Непрерывное образование российских инженеров: уровень заинтересованности и стратегии участия

Инженерное образование. 2019. № 25. С. 15–26.

Volkova G.

Continuing professional development and participation in lifelong learning are not only important, but
necessary conditions of successful engineering career. The need for skill upgrade occurs due to the
inadequate level of competence received by engineers during university studies, and due to the rapid
technological development and socio-economic transformations. Successful participation in continuing
education requires not only cognitive abilities, but also self-interest, awareness of the importance of
advanced training. The data of the specialized survey (n=880) were analyzed to investigate the level of
involvement of young Russian engineers (up to 40 years) in obtaining additional professional education, as
well as the relevance of various formats of advanced training and the most common educational strategies.
Data on engineers are supplemented with information about the perceptions of potential employers
(90 organizations in the field of robotics). Most young engineers feel some skills shortage and the need for
additional training. The employers’ opinion confirms the existence of discrepancies between the existing
and required level of engineering competencies and the high importance of further training. However,
the active participation in lifelong learning is currently common not for all Russian engineers: a third of
them (32.7 %) have not received additional education in the past three years. Additional training aimed
at obtaining managerial skills, as well as the format of internships are currently not widespread. Those
engineers who already feel the lack of professional knowledge and consciously participate in advanced
training, strive not only to upgrade their field-specific competencies, but also to improve their digital and
language skills. Obtaining a doctorate degree as a tool for career advancement was considered by every
fifth (21.7 %) young engineer; the interest in obtaining a degree decreases with aging.

Keywords: непрерывное образование, повышение квалификации, компетенции, skills, инженерные кадры, engineers, graduation, advanced training, lifelong learning, получение ученой степени

Publication based on the results of: Monitoring behavior of innovation actors: innovation activity of knowledge-intensive business services firms; innovation patterns of highly qualified R&D personnel (2019)