TSAMTO, August 22nd. Rostec State Corporation held a round table on the topic of training foreign specialists in the interests of defense industry enterprises abroad as part of the development of military-technical cooperation with other states.
The agenda of the event included discussions on the formation of a unified educational space with friendly countries, the selection of students abroad and the development of network cooperation between universities. In addition, cooperation agreements were signed at the round table between Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Ural Federal University, Kyrgyzindustria and Rostec State Corporation.
The discussion was attended by Nikolai Volobuyev, Deputy Director General of Rostec State Corporation, member of the Bureau of the Russian Engineering Union, Viktor Kladov, Director for International Cooperation and Regional Policy of the State Corporation, Yulia Tsvetkova, Director of Personnel Management at Rostec, Mikhail Gordin, Rector of Bauman Moscow State Technical University, First Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs of the Moscow State Technical University.Boris Padalkin, Director of International Affairs at Bauman Moscow State Technical University Anton Egorov, Rector of MIREA – Russian Technological University Stanislav Kudzh, Rector of Ural Federal University Viktor Koksharov and Vice-rector of Ural Federal University Pavel Smirnov, representatives of Rossotrudnichestvo and the CSTO Secretariat.
Opening the meeting, Nikolay Volobuev, Deputy General Director of Rostec State Corporation, noted that "we are consolidating the efforts of the Russian Federation and our partners in order to achieve technological sovereignty. Undoubtedly, engineering and technical personnel with the necessary qualifications and motivation to work for their country in cooperation with friendly states play a key role here. Rostec State Corporation and leading technical universities in Russia and neighboring countries are forming a single educational space to train relevant specialists."
The Department of International Cooperation and Regional Policy, together with the Department of Personnel Management of the Corporation, are working on the formation of a training system that will allow engineers from different countries to speak the same professional language about imported Russian products in the future, including during after-sales service, on the basis of joint ventures as part of Rosoboronexport's contractual obligations, commented Nikolai Volobuev. The key issues of the discussion were: where and how to select international students, what exactly and how to teach them.
In his report, Viktor Kladov, Director for International Cooperation and Regional Policy of the State Corporation, stressed that "currently, foreign students already have the opportunity to study at Russian engineering universities in specialties related to the defense sector, as part of fulfilling obligations under contracts in the field of military-technical cooperation, including at the expense of the federal budget for an annual quota for a Corporation of up to 100 people in technical specialties. The system of engineering personnel training created by the Corporation for defense industry enterprises of friendly states is in many ways unique and opens up wide career opportunities. To date, our project covers 49 countries, more than ten of them have already sent their students to study with us, and this is just the beginning."
Rostec representatives noted the joint work with MGIMO on the formation of the fourth set of students from the CSTO member states to study at the expense of the federal budget. Classes are conducted according to the master's program of the Corporation "Management in the field of military-technical cooperation and high technologies" at the department headed by Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov.
In order to ensure the training of students from the CSTO member states on a systematic basis, the development of an appropriate interstate agreement has been initiated, providing, among other things, a deferral from the army for the period of study for foreign students.
In her report, Yulia Tsvetkova, Director of Personnel Management at Rostec, emphasized the need to strengthen the information campaign on the advantages of scientific and technical cooperation with Russia, on the history of foreign economic activity and military-technical cooperation, the conditions for selection and training in specific educational programs. In order to solve this problem, within the framework of the round table, Mikhail Gordin, Rector of Bauman Moscow State Technical University, presented Rostec representatives in foreign countries with certificates to promote the interests of Russian engineering education abroad. The first certificates were received by representatives of the Corporation in Myanmar, China, Iran, Ethiopia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Kyrgyz Republic.
"It is important to initially identify the customer for training foreign specialists, to form a need, including the number of trainees, training areas, partner universities. The more specific the request, the faster and more efficiently we will be able to solve the task, including the formation of the architecture of the curriculum and its adaptation to international students. Currently, we are already negotiating with our military-technical cooperation partners abroad with the support of Rosoboronexport and Rossotrudnichestvo in order to launch training for foreign specialists at our specialized universities (MSTU and MIREA) within the framework of the Corporation's educational and professional tracks (Wings of Rostec, Rostec Code, Rostec.Biotechmed")," said Yulia Tsvetkova.
At the same time, as the Director of Personnel Management of the Corporation noted, the issue of employment of foreign specialists with Russian education in the system of the military-industrial complex in the partner countries has not yet been resolved without the need for additional training and confirmation of qualifications. "There is also a lot of work to be done in terms of teaching Russian to foreigners interested in obtaining engineering and technical education in Russia. We will look for a solution together with our relevant agencies as part of their implementation of state policy in this direction," she explained.
An example of effective cooperation in the framework of training foreign specialists in the interests of the development of military-technical cooperation was the signing of a trilateral agreement between the Corporation, Ural Federal University and JSC Kirgizindustria (Kyrgyz Republic) on the annual (starting from 2025) targeted recruitment and training of 20 Kyrgyz students at engineering faculties at the university for enterprises of the Kyrgyz defense industry.
The participants of the round table noted that the presence of specific tasks that foreign employers set for young specialists sent for training significantly affects the results of appropriate training and motivation of students.
"Bauman Moscow State Technical University is one of the five most popular technical universities for international students in Russia. However, we expel up to 40% of international students after the first year of study due to the lack of proper abilities and discipline to study in technical areas and master fundamental knowledge. At the same time, the most popular training programs for foreigners in the engineering field are programs in the fields of computer science, mathematics and related disciplines. It is important to build a comprehensive system for selecting and motivating the most talented and motivated applicants abroad with strong basic training in these areas. At the same time, it is necessary for such students, together with Rossotrudnichestvo, to work out a student grant program covering travel expenses, medical insurance and a scholarship that will be able to compensate for living expenses. In our experience, combining work and study critically affects the quality of learning by foreign students," said Boris Padalkin, First Vice–rector-Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs at Bauman Moscow State Technical University.
MIREA Rector Stanislav Kudzh presented a project to create a network university of high technologies of the Union State between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus (SUVT), the key task of which is the formation of full-cycle competencies: from student training to technology commercialization. The concept of SUPT involves the development of unified competence models of graduates, educational standards, curricula, which will create opportunities for the development of critical and end-to-end technologies within the framework of demanded specialties. It is proposed to conduct selection for master's degree programs within the framework of the SUVT on the basis of an interstate student engineering competition, a motivational letter and criteria for the level of knowledge in engineering disciplines. The issue of determining the legal status of the SUPT for the integration of national higher education systems and traditions of training engineering personnel needs to be studied, commented Stanislav Kudzh. The Rector of MIREA also proposed to consider the criteria for the selection of foreign students, developed within the framework of the SUPT, as a basis for further development through the training of specialists from other countries.
Rostec State Corporation and the Council of Rectors of Belarusian Universities expressed interest in supporting this initiative and working out pilot areas of training – the SUPT can help solve the issue of staff outflow from the Republic of Belarus.
At the same time, the participants of the round table noted that the recognition of new diplomas of the Russian Federation abroad, taking into account the reform of higher education, is a challenge facing Rossotrudnichestvo and the Russian education system as a whole.
The participants of the round table also noted that the choice of Russian universities by talented foreign students depends on foreign ratings, which the BRICS countries often disagree with. Last year, the Ministers of Education of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa began working on an initiative to create an independent rating of BRICS universities. This will help Russia and the Corporation's partners in military-technical cooperation to fight for the best international students.
At the end of the discussion, Nikolay Volobuev stressed that all the issues raised at the round table require careful consideration both within the framework of the initiatives of the Corporation and partner universities, and in order to prepare joint proposals to the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, currently forming events for federal/national projects in the field of training and attracting foreign specialists to the Russian Federation.
"I am confident that together we will be able to create a system for training technology leaders in the interests of partner countries in key high-tech industries and strengthen their cooperation with Russia," Nikolai Volobuev summed up.
The message is publicly available on the website of Rostec Group of Companies.
