ANADYR, March 5. /TASS/. A new university on Chukotka, organization of which Deputy Minister on Development of the Far East and Arctic Alexander Krutikov has announced earlier, should educate a limited number of specialists and should be active in scientific studies, experts in education told TASS. Potential employers stressed they would be happy to support training of specialists and would employ them, but in addition to the university the region should develop the system of colleges, they said.
Earlier, the deputy minister said he supported the initiative to open a university on Chukotka, which will use distance learning technologies and will be involved in scientific studies. Currently, on Chukotka, where the population is about 50,000, the only higher education institution is a branch of Yakutia’s Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University. Another university is of demand, experts say, stressing it should be an institution of another level.
Focus on human resources
According to experts, the new-level university should train focused human resources. "It is not reasonable to train specialists for Chukotka in other big scientific centers, it is a task for the local level, and human resources should be educated here. It won’t be reasonable to educate 20 specialists in one direction, the number should be even lower, but the education level should be high, as those should be specialists, who understand the specifics of this complicated region," Director of the Ammosov University’s branch Nadezhda Buryanina told TASS.
Deputy Governor Andrei Bolenkov stressed the region should adjust promptly to the changing demand. "Our own university means local human resources, adjusted to the local conditions and graduates will stay here. We now try to satisfy the demand by inviting specialists from the mainland, but their rotation is top high - about 60% of the invited employees leave Chukotka within three years. A classical university may be inefficient in our conditions," he told TASS.
The university should be international, as foreign scientists are also interested in studying the region, Buryanina said. The new university should have two simultaneous integrated processes - education and research. As for teachers, she does not expect any problems, because Russia’s many university teachers are interested in working on Chukotka.
Support for colleges
At the same time, companies, working in the region, say the situation with human resources is tough, they would be happy to participate in training. ChukotEnergy, the biggest local producer of electric energy, every year organizes practical courses for the Ammosov University’s students, but the company’s opinion is that available state support would be more efficient for professional training at colleges.
"We need desperately professional workers, and thus my opinion is to develop a college with many directions to train professional workers," ChukotEnergo’s Director General Andrei Telegin told TASS.
The Human Resources Department at ChukotKommynKhoz, a leading municipal economy company, told TASS despite all the measures the local officials undertake to attract university graduates, the region’s demand for them is still high.
"The so-called worker specialists are of demand, of course, but the region lacks engineers in various spheres. If they are educated locally, then the graduates may come to us, and we need young specialists very much," the human resources department said.
The demand for workers
The unemployment on Chukotka is as low as 2.2%, the local authorities say. Meanwhile, the number of announced vacancies is twice more than the number of local unemployed.
The highest demand for specialists is registered in healthcare, agriculture, manufactures, electricity production and distribution, state management and in the utilities sector. About 60% of published vacancies are for workers.
"Traditionally high is the demand in healthcare: nurses, doctors. We also lack reindeer herders, veterinarians, drivers of tractors, ATVs, bulldozers. Our companies are looking for electricians, machinists of various specialties, electric welders. The region also lacks police, and police drivers. We have a shortage of IT specialists," the regional official said.
The region offers certain incentives under state programs to attract human resources.