The plenary session of the V Betancourt International Engineering Forum was dedicated to education as the most important factor of competitiveness in a changing world.

The forum programme attracted a large number of guests among them transport specialists, scientists, representatives of educational institutions, heads of large industrial enterprises and businesses.

The topic of the forum discussion was what steps universities and the industry need to take to deal with the labor shortage. How to saturate the transport industry workers and engineers? Who is a modern transport engineer?

«The problem of lack of skilled workers is relevant to the whole industry, not only for the railway,» said Rector of the PGUPS Oleg S. Valinsky.

A number of priority steps should be taken to solve this problem. Firstly, a modern training base is needed. Students should be trained on the equipment they will have to work with in the future: simulators and stands adapted to production, digital systems, quantum technologies.

«The transport industry needs specialists of the appropriate level — engineers who, having after the educational institution, will be able to immediately start solving the tasks», — emphasized Oleg S. Valinsky.

Secondly, prerequisite is internships.

«The classical education should be fulfilled with new knowledge, which should be acquired through internships. Professor must understand the tasks faced by companies — potential employers of university graduates», — shared Oleg S. Valinsky.

Evgeny I. Charkin, Deputy Director General for Digital Transformation of Russian Railways, noted that the company has interaction with universities, there are educational programmes for specific tasks of the railway, but there is also a need for specialists who will deal with database management, artificial intelligence, and information security.

Alexander S. Misharin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sinara Transport Machines Holding and President of the Russian Transport Academy, noted that the university should select talented students, train specialists with the right knowledge and competencies, and plan joint modern educational programmes together with business.

Sergey A. Pavlov, First Deputy Director General of Russian Railways, emphasised the uniqueness of the education system established in Russia and the high demand for students from abroad to study at the country’s transport universities, effective partnership with foreign colleagues begins at the university.