Personnel employed in light industry: Problems and solutions
The issues of training personnel for the light industry of our country were discussed the day before at the Vitebsk State Technological University. VSTU was not a random selection. It retains its position as the only university in Belarus to train personnel for the domestic light industry.
Among the participants of the meeting were representatives of the Ministry of Education, the Bellegprom concern, educational institutions, and enterprises of the country. VSTU Rector Andrey Kuznetsov noted that one of the main goals of the university is to completely and maximally satisfy the demand of the labor market and train in-demand personnel for the real sector of the economy.
“Following the established traditions and rich experience, in 2025 our university will celebrate the 60th anniversary of its foundation. We are trying to preserve our unique school for training qualified personnel whom almost no one trains now. I would like to note that in Russian universities there are practically no areas left for training specialists in this industry. Our university interacts with organizations that order personnel on an ongoing basis. Conditions have been created for training on a targeted basis. However, there are a number of problems that require our closest attention. I am convinced that a specialist for an enterprise must be trained in advance, that is, the personnel policy must be planned for years to come, based on the plans and needs of production," he added.
The Ministry of Education, jointly with the organizations that order personnel, has decided to increase the recruitment of specialists for light industry enterprises on the terms of targeted training, as well as to increase the responsibility of the heads of such enterprises in the event of their failure to conclude an agreement on targeted training.
In turn, the Chairperson of the Bellegprom concern noted that the issue of training competent specialists for the industry is more relevant than ever. Tatyana Lugina is convinced that it is the close interaction of Bellegprom enterprises with institutions of higher and secondary specialized education, their coordinated work in matters of training, motivation and stimulation of future seamstresses, shoemakers, tanners, textile workers that are priority areas of joint activity.
Following the meeting, a joint work plan was developed to retain personnel. It involves strengthening career guidance work in schools, organizing training classes at enterprises, and creating video adds about the most popular professions.
It is noteworthy that efforts have been stepped up today on the issues that were put on the agenda yesterday. Thus, students from the Grodno College of Consumer Services were invited on an excursion to the Neman shoe factory. They learned first-hand about the main areas of its work, saw the production process, and, of course, appreciated the range of products. Yet another good bonus - the students were interested in the possibility of undergoing an internship at the enterprise.