The Reform of Skill Formation in Russia: Regional Responses

This article was prepared within the framework of the Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) and was supported within the framework of a subsidy by the Russian Academic Excellence Project ‘5-100’. The authors also acknowledge support from a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (Project No. 161810425).

Abstract

Effective systems of vocational education are crucial to economic and social development. However, the coordination of labour market demand and the supply of skill requires either well-functioning labour market institutions or institutionally embedded strategic partnerships among government, labour and employers. In particular, the transplantation of German-style dual education methods to a different environment poses significant institutional dilemmas. Russia presents a useful case for examining the conditions under which such arrangements can be established. Based on a series of interviews in six Russian regions and a set of case histories, we seek to draw testable hypotheses that can be applied to other settings.

Notes

1 ‘Rost bez uskoreniya, Rossiiskii vypusk 17-go Ezhegodnogo oprosa rukovoditelei krupneishikh kompanii mira 2014 god’, PWC, 2014.

2 ‘2016–2017 Talent Shortage Survey’, ManpowerGroup, 2016, available at: http://www.manpowergroup.com/talent-shortage-201.6, accessed 15 August 2016.

3 ‘Indeks OPORY-2012: defitsit kadrov dlya malogo biznesa-na pervom meste’, 5 December, Opora Rossii, 2012, available at: http://opora.ru/news/opora/61230, accessed 15 August 2016; ‘Doklad o sostoyanii delovogo klimata v Rossii v 2010–2013 godakh’, Rossiiskii soyuz predprinimatelei i promyshlennikov, 2014, available at: http://rspp.ru/document/1/0/5/052e120269d00aa294ee8c2aa1c311df.pdf, accessed 7 December 2019; ‘Rost bez uskoreniya, Rossiiskii vypusk 17-go Ezhegodnogo oprosa rukovoditelei krupneishikh kompanii mira 2014 god’, PWC, 2014.

4 For a review of the literature on the origins of skill formation regimes in the European context, see Busemeyer (2015).

5 This can be nationally, in the case of small countries, or regionally, in the case of large countries with regional labour markets.

6 For details, see ‘O federal’noi tselevoi programme razvitiya obrazovaniya na 2006–2010 gody (s izmeneniyami na 11 marta 2011 goda) (fakticheski utratilo silu v svyazi s istecheniem sroka deistviya)’, 11 May 2011, available at: http://docs.cntd.ru/document/901965035, accessed 6 December 2019.

7 ‘Postanovlenie Pravitelstva RF ot 7 fevralya 2011 g. N 61 “O Federal’noi tsevevoi programme razvitiya obrazovaniya na 2011–2015 gody” (s izmeneniyami i dopol’neniyami)’, Garant, 25 December 2015, available at: https://base.garant.ru/55170694/, accessed 6 December 2019.

8 ‘Federal’nyi zakon “ob obrazovanii v Rossiiskoi Federatsii”’, ConsultantPlyus, 29 December 2012, available at: http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_140174/, accessed 2 December 2019.

9 ‘Podgotovka rabochikh kadrov, sootvetstvuyushchikh trebovaniyam vysoko-tekhnologichnykh otraslei promyshlennosti, na osnove dual’nogo obrazovaniya’, approved by a decision of the Observer Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, 14 November 2013. For details, see ASI (2014).

10 ASI is a specialised inter-agency body created by Putin in 2011 to promote economic development and create a favourable business climate (see Freinkman & Yakovlev 2014). For details on the programme, see ASI (2014).

11 Also in an interview with Tat’iana Stanislavovna Golovina, Director of the ‘Young Professionals’ Programme for the Agentstvo Strategicheskikh Initsiativ, Moscow, 24 June 2016.

12 ‘Novosti’, Natsional’nii Fond Podgotovki Kadrov, 2015, available at: proftech.ntf.ru/node/97, accessed 11 June 2015.

13 Available at: https://asi.ru/, accessed 7 December 2019.

14 Available at: http://минобрнауки.рф/, accessed 7 December 2019.

15 Details of the case selection procedure can be found in Appendix 2.

16 Interview with the Head of the Administration for Development and Personnel Recruitment, Severskii trubnyi zavod, Sverdlovsk Oblast’, 23 November 2016.

17 Interview with the Director of the Samara Technical College for Machine-Building, 1 November 2016.

18 Interview with the Director of the Urals College of Technology and Entrepreneurship, Ekaterinburg, 23 November 2016.

19 Interview with Deputy Chair of Krasnoyarsk Regional Branch of the Union of Machine-Builders of Russia, 30 November 2016.

20 These are defined broadly: manufacturing; agro-industry; transportation; IT; social services; construction.

21 The federal government specifies defined curricular requirements for granting degrees in each specific defined occupation. These are divided into mandatory and elective components. The latter allow schools to work with businesses and sector organisations in incorporating on-the-job training and industry-specific modules into the curriculum.

22 Interview with Head of Department of Personnel Development, Instrument Bearings Factory, Samara, 27 October 2016.

23 Interview with Director of Urals College of Technology and Entrepreneurship, Ekaterinburg, 23 November 2016.

24 Interview with Director of Personnel, Aviastar SP, Ulyanovsk, 30 September 2016.

25 ‘Istoriya Gruppa Kompanii “Agro-Belogor’e”’, available at: http://www.agrobel.ru/, accessed 7 December 2019.

26 ‘Gruppa Kompanii “Agro-Belogor’e” budet gotovit’ sebe kadry samostoyatel’no’, 2 September 2011, available at: http://www.agrobel.ru/presscenter/smi_o_nas/1945, accessed 15 August 2016.

27 ‘Agro-Belogor’e vzialos’ za svoe uchilishche’, Bel.ru, 28 September 2011, available at: http://www.bel.ru/news/education/57678.html, accessed 15 August 2016.

28 ‘Agro-Belogor’e vzialos’ za svoe uchilishche’, Bel.ru, 28 September 2011, available at: http://www.bel.ru/news/education/57678.html, accessed 15 August 2016.

29 ‘Gruppa Kompanii “Agro-Belogor’e” budet gotovit’ sebe kadry samostoyatel’no', 2 September 2011, available at: http://www.agrobel.ru/presscenter/smi_o_nas/1945, accessed 15 August 2016; ‘Uchebnoe Zavedenie’, Agro-belogor’e, available at: agrobel.ru/h/vocational-school/institution, accessed 15 August 2015; ‘O Dolgosrochnoi Tselevoi Programme “Razvitie Professional’novo Obrazovaniya Belgorodskoi Oblasti Na 2011–2015 Gody”’, Pravitel'stvo Belgorodskoii Oblast’, 20 July 2011, available at: docs.cntd.ru/document/469024702, accessed 15 August 2016; ‘Ob Institute’, Oblastnoe Avtonomnoe Uchrezhdenie ‘Institut Regional’noi Kadrovoi Politiki’, available at: irkp31.ru/institute/about/, accessed 15 August 2016.

30 See also, ‘Gubernator Evgenii Savchenko provel soveshchanie po voprosam modernizatsii professional’nogo obrazovaniya v regione’, 21 February 2018, available at: https://belregion.ru/press/news/index.php?ID=23086, accessed 4 December 2019.

31 ‘Gruppa Kompanii “Agro-Belogor’e” budet gotovit’ sebe kadry samostoyatel’no’, 2 September 2011, available at: http://www.agrobel.ru/presscenter/smi_o_nas/1945, accessed 15 August 2016.

32 ‘Gubernator Evgenii Savchenko provel soveshchanie po voprosam modernizatsii professional’nogo obrazovaniya v regione’, 21 February 2018, available at: https://belregion.ru/press/news/index.php?ID=23086, accessed 4 December 2019.

33 ‘Otchet o vypolnenii gosudarstvennogo zadaniya avtonomnoy nekommercheskoi organizatsii “Regional’noe agentstvo razvitiya kvalifikatsii”, utverzhdennogo rasporyazheniem pervogo zamestitelya Gubernatora Belgorodskoi oblasti—nachal’nika departamenta vnutrennei i kadrovoi politiki oblasti ot 20 yanvarya 2014, No 3, za 1 kvartal 2014 goda’, RARKBO, 4 April 2014, available at: http://rark31.ru/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/otchet-po-goszadaniyu-1-kvartal-2014.pdf, accessed 7 December 2019.

34 Interview with Alexei Nikitin, Director of Education Centre of Autoconstruction, Kaluga, 23 June 2016.

35 ‘Kaluga: vklad truda i kapitala’, Zavtra, 20 February 2018, available at: http://zavtra.ru/blogs/2007-02-2121, accessed 4 December 2019.

36 Interview with Alexei Romanenko, Head of Personnel Development to Volkswagen Russia, Kaluga, 23 June 2016. Interview with Alexei Nikitin, Director of Uchebnyi tsentr avtomobil’egostroenie, Kaluga, 23 June 2016.

37 Interviews with VW official in Kaluga, Russian Federation, 23 June 2016, and Wolfsburg, Germany, 21 June 2017.

38 ‘Novosti’, Natsional’nii Fond Podgotovki Kadrov, 2015, available at: proftech.ntf.ru/node/97, accessed 11 June 2015.

39 Later, following the economic crisis of 2008, these businesses largely ceased their operations in Kaluga.

40 Interview with Alexei Romanenko, Head of Personnel Development to Volkswagen Russia, 23 June 2016, Kaluga, Russia; interview with Regional Ministry of Education official, 23 June 2016, Kaluga, Russia.

41 ‘Strategiya Sotsial’no-ekonomicheskogo Razvitiya Kaluzhskoi Oblasti’, Ministerstvo Ekonomicheskovo Razvitiya Kaluzhskoi oblasti, available at: admoblkaluga.ru/sub/econom/Gos_prog_razv/Strategy/, accessed 13 June 2016.

42 Interview with Director, Dmitrovgradskii College of the Construction Industry, Ulyanovsk Olbast’, 30 September 2016.

43 Interview with Director of Department of Professional Development, Trade-Industrial Chamber, Perm’ Krai, 21 November 2016.

44 Note that this point is by no means confined to Russia. In the United States in 2018, no fewer than eight governors, both Republicans and Democrats, specifically referred to the apprenticeship model of TVET in their ‘State of the State’ addresses as ways to improve workforce development. Still more cited the value of work-based learning (Ross & Hauge 2018).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Thomas F. Remington

Thomas F. Remington, Visiting Professor of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA; Goodrich C. White Professor (Emeritus) of Political Science, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Senior Research Associate, International Center for the Study of Institutions and Development, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation. Email: [email protected]

Israel Marques II

Israel Marques II, Assistant Professor, School of Politics and Governance and International Center for the Study of Institutions and Development, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation. Email: [email protected]; [email protected]