Cooperation of STG and the Academy of Water Transport

On 20 July 2023 a round-table meeting devoted to ‘Training of Water Transport Specialists in Modern Context’ was held in the Academy of Water Transport in Moscow. The meeting was attended by the Academy of Water Transport (Russian University of Transport, MIIT), PAO Sovkomflot, PAO Moscow River Shipping Company, AO Volga Shipping Company, OOO Vodokhod, Moscow Canal Federal State Agency, ROSMORPORT, PAO Far East Shipping Company, AO Rosnefteflot, etc. The list of speakers included Stroytransgaz Group’s representatives, Mr. Sergey Garanov, Director for Water Facilities Construction of Stroytransgaz, and Mr. Ruslan Shakirov, Senior Engineer of Bagaevsky Hydroelectric Complex Construction Project, Phase 2.

The primary goal of the event was to develop the strategy for training of highly qualified specialists for the marine and inland water transport complex. Among the discussion issues raised, the STG experts focused on cooperation between higher education institutions and employers to improve training and retraining of graduates.

Russian researchers consider this issue to be increasingly urgent, since in the current environment, most graduates of vocational education institutions cannot count on guaranteed employment. Unlike the skilled workforce in the current labour market, they lack the required skills, professional expertise, necessary qualification, occupational skills and have poor flexibility in job searches. The most common model of cooperation between higher educational institutions and employers is based on student internship programs which are considered very important for alignment of educational and professional requirements set for graduates.

‘Such model of cooperation is beneficial for both parties. Companies offering students internship opportunities can test these future specialists in actual operating conditions. At the same time, the students can evaluate the working conditions and demonstrate their skills. We track the progress of students who demonstrate good performance and often continue our cooperation after their graduation from their higher educational institutions. We invite these graduates to work in our company’, said Sergey Garanov, Director for Water Facilities Construction of Stroytransgaz.