TAIF talent foundry: who train specialists for the holding company
The petrochemical enterprises of the holding work closely with secondary specialized colleges of the region
The results of the students' participation in numerous specialized skill competitions speak volumes about the quality level of education in the resource centres, colleges, vocational schools of Tatarstan. Among the winners of WorldSkills tournaments, there are enough names of participants from Tatarstan. But the joy of victories and the thirst for knowledge are only part of the reasons why young people choose blue-collar professions. The main thing is confidence in the future, understanding that the knowledge of young professionals will be in demand by enterprises part of the flagship of the Russian economy — TAIF Group. Effective interaction with colleges and mentoring in the learning process, the system of education of future professionals of petrochemistry were built in the middle of the last century and since then then have been only improving. Read more in the material of Realnoe Vremya.
Minnikhanov: ''Production complexes work effectively when they employ qualified personnel''
The issue of increasing the prestige of blue-collar professions was again raised at the regional level at the August pedagogical council, held in the Kukmor district of Tatarstan. Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov stressed that the republic, as a large industrial region, needs highly qualified specialists and suggested building a strong relationship between universities and secondary specialized colleges.
''Working specialties, technicians, higher schools — everything should be built to solve our problems. Economics is the basis. No one is going to give us everything, we have to earn everything ourselves. Our entire complex — oil, petrochemicals, IT, agriculture — should work. And they work when there are qualified, trained people,'' said Rustam Minnikhanov.
In Tatarstan, 31 resource centres have been created at technical vocational schools, 4,5 billion rubles have been allocated from the budget to repair and update the material and technical base over five years, as well as funds of enterprises assigned to each centre.
The rector of KNRTU: ''Working in the field of vocational education is one of our priorities''
If somewhere the processes of building links between secondary specialized colleges and universities are still only at the stage of formation, then in the Kazan National Research Technological University (KNRTU) this has long been a well-established process. There is even a separate unit – the department of secondary vocational education. ''Our students often learn from the same teachers who teach bachelors. This improves the quality of education. Plus, students of secondary vocational education are fully integrated into the educational process and public life of the university along with the students receiving higher education,'' said the rector of KNRTU, Professor Sergey Yushko.
According to the professor, the own bodies of secondary vocational education at universities is a requirement of the time. Moreover, the until recently clear and rigid boundaries between specialized secondary and higher education are gradually eroding. Students of secondary colleges have more access to the theoretical base, and applied bachelor's degree — a new form of education at universities — allows future holders of diplomas of higher education to dive deeper into the practical component of the future profession.
''This is a requirement of the modern labour market, where there is a special demand for personnel who have both fundamental theoretical knowledge and applied competence. Today we have more than one and a half thousand students of secondary vocational education studying. These graduates are very much in demand by enterprises. Including members of the group of companies TAIF — Kazanorgsintez and Nizhnekamskneftekhim,'' said Yushko.
The shop number one at Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC
''The Lemaev College of Petrochemistry and Refining — the first specialized vocational institution of the city of Nizhnekamsk. There was no city as such, but the technical vocational school No. 44 had already been preparing personnel for the future petrochemical complex. Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC has been a loyal ally of the college for more than 50 years. It was Nikolay Vasilyevich Lemaev, the director general of the Petroleum Chemical Integrated Plant, who called the vocational school No. 44 'the shop number one' for training specialists,'' director of the ''shop number one'' Almaz Kadyrov told about the history of the emergence of the strong institution.
What is more, over the past decade this statement has not lost its relevance. The number of employees of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC today is more than 15,000 people, almost half of them are employees under 35. In the last five years alone, the company has hired more than 2,000 graduates of specialized vocational institutions. Most of them are students of the College of Petrochemistry and Refining. All 10 working professions, 7 specialties and 42 educational programmes of additional professional education, for which future specialists are trained, are consistent with the needs of the petrochemical complex.
''Our specialists, together with the college teachers, are developing training programmes for Nizhnekamskneftekhim. Therefore, almost ready-made specialists come to work for us,'' Aleksey Bochkarev, the director of the training centre for personnel training at Nizhnekamskneftekhim, said in a conversation with the correspondent of Realnoe Vremya. ''Moreover, internship at production site begins from the second year of education. An experienced mentor is assigned to every young specialist at Nizhnekamskneftekhim. Last year alone, 1,012 college students have had the production and pre-diploma internship in the departments of the chemical plant.
Interesting work awaits young people in the workplace, the solution of important and ambitious tasks. Today, the development of Nizhnekamskneftekhim is closely connected with the construction of the ethylene complex with a capacity of 600,000 tonnes per year. By 2023, it is planned to increase the volume of production of synthetic rubbers — up to 1 million tonnes per year, plastics are planned to produce about 1,5 million tonnes, and to increase the ethylene production to 1,2 million tonnes. Realizing the value of workers, the petrochemical enterprise has built a strong chain between the specialized vocational college and the plant. The programme of employer-sponsored education was developed, according to which A students are paid an enhanced scholarship, and after graduation they are obliged work for 3 years at Nizhnekamskneftekhim.
Aliya Zagidullina has worked as a fitter for instrumentation and automation at Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC for already a year. She started to work for the company immediately after graduating from the N.V. Lemaev College of Petrochemistry and Refining. She studied, along with other 25 fellow students, under the grant programme. ''We signed a tripartite agreement with the employer and the educational institution. This form of education gives confidence in the future. We knew that we would not have to look for a job after graduation,'' the young specialist said.
Enterprises of TAIF Group, and primarily Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC, take an active part in the work and development of the college, ''In the conditions of the college, the environment close to the production, to the regime nature of the enterprise is created. Nizhnekamskneftekhim participates in continuous modernization of this environment and provision of training processes with modern technical equipment. In addition, the enterprises of the holding annually invest in the development of the material and technical base of the college and provide consumables for training practice. Employees of the company took on the maintenance and revision of training lathes and stands for verification of the control and measuring devices. There is a system of material encouragement of masters of industrial training and teachers of special disciplines in the training of specialists demanded for TAIF Group,'' said Almaz Kadyrov.
Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC is not the only enterprise of the holding where graduates of the college are in demand. They successfully implement the acquired skills at the site of another petrochemical giant, which is part of the group of companies — Kazanorgsintez PJSC.
V.P. Lushnikov Kazan Petrochemical College's director: ''There are decades between us and Kazanorgsintez PJSC''
''The V.P. Lushnikov Kazan Petrochemical College has trained personnel for the Kazan public joint stock company Organic Synthesis since 1961,'' director of the vocational institution Ildar Shamsutdinov immediately dotted i's.
It is just impossible to answer better the question of how closely the college and one of the giants of the petrochemical industry of Russia and the world Kazanorgsintez PJSC are connected. Except to add that over the past 57 years, more than 16,000 skilled workers and middle level specialists graduated from the walls of the educational institution for the petrochemical industry of the country.
The state autonomous professional educational institution Kazan Petrochemical College named after V.P. Lushnikov was established in 1961. From 1961 to 2017, it trained more than 16,000 highly skilled workers and middle level specialists.
In 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, the college became the winner of the contest 100 Best Vocational Institutions of Russia. The pedagogical staff of the college consists of 43 people. Today, 616 students are studying there at the expense of the budget of the Republic of Tatarstan.
''In recent years, there has been a steady interest of young people to obtain working professions. Enrollment figures in the college are in the range of 175 to 225 people each year. According to the results of the work of the admission committee in 2018, 569 people submitted applications for training at the college with the target figures of 200 people,'' Shamsutdinov said. Three people for one place is a serious indicator.
The growing interest of young people in working professions has been also noted at Kazanorgsintez. In 2017 alone, the company employed 47 graduates of the college and 99 graduated from the Kazan National Research Technological University.
Kazanorgsintez has actively supported the Kazan Petrochemical College. Since last year, six specialists of Kazanorgsintez PJSC have participated in the training of students of the college. Qualified employees of the enterprise participate in the meetings of the state certification commissions of the college. The training programmes of the specialized institution of the college are adapted to the needs of the production facilities of Kazanorgsintez. But it is not only about participation in the development of educational programmes and organization of internship for students. In 2007, Kazanorgsintez PJSC carried out a major overhaul of the building of the college (at 62,9 million rubles). The equipment of computer classrooms was allocated 6,2 million rubles. In addition, every year the company's employees conduct scheduled inspections and maintenance of the college equipment.
Kazanorgsintez, as well as Nizhnekamskneftekhim, has a mentoring system: an experienced colleague teaches each young expert.
Today, the college prepares for the petrochemical industry apparatchiks-operators of inorganic substance production, machinists of process pumps and compressors, chemical analysis laboratory assistants, locksmiths for instrumentation and automation, repairers, mid-level specialists in chemical technology of organic substances, as well as in the automation of technological processes and production. In 2016, the list was added with environmental laboratory assistants, in 2017 — the specialty ''installation and technical operation of industrial equipment''. This year Applied Informatics has appeared in the list of professions, and in the 2019/20 academic year there will be added the following specialties: ''information systems and technical operation and maintenance of electrical and electromechanical equipment'', as well as ''electrician for repair and maintenance of electrical equipment''.
The vocational institution itself calls Kazanorgsintez PJSC not only the key customer, but also an important partner, ''In accordance with the cooperation agreement, some specialized interdisciplinary courses are taught by highly qualified specialists of the enterprise at the college. Students undertake the industrial and pre-diploma internship in the conditions of real production in the shops and laboratories of the basic enterprise,'' said the director of the college.
Enterprises of TAIF Group are actively involved in the organization of WorldSkills championship
The interest in the support and development of secondary vocational education has been seriously fuelled by Russia's joining the WorldSkills movement.
WorldSkills International (WSI) – the international non-profit association, which aims to improve the status and standards of training and qualifications around the world, to promote working professions through international competitions around the world. It was founded in 1953. To date, 77 countries participate in the activities of the organization.
WSI's mission is to draw attention to working professions and create conditions for the development of high professional standards. Its main activity is the organization and holding of professional competitions of various levels for young people under the age of 22. The world championship of working professions WorldSkills is held annually, which is also called ''the Olympiad for workers''. It is currently the largest competition of its kind.
The 45th world championship on WorldSkills standards will be held in Kazan in 2019.
Centres of competence that support the profile enterprises were created at technical schools and colleges. TAIF Group companies are among the first and most active participants in the process. The centres are equipped with modern equipment, the best specialists are involved in teaching. Plans for the country — to bring the standards of training in technical schools and colleges to the world level by 2020. It is planned that at the end of training, together with state examinations, graduates will take the WorldSkills exam, which will certainly be taken into account when applying for a job. Enterprises, like no other, are interested in a high level of knowledge of graduates of vocational institutions, as these young professionals will come to work for them.
Today there are regional and national stages of competitions in professional skills, the world championship is held every two years. In 2019, the 45th world championship on WorldSkills standards will be held in Kazan. Young professionals from different countries will demonstrate all their skills in the fight for the right to receive a championship medal in the chosen competence. Petrochemical enterprises of TAIF Group had joined the process of organizing the Olympiad for young professionals long before Kazan was chosen as the host.
''The cooperation with the enterprises of TAIF Group in the development of WorldSkills movement and the introduction of this movement in the educational institutions of the region began in 2013, since the accession of the Republic of Tatarstan in the WorldSkills movement. Initially, it was one competence — ''Laboratory chemical analysis'', where we focused on Nizhnekamskneftekhim as the anchor company. Nizhnekamskneftekhim supported and continues to support this competence,'' said director general of the ANO Centre for the Development of Professional Competencies Emil Gubaydullin.
The holding company not only provided the necessary equipment and consumable materials, but also from the first days allowed to attract its employees as experts for the training of team members and the stages of the competition. On the basis of the College of Petrochemistry and Refining named after N.V. Lemaev and also with the active participation of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC, it was opened a specialized centre of competencies.
TAIF also didn't stand aside when it became necessary to expand the list of competencies: ''They responded to our request to create a specialized training centre of the team of the Republic of Tatarstan at the competence ''Manufacturing of products from polymeric materials'' by joint efforts. This competence is global, and that is why it was important for us to create such a centre on the territory of the republic, which would be equipped according to international standards, according to the latest infrastructure places of this international movement, on the basis of which both the republican and the national team of Russia could train in preparation for the championships of various levels. On the basis of this centre, it has already been carried out the regional championship WorldSkills,'' Gubaydullin expressed gratitude to the leadership of the holding.
Now TAIF takes a direct part in the preparation of the site for the world championship, ''Thanks to the enterprises of TAIF Group, within the competence 'Manufacturing of Products from Polymeric Materials' the necessary base has been created, where it is already possible to hold competitions. The base is equipped with coordinate measuring machine with CNC (Mitutoyo), 3D-scanner, compressor, office equipment, various machines for metal processing, the necessary software has been purchased, thermoplastics machines, rotary type dehumidifying dryers, consumables for the manufacture of molds and much more. By the competence 'Laboratory chemical analysis', the enterprises also help with consumables, provide equipment,'' said the director general of the ANO Centre for the Development of Professional Competencies.
Emil Gubaydullin also stressed, ''From the first days the employees of the enterprises of TAIF Group participated in the formation of the expert community of these two competencies, which later acquired more and more new specialists. At the moment, the employees of the holding companies provide assistance in assessing the contestants of the championship and the team, which is very valuable and important for us, invite them to internship, hold specialized meetings with the contestants. I would like to note the active work of the group of companies with educational institutions of Kazan and Nizhnekamsk, which has a positive impact on the training of young professionals. I hope that the existing partnership between TAIF Group and WorldSkills championship movement in Tatarstan will continue to strengthen.''
TAIF Group itself is sure that the support of the championship and the development of vocational education in general is a necessity. Active production facilities just have to do everything in their power to strengthen this direction. After all, it is an investment in the future of the enterprises themselves and the economy of the region and the country as a whole.
Partnership material