Workshop 4 in Belarus
On the 29th of May, 2015 the workshop-conference "Cooperation between university and industry: key to success” was held in Mogilev State Foodstuffs University (MGU) within the project TEMPUS /UNITE 544390-TEMPUS-1-2013-1-GR-TEMPUS-JPHES «University and Industry for the modernization of textile manufacturing sector in Belarus». 66 representatives of the organizations and institutions of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus (MGU, Belarusian State Economic University (BSEU), Vitebsk State Technological University (VSTU)), Belarusian State Concern for Oil and Chemistry "Belneftekhim", (JSC "Mogilevkhimvolokno", OJSC "Svetlogorskhimvolokno", JSC "Naftan", etc.), Belarusian State Concern for production and sale of goods of light industry "Bellegprom" (JSC "Mogotex", "Lenta" and others.) as well as their subsidiaries attended the conference.
Viacheslav Sharshunou, rector of MGU, corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences, Professor, Honored Scientist of the Republic of Belarus opened the meeting. The reports on the issues of training specialists and cooperation between universities and enterprises of chemical and textile industries of the Republic of Belarus were made by:
- Alexandr Nosikov, First Vice-Rector of MGU;
- Leonid Shcherbina, Head of the Department of Chemical Technology of High-Molecular Compounds of MGU ("On the work of the Department of Chemical Technology of High-Molecular Compounds and on the role of its affiliates in the practice-oriented training of specialists for chemical and light industries");
- Irina Budkute, Associate Professor of the Department of Chemical Technology of High-Molecular Compounds of MGU ("On the cooperation between Mogilev State Foodstuffs University and industrial (sector) enterprises in training of chemical production engineers");
- Natalia Yasinskaya, Associate Professor of VSTU ("Guidelines in cooperation between Vitebsk State Technological University and textile industry enterprises");
- Valery Feingold, Deputy Head of Coordination center for educational process of BSEU ("On the cooperation between the Belarusian State Economic University and industrial (sector) enterprises in practice-oriented training of specialists");
- Victoria Primshits, Dean of the Faculty of Raising Qualification of BSEU ("On the organization of activities for raising qualification of cadres").
Representatives of the industrial enterprises also addressed the meeting:
- Pyotr Solovyov, Chief Engineer of OAO "Mogilevkhimvolokno";
- Andrei Kovalenya, Head of law and personal department of "Bellegprom";
-Mikhail Svirepa, Deputy General Director of JSC "Mogotex" for ideological work and personnel;
- Natalya Drozd, Deputy General Director of JSC "Lenta";
-Olga Kruglikova, Deputy Chief Technologist of OJSC "Svetlogorskhimvolokno"; Vadim Tereshkov, head of the central laboratory;
- Nikolay Ushkevich, Deputy Director for Production of "Polymir" Plant of JSC "Naftan", Konstantin Ustinov, deputy head of the technical department.
All the speakers informed the conference about the main forms of cooperation between industrial (sector) enterprises and universities in terms of training specialists for industry. Moreover, they focused on the problems of training students at educational institutions. Almost all the speakers agreed that the main causes of knowledge-paradigm crisis are: firstly, knowledge-focused orientation of university studies, and secondly, contradiction between the way of vocational education and present-day industry (business). Thus, young professionals who start working at the enterprises often cannot apply their knowledge in practice, evaluate, analyze incoming information and compile it, make decisions in industrial and economic activities, etc. In recent years, particularly in Belarus there has been a problem related to the fact that enterprises have more specialists with higher fundamental education than they need, while the real economy began to experience a shortage of qualified practice-oriented cadres. Therefore, new forms of organization of retraining and advancing qualification of specialists for enterprises are of great interest to solve cadre issues in the industry.
In conclusion, Leonid Shcherbina, head of the Department of Chemical Technology of High-Molecular Compounds of MGU, said that the project 544390- TEMPUS-1-2013-1-GR-TEMPUS-JPHES «Universities and industry for the modernization of the textile industry in the Republic of Belarus" related to higher education reformation in accordance with labor market needs is relevant, timely and urgent for higher education system and industrial enterprises in up-to-date.
