The market needs engineers, but children don’t rush to become ones

Engineers are on Russia’s shortage occupation list. In some cases, major companies' demand for engineers outnumbers the supply by two times, according to Natalia Popova, the first deputy general director of Innopraktika. Vera Podguzova, the senior vice president and director of external relations at Promsvyazbank, cited similar statistics; data from specialized partner companies shows that employers need not only high-profile specialists – but also locksmiths, turners, and milling machine operators.

Engineering majors aren’t popular. There is, however, discouraging data on the other end, as well: interest in exact sciences among children is steadily declining, and even an increase in those who are interested in IT and computer science doesn’t help. As noted by MIPT rector Dmitry Livanov the number of school students who opt to take the Unified State Exam (USE) in physics has dropped from 150,000 to 60,000 over the last five years alone, despite a growth in tuition-free spots at universities around the country. 

What’s the solution?

The solution is to strengthen the entire ecosystem of engineering training, beginning with the basics, particularly middle and high school. Sixth and seventh grades are seen as turning points in a child's development. This is when they start to think about their future careers, and this is also a good time for systematic work with children, i.e. to showcase modern engineering and the spectrum of opportunities offered by engineering education. 

Are schools alone capable of taking on the challenge? No – this should be a task for universities, too, and some are already doing this. 

“We have top-tier schools with highly-qualified teachers and well-equipped classrooms we should treasure. But this isn’t always the case; sometimes there aren’t enough teachers as it is. At least, that’s what we see currently in St. Petersburg. That’s why universities aim directly at schools by organizing summer and winter schools for school students or running project schools or weekend classes. At ITMO, for one, laboratory heads have regular Sunday meetings with school students to work on scientific projects. We should scale our efforts up, namely invest in the training of physics, chemistry, and computer science teachers. Universities should actively collaborate with schools. We can’t just wait for a new generation of teachers to appear,” emphasized Vladimir Vasilyev, the Rector of ITMO University.

On his behalf, MIPT Rector Dmitry Livanov stated that MIPT has also been working with schools around the country for over seven years and has already launched over 500 physics and mathematics classes as part of the Science to the Regions project.

“It’s common for universities to fill in the gaps in school education: lecturers have to teach junior students what should have been taught at school,” he said. “Collaboration with schools is a large, complex task that should involve student motivation, methodological training, and assistance for lecturers. We intend to raise the number of physics and mathematics classes to 1,000, which is, understandably, a small number given that we have 40,000 schools in the country. We need far more serious, coordinated efforts from both state and private initiatives, with the participation of large companies and, of course, the professional community.”

According to Andrei Fursenko, the aide to the Russian President, the country’s top tech universities don’t face a shortage of applicants in engineering fields, but other universities do. And without a solution to this issue, it'll be impossible to provide enough engineers for the country so quickly. The answer lies in scaling up the experience of large universities to the regions. 

“Our priority is to make engineering education more widespread. In the USSR, students who finished school had no trouble getting into tech universities, whereas nowadays, students aren’t well-prepared. To turn that around, we should start not at universities, but in middle school. And universities should be actively involved in this process,” he noted. 

Children want to be bloggers, not engineers

Motivating students can also be difficult. A recent Gazprom Media’s survey found that children aged 10 to 13 are more inspired by a career in a digital field. As noted by Natalya Tretyak, the general director of the Prosveshcheniye group, many students simply cannot  imagine a different spectrum of professions. To address this issue, it’s necessary to not only engage in career counseling but also to start at an earlier level – not in high school, but in middle school. 

How it can be achieved:

Encourage students to pursue a career in engineering. And this should be done not selectively, but on a mass scale. At the same time, the best choice is to let researchers and high-tech companies’ experts communicate directly with school students, thus leading by their own example. 

Increase specialized education in school. There are specialized classes in schools – but they are oftentimes poorly-equipped. 

“Equipment is an expensive luxury, and therefore we see that specialized classes are not so in demand. What can be done? The way I see it, we should set a single standard of equipment and requirements for such classes and laboratories. And we should involve the scientific community, universities, and tech companies in its creation,” suggested Natalya Tretyak. 

Talk with children in their language. Probably all remember those worn-out, old textbooks written 20-30 years ago, which not only have outdated information but also now fail in engaging students. Natalya Tretyak is certain that today’s textbooks should be vivid, interesting, and technological, like those by Prosveshcheniye as one example. Starting this year, the publishing house began to release not just paper textbooks, but materials with digital additions.

Some of their textbooks were produced in collaboration with young scientists. For one, a newly-released textbook on AI was co-authored by a specialist organization; the writers' average age is 27 years. Also, Leonid Romashov, a young scientist and former international competition champion, took part in creating a chemistry textbook. 

Congress of Young Scientists is a key event of the year held as part of the Decade of Science and Technology and the largest platform for dialogue between frontier and fundamental science, state authorities, and the business sector. The event drew around 7,000 participants from 60 countries.