have been developed for representatives of the secondary vocational education system: “Energy to Teach” and “Energy to Manage”. As part of the “Energy to Teach” program, college teachers visit our company’s production facilities, describe our workplaces and processes, and create corporate standards for professions, on the basis of which educational programs for training in the college are updated and created. For the second program, college managers develop projects to improve the effectiveness of interaction between the college and the personnel of our production enterprises.
Prospects and growth points
Investments allow to build a system of training specialists and avoid gaps in the progressive development of the company. In addition to investments in infrastructure, one of the important components in the work of the “League of Colleges” is the “human-centric” approach. It involves a focus on the training and development of teaching and administrative staff of partner colleges, as well as the creation of joint educational programs.
In this context, we use the concept of “from adaptation to pre-adaptation”, which accurately describes the logic of the work of the “League of Colleges”. Adaptation means the process of adjusting to changes and external factors. Accordingly, pre-adaptation is the ability to be prepared for future changes. To achieve the goals set forth in the project, we ensure maximum convergence between the enterprise and the educational institution, which ensures a seamless transition of the student from the educational environment to the work environment.
We have been working with colleges in the regions where the company operates for a long time, and thousands of graduates from partner colleges are already working at Gazprom Neft enterprises. But the company began systematically cooperating with educational institutions precisely with the founding of the College League in 2022, and in the first two years we launched many new educational programs that will allow us to obtain the required personnel flow in the future. One of the most important tasks of the project at this stage is to expand the network of partner colleges. It should be noted separately that the formed team is open to partnership with other companies. We are confident that such cooperation helps the development of education in our country.
