At the VII Open IEK Electricians Championship, a tripartite memorandum was signed on the creation of the International BRICS+ Competence Center. The center will be organized on the basis of MPEI and will allow combining the efforts of higher education, an electrical equipment manufacturer, and an international organization to develop and introduce modern skills in the field of electrical installation and industrial automation.
Also, the Center will take on a scientific and methodological role in the system of retraining electrical installers based on modern international standards, which include, among other things, proficiency in hardware and software automation tools in the electrical field. The signing parties were IEK GROUP, NRU "MPEI", and the Agency for the Development of Professions and Skills.
The personnel shortage is one of the biggest market problems. Employer dissatisfaction with blue-collar specialists, according to official data, reaches 50%. One of the effective solutions to overcome the personnel shortage is increasing labor productivity, which requires training specialists in modern skills. IEK GROUP has been involved in developing the electrical installer profession since 2013. The company implements career guidance projects and works on reforming vocational education. Creating competence centers became a logical stage in developing the profession, as they help improve the qualifications of already working electrical installers.
Today in the field of electrical engineering and electrification we deal not simply with electrical objects, for example, motors, lighting devices, and so on, but with electrical complexes including power electronic converters and modern automation tools. Therefore, a specialist engaged in electrical installation must possess skills in connecting, programming, and configuring such tools. I note that at MPEI we consider professional electrical installers proficient in modern electrical equipment and automation tools as our applicants, capable of successfully mastering higher education programs in the direction "Electric Power Engineering and Electrical Engineering" and preparing for project, design, research, organizational and managerial activities in the electrical field", adds Mikhail Pogrebissky, Director of the Institute of Electrical Engineering and Electrification of the National Research University "MPEI".
Forming the Competence Center will also allow systematizing work on improving specialist qualifications and independent assessment of their skills. According to the organizers' idea, a specialist lacking specific competencies will be able to obtain and confirm these skills within short-term programs including theoretical and practical classes. And the Center itself can become the first step on the path to certification and licensing of a specialist working in the market. The licensing practice, successfully working abroad, allows increasing the safety of electrical installations, reducing the number of accidents and fires, improving specialist qualifications, and regulating professional competition in the market.
"Under the auspices of the Working Group of the BRICS Business Council on Professional Training, Applied Technologies, and Innovations, a 'laboratory' for developing prospective skills, professions, and technologies functions on a regular basis. With the direct participation of BRICS+ countries, international standards, practices for increasing labor productivity and efficiency of technological processes are formed. The Agency for the Development of Professions and Skills, being a permanent member of the Working Group, coordinates this activity. The launch of the International BRICS+ Competence Center will allow integrating advanced practices of skills and technology development in the field of electrical installation and industrial automation into personnel training programs for prospective industries," comments Alina Singh, Deputy General Director for International Activities of the Agency for the Development of Professions and Skills.
In its work, the Center will rely on the provisions of the International Specification "Electrical Installation", developed in 2022. The moderator and developer of the specification was the company IEK GROUP. Within project sessions, the document was tested in 12 countries at the level of production companies, organizations of higher and secondary vocational education, research institutes, and Professional Retraining Centers. While preserving modern skills, the document recommends developing future skills in specialists - digitalization, programming, working with elements of artificial intelligence.