Representatives of the St Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering took part in an extended off-site meeting of the Association of Educational Organizations "Consortium for the Development of School Engineering and Technology Education."
The event, held in Ekaterinburg, brought together the heads of more than 100 organizations from 24 regions of Russia—representatives of federal and regional government bodies, heads of leading schools implementing engineering programs in education, heads of high-tech enterprises, and secondary vocational and higher educational institutions.
The purpose of the off-site meeting is to develop effective mechanisms for cooperation between educational institutions and enterprises in the real sector of the economy to improve the quality of engineering training for high-tech industries in support of and development of the country's technological leadership.
Key speakers at the meeting included Denis Kravchenko, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy; Natalya Sokolskaya, Head of Department at the Ministry of Education of the Sverdlovsk Region; Elena Kirichenko, Director of the Education Department of the Ekaterinburg Administration; Igor Barsukov, Director of Educational Initiatives at the Union of Technology Companies of Russia; Nadezhda Orlova, Director of the Institute of Agricultural Research at the National Research University Higher School of Economics; Konstantin Egorov, Rector of the Perm State Humanitarian and Pedagogical University; Yulia Cheryavko, Director of the New Grani Educational Center (Novosibirsk); and Sergey Svinin, Deputy General Director of the Kalinin Machine-Building Plant.
From SPbGASU, the event was attended by the Dean of the Faculty of Continuing Education Anna Mikhailova and her deputy Ekaterina Kopylova.
The main topics for discussion included effective practices for interaction between schools, higher and secondary vocational education institutions, and businesses, the experience of the regional practice "Ural Engineering School 2.0," current employer demands and trends in training future engineers, and the development of an ecosystem for the professional development of students.
Vera Knyazeva, President of the Association of Educational Organizations "Consortium for the Development of School Engineering and Technology Education" and Director of Engineering and Technology School No. 777, noted: "Today in Ekaterinburg, the industrial center of the Urals, we have worked out a strategy for developing the country's human resources. The Association provides methodological training for teachers, organizes events for schoolchildren, helps develop infrastructure, and exchanges best practices for interaction between schools, universities, and businesses. I am confident that the decisions made at the meeting will form the basis of Russia's technological leadership strategy."
As part of the extended consortium meeting, SPbGASU representatives visited one of Ekaterinburg's leading schools, Secondary Comprehensive School No. 80, which has developed a multi-stage system for training engineering personnel, from preschoolers' first projects to high school students' professional development. SPbGASU has been successfully collaborating with School No. 80 for three years; the first graduating class of students training as draftsmen and designers at our university will be in April 2026.
The Consortium's offsite meeting program was rich and informative: participants visited schools with advanced education systems, enterprises, technology parks, and museums.
SPbGASU representatives also attended the Ural Educational Forum "E-HUB 2026," where they participated in a panel discussion on the impact of artificial intelligence on human competencies.
