Student Brigades at STG Facilities

Stroytransgaz pays great attention to sharing expertise with the younger generation and popularisation of the respectful builder trade. For many years it has been the Company’s practice to involve student construction brigades for the construction of various projects. Students from specialized educational institutions as members of five construction brigades take part in strategic construction projects of the country, implemented by the Stroytransgaz Group of Companies.

Budding professionals from Don State Technical University and Vologda State University (Engineering and Construction Institute), as well as from colleges and technical schools of Novocherkassk, Tambov, Vologda and Rostov-on-Don are working at the Bagaevsky Hydroelectric Complex. Students from Moscow Automobile and Road State Technical University, Samara State Technical University, Vologda State University and Vologda Engineering and Construction Institute are working at the construction site of the 1st phase of the Moscow-Kazan-Ekaterinburg M-12 highway. Students from Kotovsky Industrial Technical School (Tambov region) and Morshansk Multidisciplinary College are working at the reconstruction site of Oktyabrsky Avenue in Lyubertsy. Students from the Far East Federal University, Far East Energy College, Primorye Polytechnic College and other Russian specialized institutions interned at the construction sites of the cultural and educational complex in Vladivostok and passed on to be employed at the Company. Future young specialists learn how to work with project documentation, and master trades such as the concreter, rebar fitter, road worker, and others. They perform auxiliary, earth-moving, concreting, and survey operations, and get engaged in the work of OHS and production technology units.

Dmitry Deringer, Deputy CEO for Infrastructure Construction at STG, believes that we need to do more to attract, engage, train, and build up the company's talent pool. The Don and Triumph student construction brigades are actively working at the construction site of M-12 Highway Phase 1. All students are employed under fixed-term contracts for the duration of summer work. Guys are provided with everything they need: special clothes, shoes, safety helmets. The employer also provides hostel accommodation and meals and partially reimburses their travel expenses. Everything is real at the construction site for students - they are briefed on occupational health and safety matters. The company offers free meals in the on-site canteen and accommodation in a hostel. The student construction brigade called Eternals and student construction brigade of the Rostov-on-Don Automobile Road College work at the reconstruction site of Oktyabrsky Avenue in Lyubertsy, Moscow Region, and the “Geologist” student construction brigade works at the reconstruction site of the Lobnya–Sheremetyevo highway. This year, 5 student construction brigades are involved in STG’s construction projects. "We mainly do rebar tying. There have been no funny incidents. We hold intra-team activities, organize tea parties with discussions on funny topics from our lives", said Andrey Gubarev, a student from the "Eternals" construction brigade.

Student construction brigades are part of the all-Russian youth public organization called “Russian Student Brigades”, the largest youth organization in the country. As part of these brigades, students work at various construction sites across this country, both of regional and national importance.

The history of student brigades began 100 years ago, when for the first time students were involved in agricultural work. In 1924, the first labor semester of Soviet students took place, when the All-Union Central Soviet of Trade Unions and the People's Commissariat of Labor and Education issued the first instruction on the student summer practice. In 1933, 350,000 representatives of university youth worked at the construction projects of the Five-Year Plan. "Labour Army members" worked on the construction of Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works and Dneproges, the Moscow Metro, the Moscow-Omsk railroad, harvesting in the Moscow region and Ukraine, logging in the North and Siberia.

The first post-war student labor brigade was formed in 1948 in Leningrad, with students of the Polytechnic Institute as its backbone. They went to build Neppovo and Lozhgolovo HPPs in the Leningrad region.

But the official date of the emergence of student brigades in the USSR is July 1959, when 339 students from Moscow State University went to Kazakhstan to plow up virgin soils.

Andrey Popov, the commander of the "Triumph" student brigade noted: "This year the brigade headed to the Vladimir region to help build the Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod-Kazan expressway." Our guys work at the SU-2 section of Stroytransgaz’s Road and Bridge Office. A lot of work was done. The guys worked as rafters’ riggers, plastered and puttied bridge columns, assembled bridge jacking structures, poured concrete, tied slab rebars, and much more. Our girls had an equally difficult job. For 2 months, they worked in the Production Technology Unit, helping to fill out and gather as-built documentation. The good things are the delicious and varied meals, meeting with professional craftsmen and foremen, and a very good team that is always ready to help".

Today, student brigades are doing a great job by contributing to the development of the regions where they work. Student brigades provide an excellent opportunity for future specialists not only to earn money, but also to contribute to the construction of strategic projects for the whole country. Perhaps, in the future many of them will keep working at Stroytransgaz, building their future and the future of their children.

For reference:

Russian public youth organization called “Russian Student Brigades” (RSB) is the largest youth organization in the country providing temporary employment for more than 150,000 young people from 76 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. It is also engaged in civic and patriotic education, develops the creative and sports potential of young people.

A student brigade is a team of students from secondary and higher professional educational institutions who work in various industries in their free time.

More than 35,000 people work in student construction brigades in various areas, including construction, teaching, agricultural, service, quick response and other teams.