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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Falkov, we have been paying a great deal of attention to the establishment of engineering schools and training of relevant personnel, which is the right thing to do. I believe this is where you would like to begin.

Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov: Yes, Mr President. Thank you very much.

This initiative was launched in 2022, and I must say that it was implemented faster than planned, because we established the first 30 engineering schools in 15 regions in June 2022.

Thank you for finding the time that autumn, on September 21, 2022, to meet with the engineering schools’ directors and heads of regions and discuss this in detail. Later, I will provide further details on this matter, because instructions were issued, and we fulfilled them.

The demand for these schools was so significant that we held another contest in November 2023. We planned to select at least ten advanced engineering schools but ended up selecting 20. Therefore, today we have a good range: 50 schools in 28 regions; in all federal districts without exception, which is very important.

Each school possesses a unique feature – it is a good platform that accomplishes two tasks. On the one hand, you’ve tasked us with updating the higher education system, and these are advanced platforms where we test innovative approaches to engineering education. On the other hand, this collaboration helps ensure technological sovereignty, because we know that insufficient cooperation with the industry has always been a weakness of the higher education system. Furthermore, each engineering school has a partner.

Moreover, we have invested approximately 12 billion over the first two years, and our partners, including 160 major companies, have contributed 19.5 billion. I would also like to highlight that Russian regions have invested over one billion. Currently, 11 out of 28 regions also provide resources for the advanced engineering schools.

Mr President, after your meeting, a package of instructions was issued. It is important to note that schools and higher education institutions are closely intertwined, which is why we have tasked each leading engineering school with working with schoolchildren.

Last year, 22,000 schoolchildren received training at advanced engineering schools. This includes career guidance, as well as cultivating an interest in fundamental subjects such as physics, mathematics, chemistry and biology. It is worth mentioning that these schools are not solely dedicated to traditional engineering, as they also focus on areas such as engineering of living systems, genetics and genomics, and software engineering. Our schools offer a diverse and enjoyable learning experience for the children.

I would also like to point out that the quality of engineering teaching depends not only on the students sitting in the classrooms, but also on who comes in to teach. Therefore, more than 7,500 engineers have undergone school-based advanced training and 7,600 teachers have received advanced training at enterprises, which is very important.

By the way, we have been funding this initiative quite well since 2022 (that was a gap year with just 2.5 billion), with 33 billion allocated overall. I want to note again that businesses contribute significantly more, with about 60 billion expected by 2026.

The initiative is new but is already yielding good results. Our current focus is on introducing technologies in practice. Because, naturally, our task is to learn how to quickly turn ideas into technologies, products, and services. We have great faith in our academic institutions, and in university science. A very significant positive transformation is underway. In the next few years, we will pay special attention to this crucial aspect – implementation.

Vladimir Putin: Excellent. I am very pleased that business is not only not resisting but is actually at the forefront of this process, isn’t it?

Valery Falkov: At the forefront. Moreover, we observed that in the first year, for the schools we selected, businesses contributed about 1.3 rubles for every government ruble. For the most recent schools, based on promises for 2024, businesses are contributing more than 1.7 rubles for every government ruble.

Vladimir Putin: And is practical training provided as well?

Valery Falkov: Yes, practical training is being provided. The students' teams are supervised by managers from such companies as KAMAZ, Rostselmash and Perm Motors. This is the best training based on real engineering tasks.

Vladimir Putin: What about apprenticeship contracts?

Valery Falkov: We are also using and developing them. In this case, we are analysing this at the moment as the initiative is new. We anticipate that the quality of employment will be fundamentally different, because the employers see it. And of course, this is like intellectual engineering special forces, because these are several thousand young people who are not just expected to work to standard and follow regulations. They must become creators. And the biggest challenge is to create new technologies, to take responsibility, and to lead a team.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Thank you.

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