Dmitry Chernyshenko launched the open expert dialogue "Higher Education in a New Technological Era" at the National Centre RUSSIA

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The Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Chernyshenko, and the Minister of Science and Higher Education, Valery Falkov, launched the open expert dialogue "Higher Education in a New Technological Era". Over three days at the National Centre RUSSIA, representatives of federal ministries, the Russian Academy of Sciences, the academic and professional communities, and business will develop approaches to updating the higher education model, taking into account technological trends, demographic developments, and changes in the labour market.

Dmitry Chernyshenko outlined a number of key challenges being addressed by the Government of Russia: achieving technological leadership, combining the best practices of Soviet education with the experience of recent decades, and training a new generation of engineers.

"Achieving Russia’s technological leadership is a national goal set by our President, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. Universities play a crucial role here, as they train the workforce for the economy. By 2032, Russia will need 4.5 million specialists with higher education. These figures come from the workforce forecast of the national project 'Personnel', overseen in the Government by Tatyana Golikova. It is important to focus not only on the number of such specialists, but also on the quality of their training. Therefore, I expect that, together with the business community, educational standards will be reviewed and new formats of the educational process will be defined," said the Deputy Prime Minister.

He added that at the same time the higher education system must remain flexible and respond promptly to changes and the demands of socio-economic development. It is necessary to train not just executors, but creative, proactive specialists capable of developing their own technologies and solutions.

"The need to combine the best practices of Soviet education with the experience of recent decades was highlighted by our President, Vladimir Vladimirovich, in his Address to the Federal Assembly. This launched a pilot project to introduce a new model of higher education in six universities. By presidential decree, the pilot has been extended until 2030, and the list of participants has been expanded to 17 institutions from different sectors. As the next stage begins, it is important to take into account feedback, accumulated experience, and to scale the best practices," Dmitry Chernyshenko said.

Regarding the training of a new generation of engineers, the Deputy Prime Minister noted that the head of state, in Decree No. 529, identified seven priority areas and 28 key high-tech technologies. National projects on technological leadership are aimed, among other things, at their development and implementation. Graduates must possess all the skills required to work with advanced solutions being introduced in industry.

Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov emphasised that President of Russia Vladimir Putin has identified as a key task for business, the state, and the education system the need to change the entire paradigm of workforce training.

"I would like to draw the attention of all colleagues to the importance of the task before us. This is not about mechanically extending the duration of study, abandoning certain concepts, merging specialisations, or rearranging disciplines within curricula. Given the scale of the challenges, we need to rethink the concept of higher education in all its key aspects," the minister stressed.

Valery Falkov noted that the goal of the expert dialogue is to look at the current system of higher education not from within, but from the outside — through the eyes of those who see changes in the economy, demographics, technology, and international relations, and who understand the nature of technological development and labour market transformation. The task is not to predict the future, but to create it together through an open expert discussion.

The outcome of the three-day work is expected to be a programme document defining criteria for identifying fields of study and principles for shaping their list within the new model of higher education, taking into account technological and demographic challenges and the new situation in the labour market. The experts’ proposals will be reflected in a report to the Prime Minister, Mikhail Mishustin, during two strategy sessions in May: on the development of engineering universities and technical colleges, and on improving the governance system of scientific and technological development.

A report titled "Fundamental Changes in the Global Economy and Global Architecture" was also delivered by the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office of Russia, Maxim Oreshkin, while the Minister of Labour, Anton Kotyakov, presented a report titled "Workforce Demand Forecast: How the Demand for Specialists is Changing".